The earth shook for several days. She shuddered at the expectations. Then the clouds of sulphurous stench hissed from a widening gaze. Fountains of lava shot up from a crack and piled up ashes and drops around themselves. The prevailing south-westerly wind carried volcanic dust and twisted the growing cones in the direction of the northeast. Suddenly, as if they were turned off, the fountains again fell into a crack. The earth ceased to tremble: there was only a hot hiss.
But the land was not finished. A coal black slag cone broke out on its flank and opened a new wound. Lava blood poured into place. The earth gathered and sent lava pouring out to the surface. The fragments of the cone broke off and the stream melted them. As the lava covered with bark cooled from hot to dark, the lava arteries flow under it, pushing the stream along. Like honey, lava has spread throughout the landscape.
Only about two thousand years ago - just the ticking of a geological clock - an event similar to that described occurred at the National Crater of the Moon Monument in the southern central state of Idaho. But this was not the only case of volcanism. The great weakness of the crust, known as the Great Rift, allowed the molten rock to rise from the depths of the earth several times.
The visitor center of the park is an ideal place to start exploring this seemingly dark lava. The center contains books and exhibits related to the geology, history and biology of the park. The video shows recent eruptions in Hawaii that were similar to those that occurred in the craters of the Moon a century ago. Across the road, visitors can camp among volcanic rocks and stoves in a single campsite (without hooks), and in the evening in the evening in the nearby amphitheater you can order an evening program for a fire.
After you have received a map, camping, and additional water (visitor center and camping are the only sources), you can start on a seven-mile loop road to explore the area. Passing past the tent city, the road turns sharply to the right when it reaches a part of the southern stream of the North Crater. In addition to the curve, a paved interpretive path awaits those who want to see the lava. Along this trail, you will see the “Triple Twist Tree” - an ancient, gnarled, thorny pine. According to estimates of the number of growth rings in this tree, scientists estimate that this stream may have occurred two thousand years ago, which makes it one of the youngest streams in the park.
You will learn that two types of basaltic lava flows are in the craters of the moon. One type is called pahuehoe (pronounced pa-hoy-hoy, the Hawaiian word means ropy). At the top of this stream, a cool but supple crust was formed, which pushed the bark into the fold. Another kind - aa (pronounced ah-ah, Hawaiian - for "hard on his feet"). Lava, which is less gaseous and more sluggish than pahoehoe, forms spiky pieces on its surface.
Not far from the parking lot is the North Crater Trail. This trail will lead you to the crater where the lava flow arose.
Continuing, you turn to the left of the loop to reach the Order of the Devil. Geologists believe that this place is an ancient cone, which was destroyed to pieces and erosion. You can take a self-guided trace - which has numbered markers attached to a booklet - through clumsy remains. You will learn about geology, bird life and lichen and other plants. Lichens are an association of mushrooms and algae that can live on bare rock. Look at the purple flowers of the dwarf monkeys that are carpet on the ground here at the beginning of summer.
If you continue along the loop, you will reach Inferno Cone. A short, steep path leads to the top of this mass of ash. The peak provides a good perspective for viewing the many cones along the Great Rift in the southeast and northwest. Standing on top, you can feel the brunt of the continuous winds in the southwest park. Big Cinder Butte, one of the largest purely basalt cones in the world, is the highest cone in the southeast.
From late spring to late summer, many of the more than 200 plant species growing on the Craters of the Moon shy away from the slopes of the cones. Dwarf buckwheat, with its pom-like flower clusters and a bitter touch that bright white petals contrast sharply with dark centers, is especially common.
Spray cones are the next interesting formations along the loop. Nowhere in the continental United States can you find a better example of spray cones than in the craters of the moon. They were formed when the earth spewed out lava drops that stuck to each other. One of the cones here contains ice all year round. This is because lava rocks almost always contain gas bubbles, which act as insulators.
From the hinge road, spurs lead past frozen lava cascades to the parking area of the trees. From here you will walk the path to the tree forms, which are formed when the lava flows through the trees and then cools, often leaving a stone with impressions of burning trunks. barking. You can follow the Street Trail from the parking lot to the rarely visited crater of the lunar wilderness area. You will need free permission to enter the wildlife zone if you repack.
The wildlife trail departs from the Tree of Trees. The trail plummets toward the flow of the pahoecho and crosses the flow. Rock cores mark the path through a wavy, pleated surface. At the far end you will find an old dirt road that stretches for about four miles into the desert. If you follow this road, you will enjoy mild hiking through wide open landscapes with a bit of dust and stoves that bother you.
After you cross the border of wild nature, you will pass between the Big Chest and the semi-cone, and then continue on the Trench Mortar Flat Plane. The flat name was derived from lava tubes that formed like woody forms, with the exception that lava formed around standing tree trunks. After you finish Coyote Bute, you will arrive at Echo Crater - one of the best campsites in the area for backpackers.
We camped at Echo Crater on our first and most recent visits to this desert. During our first visit, we camped on the edge of the crater and went from there to find water wells, cracks and other objects that we did not mark on the topographic map. On our last night there, we heard and saw prairie falcons flying around the crater. After watching them for some time, we discovered that they were male and female, alternately hunting and guarding their nest on the edge of the crater's echo.
During a visit to the 1980s, we reached the echo crater in the dark. The wind was usually steady, so we camped inside the crater for protection. As it happens, the crater is crescent-shaped - a high western edge sloping towards a lower opening to the east. When we started cooking dinner, the moon lifted a full, glowing orange red ball, shedding light on our camp and into the crater.
In the late 1990s, we studied the displayed objects that form in lava flows, such as lava tube caves and lava bridges. Lava can flow like a river, and with lava on top, exposed to cooler air, a crust can form that hardens and stops moving. But lava crust is a good insulator, so still hot lava can continue to flow. Sometimes still liquid lava can drain, leaving the tube behind. If part of the roof is actually destroyed, then there is a cave of lava tubes. If another part of the roof collapses near another collapse, the solid crust covering the space between them is a lava bridge.
On the map of the Craters of the Moon are listed two lava bridges, the Bridge of Tears and the Bridge of the Moon. We went to the Bridge of Tears and camped next to it, and also explored the Cave of Moss and the cave of the Amphitheater, which formed along the same lava tube as the bridge. We heard rumors that the Moon Bridge might have collapsed, and we wanted to go to the area where it was supposed to be, and see if we could find it. Failure to find him could be a sign that she collapsed.
After camping in Bridge of Tears, we went to the footpath, which will lead us directly to the location of Bridge of the Moon. After we hit the road, we had to plunge into an elliptical form of depression. We noticed that a hole appeared at the opposite end of the depression. Therefore, we decided to spend some time to study it. It turned out to be a cave with two side-by-side holes. The map did not show this feature, so we made notes about it, including its GPS coordinates. We continued to the location of the Bridge of the Moon, but we could not find it. We returned from the desert, but spent another night.
After a jump from the next day, we turned to our review of the invisible cave to the rangers at the visiting center and asked if this feature had ever been previously described. It turned out that it is not, we have to call it. Since we are twin brothers and there were two holes in the cave, we called it the “Double Cave”. However, he will never appear on any maps, because Park Service is trying to protect the caves from vandalism and does not want to give up their places.
In August 2016, we returned to the desert of Craters of the Moon to visit “our” cave after almost 20 years and found that one of the holes became larger due to the destruction of parts of the roof, but the other seemed to be related to how it used to be. We took what we call "double self-government" at the entrance to the mail on the pages of social networks.
The dirt road to the desert flies by the time it reaches two cones, located past the Echo crater - the Guardian and the Guardian. To the south, in 1879, J.W. Powell and Arthur Ferris of Arco, Idaho, left a marker on Vermilion’s break during exploration to determine if there was enough water for the craters of the Moon to support grazing. This is not true. Then, in 1921, Robert Limbert, WL Cole and the dog ventured north from Minidoka to explore this illegally unknown region. During their journey through the AA streams, they could hardly sleep at night due to the sharpness of the lava. The dog cut his legs, so the men had to carry him. After running on the water, they managed to find water wells, watching the flight of pigeons. Despite these difficulties, the two men were passionate about this land, and they had many of their own characteristics with descriptive names that they are known today. Thanks to Libert’s reports, photographs and lobbying, as well as an article he wrote for National Geographic, “Craters of the Moon” was declared a national monument in 1924.
Returning to the path, after climbing into the loop, you will continue to move towards the area of the caves. Pahuehoe flows through channels or pipes using cooling bark. As the eruption subsides, lava may drain from the pipe, leaving a crisis in itself. The Indian tunnel is an example of a lava tube in which most of the overlying bark has collapsed. Because of this condition, you do not need to wear a flashlight to explore the Indian subway tunnel. Right outside the tunnel, a ring of stones is all that remains of the windscreen where Shoshonov Indians once camped, hunting for deer and other wild animals in the park. However, you will need a flashlight to explore another cave. Particularly interesting is the cave boy scout. Throughout the year, this cave contains a thick layer of ice that can be covered with a layer of water in the summer.
The craters of the moon are also famous for being part of NASA's efforts to send people to the real moon. Several astronauts came here to explore this area as an example of what they might encounter when they landed on the moon.
To find the Craters of the Moon, drive 24 miles east of Cary or 18 miles west of Arco on combined routes 20, 26 and 93 US in Idaho. The monument is open all year round, although the loop road is usually open only from late April to mid-November. In winter you can ski. For more information, write to the National Monument of Craters of the Moon, Box 29, Arco, ID 83213, or call headquarters at (208) 527-1300, for information about the visitor, call (208) 527-1335.
The website of the Crater of the Moon National Monument is located at: http://www.nps.gov/crmo
To learn more about lava, check out the wikipedia entry on lava at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava
