Grand Tetons National Park, Wyoming

We have been here since Friday. Moving on to Yellowstone tomorrow.  

Twin Falls, Craters of the Moon National Monument, The Idaho Potato Museum, and Other Exciting Southern Idaho Attractions. Part II

Craters of the Moon National Monument. Pictures cannot show what a weird place this is. Or how tall or deep some of these features are. Apollo astronauts trained here. (This is the second place we visited on this trip where astronauts trained, Meteor Crater, AZ. A blog post to come?)

The most recent lava flow in the continental US happened here as recently as 2,000 years ago. Those and previous lava flows and volcanic eruptions built up lava rock to 6,000 feet thick. If another lava flow occurs in the continental US, this is where it is likely to happen.

There is a whole lexicon to describe volcanic geology - basalt, rhyolite, obsidian, pumice, tuff, pahoehoe, ah ah, cinder, cinder cone, spatter cone, lava tube, caldera, fissure, etc. I won’t bore you here, but if you are at all interested, just ask me sometime.

Some of the pahoehoe has a blue glaze!

Lava tubes

This incredibly hostile looking rock is actually very fertile when broken down into soil

Fun Fact - The craters on Earth's actual moon are mostly from meteorite impacts, not volcanism. 

Shoshone Ice Cave. Self-proclaimed, “One of the Natural Wonders of the World.” A lava tube with ice in it. In actuality, an interesting touristy stop if you pass by on the way to somewhere else.

Black Magic Canyon. A slot canyon through lava.

The Idaho Potato Museum. A surprisingly fun and well done mix of interesting info and kitsch. https://idahopotatomuseum.com/

Lava Hot Springs. The name of the town as well as the hot springs. This is one of the many developed springs.

Soda Springs Geyser. Not quite Old Faithful, but enough to get us psyched up for Yellowstone where we will be a week from now.

Blackfoot Reservoir. We stayed in the campground for a day to rest up before heading to Grand Teton National Park. We got there a little before sunset. The next morning moose were browsing in the distance at the lake.

Idaho Potatoes 
Growing

About to be eaten. (Actually these potatoes  probably were not from Idaho as the vast majority of potatoes grown in Idaho are russet and these were reds. But we were getting into the spirit of things.)

Twin Falls, Craters of the Moon National Monument, The Idaho Potato Museum, and Other Exciting Southern Idaho Attractions. Part I - Twin Falls

Fast forwarding past about a month’s worth of amazing sights to this past week’s highlights.

So, a current post for once. Otherwise, if I keep playing catch up with this blog, we will be back home and then away again on our next trip before I catch up.

Southern Idaho is basically lava, lava, water, potatoes, and more lava.

Volcanos and oozing lava have been covering Idaho with lava rock (basalt, rhyolite, etc) to a great depth for a very long time.

Twin Falls, Idaho
The main attraction here is the scenic Snake River Gorge/Canyon with its assorted waterfalls. The gorge is a relatively recent landscape feature, only about 10,000 to 15,000 years old. It was created when an enormous flood gouged out a canyon through 500 feet of solid lava rock.

Shoshone Falls. And this is at a very low water level.

It is possible to kayak to the base of the falls. We wanted to, but did not have the full day it would have taken.

Perrine Bridge is the eighth highest bridge in the United States. It is a world-famous base-jumping structure. In case you don’t know, base jumping means jumping off the bridge and parachuting down. We passed on this activity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perrine_Bridge

Pillar Falls. The water cascades between the lava pillars.

The Canyon

People have homes right at the edge of the cliffs. One would hope they don't sleepwalk.

Perrine Coulee Falls

Twin Falls. The ones the city is named after. If you see only one falls in the picture, that is because the other one is no more. It was diverted to the hydroelectric plant. The arrow points to its former location. The name of the city remains unchanged.

Kayaking to Pillar Falls

Cooling off. Temps were well over 100 degrees that day.