Walking On The Moon

Craters Of The Moon National Monument in Idaho. I really liked this out-of-the-way spot as a place to camp and hike. It’s basically a giant lava field that’s many times the size of my other favorite similar spot, Lava Beds National Monument in California. It’s one of the reasons that the Oregon Trail was routed south of the Snake River. That’s because wagons couldn’t handle the terrain, although crossing the river had its own dangers. I was last here in 2005 with my brother and father. I wonder why it took 18 years for a return trip.

As I’m whizzing along in a car, I always think about how the ground we’ve covered in a few days on this trip would have taken the wagon trains of the 19th century many months.