From Missoula we headed south to Craters of the Moon National Monument. We drove highway 93 along the Bitterroot Mountains. It was a beautiful drive even though we didn’t see a lot, because it was rainy and cloudy all day. We made it over Lost Trail Pass and into Idaho – with beautiful views… (see pictures). It was in the area that the Lewis and Clark expedition took over the Rockies. From the pass we made it down to Salmon, ID – a town of just over 3,000 people, but had quite a few amenities since it’s largest town for quite a ways. We discovered the Sacajawea Center there, so we stopped and learned more about the Lewis and Clark expedition and Sacajawea in that area.
Then we went at camped at Shoup Bridge Campground right on the Salmon River for the night. We got breakfast the next morning back in Salmon before continuing south. The views were gorgeous and ever changing.
We continued over Willow Creek Pass and on to Arco, ID. While getting gas, we noticed signs that read, “First city in the world to be powered by atomic power.” Matt did a little research and we discovered that EBR-1, the first nuclear power plant, was just a few miles down the way (near the Idaho National Laboratory). EBR-1 is now a museum, so we decided to go. It was really neat and super informative. From discarded reactors in the parking lot from the abandoned federal nuclear powered plane project, to the meticulous notes and controls in the control room, to the pride the engineers took in using nuclear power for good, it was really neat piece of history to learn about. There is a YouTube channel called Smarter Everyday that does a tour of the facility (and how nuclear power works). It was really cool to see after being there!
Sidenote – There was also one of the only (few?) deadly nuclear reactor accidents at a nearby nuclear reactor SL-1 in 1962. It’s a gruesome tale, but Matt found out that one of the people who died was a McKinley. No clue if they’re related, but it was an interesting piece of history.
From there we made it to Craters of the Moon. After getting set up at the campground, we stopped by the visitor center to learn about the area and then went and hiked the North Crater Trail. It’s a very unique area for the contiguous 48 states. The lava flows here are only about 2,100 – 15,000 years old. Native Americans have legends about the lava flows in the area. We ate dinner when we got back to camp and then headed out at 9:30 pm to take a short drive and hike up Inferno Cone to watch the moon rise. It was beautiful! And we met Fred – the large, solo limber pine that grows near the top of the cone.
The next morning we headed out on the loop around the park. We first stopped at the spatter cones (mini volcanoes at the end of an eruption), and then continued on to the Tree Mold hike and the Broken Top Trail. There were so many neat rock shapes and formations. It’s quite the landscape. Reece got a kick out of picking up large lava rocks so he looked strong!
We were going to go through the caves, but because of white nose syndrome in bats, we had to get a permit at the visitor center. And in order to get a permit we had to be sure none of our clothes or shoes had been in another cave – which we couldn’t be sure of, so we skipped it. We finished the day with a visit to Devil’s Orchard – a short interpretive trail.
It was a really unique place to visit.
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