Craters of the Moon and Ketchum/Sun Valley

We didn't know where we would end up when we left American Falls, but we wanted at least a glance at Craters of the Moon, and, if we liked the campground, we might have stayed there.  It was quite hot and almost everything is black lava and absorbing the heat.  We decided to visit the Visitor's Center and drive around a bit to get the story but we planned to move on.

The name, it turns out is a misnomer.  Astronauts confirmed that most lunar craters resulted from meteorite impacts, not volcanism.  Craters of the Moon, however, are of volcanic origin, occurring 15,00 years ago as lava welled up from the Great Rift to produce a vast ocean of rock.  Amazingly, the most recent eruption only happened 2,000 years ago.  We didn't want to stay too long as future events are likely.

It's amazing to see what grows in and around the lava fields.

This area was filled with lava tubes, which hardened on the outside while lava
still flowed underneath back then.

This is not the campground, but it looked something like this!  Not for us!

 We have fallen in love with National Geographic's book Scenic Highways and Byways and take them whenever possible.  We took the Peaks to Craters (although we did it Craters to Peaks) Scenic Highway from Craters of the Moon up to Ketchum and Sun Valley.  It was (hate to use the word, but it was) BREATHTAKING!  You move through the lava fields, to wetlands, to farmlands and to some of Idaho's tallest mountains and the Lost River Mountain Range.

At one point, the clouds were below us and above us.  It was kind of nice
having a cloudy, cooler day.

This really doesn't do the job of showing how iffy this road
was.  It was paved, but very narrow and few guard rails.  I
held my own!  At least I didn't cry!

We drove right to the campground we had in mind, and unbelievably, they had one site left:  a double site right by the river.  It was only about 5 miles from Ketchum and 3 from Sun Valley!  We scored big time.  Plus, we really liked the hostess there-a lady in her 70s who looked fashionably up to date for Sun Valley, which is very upscale.  She was a hoot.  She knew quite a bit about the area and helped us maneuver our rig and our car into the site.  It was a whopping $20 a night-more than we like to pay, but worth it for how close we were to town.  The last time I had been here, I went skiing for a week with Annie Denver and about 4 other of her friends.  We had a ball but I hardly remember-it must have been in the 70s.  It has, of course, grown quite a bit since then.  Ketchum is adorable but it, somewhat like Boulder, has grown and now is quite expensive, crowded and busy.  It was a little scary just driving around town with the mobs of pedestrians, cyclists and cars.

Our campsite-and it was next to some of the best trails in the area.

Our view of the ski area-not bad! And the river is right behind the shrubs
in the middle of the picture.  It flowed a little too fast for us to get in, but
was lovely to listen to.

We had to pick up our mail in Ketchum and I did a little shopping while
Jim checked his email.  Jim doesn't miss me very much on these little
excursions, but look who is always waiting for me with baited breath.
(hint:  he's the one hanging out the window)

Sun Valley itself is very fancy.  This is outside the main lodge.  The area
is full of very nice expensive shops, condos and restaurants.

We ate good Mexican food (we've missed that in our travels) and spent some time walking the Wood River Trail in town and a little bit of the ones near our campsite.  But, the road was calling us north to Stanley.  Our friends, Jack and Linda Laughlin, old friends from Gold Hill and now Borrego Springs, CA, were planning to meet us in Stanley, so we headed out on the most beautiful Sawtooth Scenic Byway with incredible views of Boulder Mountain and Big Wood River up to the Galena Summit and down into the Sawtooth Valley.  The views were amazing, but I was driving and didn't get many pictures.

Bear Lake, Utah to American Falls, Idaho

We had never heard of Bear Lake before but it looked like a good stopping place on our way to Craters of the Moon and the Sawtooths, so we gave it a shot. We came in on the southeast side of the lake and the first state park camping area was right there:  Rendezvous Beach.  This was our idea of exactly what we don't want in a place to stay:  millions of people crowded into what looked like party city!  We headed up to Garden City and pulled into a store that sold raspberry shakes.  Since it was hot and this place is famous for their raspberries, we partook! We swear it even beat a chocolate malt-it was that good!  Also bought some wonderful raspberry jalapeño jelly.  When we returned to Maxine and our Honda, we discovered that the Honda's battery was drained (something to do with the hookup procedure-silly mistake that we won't make again).  So, we unhooked, jumped the car and took off with me in the Honda and Jim in Maxine.  We do this when we are not going far and we were hopeful we'd find something on the other side of the lake.  At the north end is the Bear Lake Wildlife Refuge where we saw lots of water birds and an osprey.  Then we passed by the state park on the north side, which was not as bad as the south side, but too crowded for us.  We passed into Utah again and found a wonderful primitive, private campground and snagged a spot right on the lake-the angels were with us!

And, what do you know- this beach is known for their Cisco
fish, which is found nowhere else in the world-and, no, we
did not fish.  Our fishing license is for Idaho.  Who knew
we'd end up in Utah!  And, if only we had brought our
snorkeling gear!

Our campsite

My own piece of eye candy, as Erik Eslick calls Jim.

So amazingly clear and it looks calm but I had some
trouble getting in and out, balance wise.  It is a bummer
being an old lady!  But I can still swim with the best of them
once I get into the water.  Walking on these stones was
challenging.

This lake is known as the Caribbean of the West because
of its gorgeous turquoise color.  You can't tell from the
pictures, but the color is unbelievable for this part of
the world.  The mountains take on a pinkish hue at night.

Dinner for two-and Boo

 The weather was wonderful the whole time we were here.  It was warm during the days and cool at night.  And, yes, I am a nut for sunsets-these did not disappoint!

It may sound boring but we spent our time here swimming, reading, writing a bit and doing some painting.  The time flew by!

We stayed much longer than we had planned but wanted to get out of there for the weekend, as the campground host said it got very crowded, and that just isn't our style.

We traveled along parts of the California and Oregon Trails, starting at the National Oregon/California Trail Center in Montpelier, Idaho.  They do living history tours and have exhibits about the trails.  We were aware of the Oregon Trail, having bypassed it many times in our travels, but hadn't been that familiar with the California one.  Between 1841 and 1869 more than a quarter million people crossed the plains and mountains to look for gold in California.  Because of a depressed economy in the east and the lure of "Manifest Destiny", many dreamed of instant wealth and a lush California climate.  The California Trail eventually offered many different ways of crossing the west, as did the Oregon Trail and in some places they intersected.  The deserts, prairies, canyons and rugged mountains made the California Trail the most difficult of all the overland trails.  I was surprised to hear that there were guidebooks or "waybills" published as soon as the trail opened to guide the emigrants west.  Also, although this land was home to many Indian nations, there were very few altercations with them.  Mostly, Indians helped guide emigrants along the route.  Conflicts increased in the 1850s and 60s when the travelers and their livestock destroyed so much of the Indian food sources.  In 1869 the railroads connecting the east with the west signaled the end of wagon trails.  We have seen the ruts which have been preserved for 150 years.  A pretty amazing part of our history!

I drove and Jim researched RV parks along the way because we badly needed a little time for a billion loads of laundry we had accumulated and we wanted WiFi so I could catch up on the blog and he could do some banking and other "very important business".  So we came upon American Falls, Idaho, a huge reservoir outside of Pocatello.

The best part were the hollyhocks across the road from us
and a little view of the Reservoir.

We had a surprisingly private site at the end which had a
huge lawn area.

Only trouble was.....the trains ran every hour throughout
the day and night!  Thank god for ear plugs.

There were two dryers and one washer that were all occupied when I got there.  I staked the place out and got my stuff in there in a hurry when they cleared out, but it took a good part of the day. Luckily, there was a little Cafe on the site where Jim could hang out with his computer and I could come join him between washes, drying and folding.  I cannot tell you how many quarters I used-it is just unbelievable!

We walked down to the boat launch that evening, watched
the sunset and crawled into bed early.

I can't end a blog without a picture of the sweetest dog
in the whole world.  Here he is stealing my pillows
the minute I got out of bed.  And we always tell him,
"It's moving day, Boo!  Better pack up and get ready to
hit the road!"

Fossil Butte National Monument

I have a National Parks Passport Book that Lynne McDougal gave me when I retired.  It is almost completely filled up with stamps from various places we have visited, just four years later.  Any time we see a national monument or historical site or national park, we try to make it a point to visit.  Some are very little known and a bit out of the way, as was Fossil Butte National Monument, but we could take just a bit of a detour to get there on our way to Bear Lake in Utah.  We were not disappointed.

The drive from Flaming Gorge took us north through what my parents would have called "God-forsaken country" through Manila and Urie, crossing I80 to Kemmerer and west on Rte 30.  The road was paved but not in the greatest shape.  The area was almost totally uninhabited except for small little towns, probably dependent on the oil and gas industry or mining of some kind.  Kemmerer's claim to fame is that it had the first J.C. Penney store!  Wow!  You turn right off Route 30 and go up a bout 1/2 mile to the visitor center.  Along the way, there were signposts every so often that separated the various geological ages that began 4 1/2 billion years ago.  The distance between signs represents different events in Earth's history.

AND, more recently....

50 million years ago, an ancient lake, Fossil Lake, existed in what is now southwest Wyoming.  This ancient lakebed has exceptionally fossiliferous (a new word for me) sediments.  The unusual chemistry of the lake prevented decay. The limestone in the area contains the highest concentration of fossil fish in the world.  Fossil Lake is the world's best Paleocene record of freshwater lake ecosystems.  Preserved with the fish is an ancient aquatic ecosystem:  crustaceans, amphibians, alligators, turtles, birds and mammals.  Some very rare fossils of a horse, snakes, lizards and bats have also been found here.  It is an amazing place-the kind of place where you'd like to take a few courses, if you had more time.

Here are some examples of the outstanding fossils found here.

TURTLES

My personal favorite-I painted this one!  (lousy job)

STINGRAYS

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A GAR

A Crocodile

A small horse

SNAKES 

We wished we could have stayed longer, but the water was calling us again!