Friday-Sunday, June 8-10: We settled our RV into our shaded, level site at Mountain View RV Park, Arco Idaho. On the mountainside you can see where adventuresome high school class members have painted their graduation years in big numbers way up on the mountain’s rocky face.
Our destination: Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. Often described as “an ocean of blackened lava.” Yup, black lava flows, chunks, chimneys, holes and big rocks of lava everywhere. A long loop road with stop-offs takes you throughout the park. There is a wild rocky campground with sites squeezed in between the lava flows, really neat, but we had opted not to stay there due to lack of electricity. I was afraid it would be unbearably hot.
We really lucked out with bearable temps and the park was awash in wildflowers. A very tough environment for plants; lack of moisture, meager soil (rocks), and in the summer the dark surface temperature reaches 150 degrees regularly. I was glad we came in June allowing us to enjoy the flowers and not be roasted by the heat.
We climbed in and out of our truck to follow various walkways and once to climb a big incline to a high viewing point.
It was a very interesting day. When we returned “home” I picked up a take-out rib dinner from the cafe at our campground. Supplemented with a baked sweet potato, the rib dinner was plenty for the both of us. Delicious!! On Sunday morning, John left a rock by the picnic table and we headed west to Oregon.
