2015 Trip to Alaska & More

Day 61 -

LakeshoreImages Home Page

2011 Trip across the US
2012 Trip across the US
2014 Trip across the US
Other Trips

Index
Previous Page
Next Page

Friday, August 7, 2015, Craters of the Moon National Monument, ID - 126.4 Miles Today, 8769.7 For the Trip

A fairly short drive today. I added 16 miles to the trip looking for the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument, but while I found signs 8 miles away, and the town of Hagerman, I never found the monument. The GPS said it was at the high school, but I looked around & no luck. On the way back to the route to Craters of the Moon I stopped at a view point for the Fossil beds & the Snake River so I included a couple of photos.

Hagerman Fossil Beds
The View of the Snake River at the Sign
Site 19, Craters of the Moon
Part of the Monument

Craters of the Moon is one of my favorite National Monuments. It is so strange to walk through the many trails - weird rocks, including some 2' across that you can pick up and hold at arm's length with one hand, beautiful stunted trees, cinder cones, etc. Well worth a visit. While it may not work tonight since there is quite a bit of haze in the air, this is one of the best places for night skies I've visited. Part of that comes from the openness of the area, part from being far from lighted cities, and part because the campground is dry camping, so the lights usually go out with the visitors.

I'm in site 19, again a dry site for $5.00 per night with the senior discount. The sites are cinders, which are a pain if you are wearing sandals i they get under you feet, and everything is black, so the sun heats things up during the day. The campground is at over 5000', so it cools off fast at night.

I won't be able to post this since there is no cell coverage in the park, and no WiFi, at least until I drive somewhere that has it. I may visit the first atomic power plant museum again - it isn't too far from the campground and has the only atomic airplane engines I've ever seen.

I did drive out to the EBR-1 and took some photos, but didn't bring the adapter to load them to the laptop, so they will have to wait until tomorrow. There is a good 4G LTE Verizon signal here at the reactor, so I'll post today's page a bit early.

Dinner will be a grilled chicken paddy and a salad, cookies for dessert.

Until Next Time -

Previous Page
Next Page


This page is maintained by: vermilye@oswego.edu
Last Update: August 8, 2015