Our Last Day @ Craters

Our last day of the trip took place in Craters of the Moon National Park in Arco, Idaho. Craters was one of the coolest places we visited, making it an amazing end to our trip. We were all very tired and worn out by the end of the week, but Craters offered us more than what we expected, such as Pahoehoe and A'a lava flows, opportunities to climb cinder and spatter cones, and even explore a lava tube (and maybe even get lost)! 

You can see how tired (and cute) these boys look after a long week of exploring and adventuring the western beauty. We spent the night prior in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which showed us a good time! Such a great little tourist town. 

Here's a picture of some of the Pahoehoe lava flows at the North Crater Flow Trail. Look at how ropey those rocks look! These basaltic lava flows at Craters were very low in silica, which allowed then to flow more easily. The lava cooled quickly at the surface, and created this rope like texture while cooling and continuing to flow. 

Nate and Seth had some fun climbing to the top of a cinder cone after our last lunch on the trip. Look at how small they look! 

After lunch, we climbed to the top of Inferno Cone. It was insanely windy at the top, but offered us an amazing view. Some of us even layed at the top of the cinder cone and tried to catch some sun! The sound of the leaves blowing in the wind and the warmth of the basaltic rocks beneath us made for a very relaxing little cat nap. 

Here's an awesome picture from the inside of the Indian Tunnel lava tube that we explored. There was so many cool little places to hideout and fun fallen rocks to climb. We all had such a great time climbing our way out! 

Who knew Idaho had more than just potatoes? Speaking of potatoes, they may be gone soon... We've learned that the cinder cones and divergence in the park of Craters of the Moon erupts, on average, every 2000 years. We're overdue! We may have been lucky making it out alive! :)