After leaving City of Rocks, we continued north to our next destination, Craters of the Moon National Monument. We kept to backroads and passed through small rural towns and miles and miles of southern Idaho farmland. Within ten miles of the monument we came across our first hot spring of the trip. The Milford (Wild Rose) Hot Spring is only about 100 yards from the road. It has a large soaking pool at a nice soaking temperature.
MIldford Hot Spring, also known as Wild Rose Hot Spring
Craters of the Moon is a rugged landscape of vast stretches of lava rock, cinder cones, and sparse vegetation. We found a campsite and then drove the scenic loop, which begins at the campground. We spent the remainder of that day under cloudy skies hiking to a half dozen points of interest along the loop drive. Even though the vegetation was sparse, there were plenty of wildflowers to observe growing among the gravel soil structure amid the lava flows. We did not secure permits to explore the bat caves. We have hiked among the lava tubes in central and southern Utah before and decided with our rapidly diminishing light, to skip that part of the monument. With the sun setting to the west, we used our time exploring the other trails on the loop. The stormy clouds and setting sun allowed me to capture images of the park that reveal the rugged nature without the harsh light of mid-day. It was difficult to find photographic compositions that revealed the delicate nature of the wildflowers and the harsh environment in which they grow. The best I could do, was put my lens as close to the ground as possible to show the delicate balance between life and hardscape.
Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva) growing from the lava soil on the Inferno Cone
Buckwheat growing in a lava flow below a cinder cone
The harsh terrain where wildflowers find fragile footholds among the scant soil
It’s a small park. There were many parts we did not see, but we felt that an overnight stop was enough to satisfy our curiosity. We slept a peaceful night in the public campground and then awoke early the next morning before sunrise and continued on the road north. Upon exiting the park, we made one more stop at the Milford Hot Spring where we soaked as the sun rose over that vast lava landscape.
Weathered roots overlooking a lava field below a cinder cone
View from the top of the Inferno Cone, Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho