We spent a few days at this national monument. Initially, we thought this would be a “drive by,” but this really turned out to be an amazing place. If you’ve spent time on the Big Island then sure, you’ve seen lava and volcanos. But this was a very different critter. Rather than big mountainous volcanic domes, all this volcanic activity came from a series of deep fissures, collectively known as the Great Rift. What is cool about that is you are just driving along through the plains and hills and all of a sudden, there is this massive landscape of lava of all different types. BTW, I asked if this rift was connected to the great caldera at Yellowstone and the answer was not only yes, but this area would erupt before Yellowstone goes. The first day was windy and we had occasional showers. That made for some really contrasty photos that highlighted the general barrenness of the landscape. The highlight of the day was climbing the Inferno Cone, a steep trail in the middle of the scenic loop that provides panoramic views of the surrounding landscape of the Great Rift. While you only climb 160 feet, the summit is at 6181 feet, meaning a little huffing and puffing.
We spent that night at a RV park in Arco, ID. After Deb made Manhattans with very rudimentary bar equipment, we learned that the wife of the couple made and sold her own homemade fried chicken and, of course, we bellied up! So bad, but so good! The next day was a blue sky, bright sun one — so why not go underground?! Actually, there are a series of lava tubes you can visit. We ended up visiting two; the third (Boy Scout Tunnel) required you to crawl on your belly like a reptile, that neither of us was in the mood for. These lava tubes created some very large tunnels. The largest (and most accessible) was Indian Tunnel. You had to do a lot of rock climbing to get around and climb out of a hole to exit, but it was very doable. Beauty Cave turned out to be anything but — you had to climb down a precarious set of rocks, enter the totally dark first chamber, only to find out that the rest of the cave was closed. Before we left, I wanted to hike to the famous “tree molds” area, hoping to see great examples of something “frozen in time” from the lava flow. While the hike was quite beautiful, I literally walked by the molds and ran out of trail. After backtracking a bit, I found a couple of small examples. Not quite up to the hype.
Anyway, there was a lot to see here — old cinder cones, spatter tubes, fissures and rifts, and the really large lava tubes. What surprised us the most was the abundance of life that exists in this otherwise harsh landscape. While it is somewhat out of the way, this is definitely a NPS unit to visit!
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
