We reached Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve sometime after lunch. We stopped at a place right outside the park; an observation point to the Great Rift. The Great Rift is a series of volcanoes that erupted 2000 years ago to form the wonders of Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve.
Upon entering the park we started Loop Road. The first stop we made on Loop Road was Devil’s Orchard. The name comes an early 20th century preacher who saw only “a garden fir for a devil” This trail had very cool lava fragments sitting among cinder beds. On the rocks grew colorful little patches called lichens. They grow on the rocks in Devil’s Orchard.
There were also some interesting old and bare pine trunks. Our second stop was Inferno Cone. Inferno Cone is a large Cinder Cone with no vegetation except on the top, where a big tree grows towards the edge. There were some beautiful rocks on the mountain.
They glittered, had many holes, and shined blue and gold. Our third and last stop was another trail. It led to the tree molts, a place where there used to grow regular trees, until the lava came and pushed them down to the ground, lava pouring over them. They were beautiful, but before reaching them we saw a volcanic crater!
Volcanic craters are formed by the outward explosion of rocks and other materials from a volcano. After finishing the trail we were very tired and went to our hotel. The next morning we drove to Yellowstone National Park as soon as we woke up.
