Craters of the Moon

Craters of the Moon National Monument
Backcountry initiation

The next stop on our journey towards Colorado was totally unplanned until about 5 miles before the exit. The conversation went something like: “Hey Jory, ever been to Craters of the Moon National Monument?” “Uh, no, but I think they trained astronauts there.” “Cool, take the next exit and we’ll go check it out.” That’s basically how we make decisions on this trip.

If you’re ever planning a trip to Craters of the Moon, I recommend you go during the spring or fall. In the summer it’s easily over 100 degrees, and in the winter (when we were there) it’s all covered with snow. Interesting lava formations are not so interesting when they just look like a big mound of snow. Undeterred by the perceived lack of scenery, we stopped by the visitor’s center to see what there might be. (Quick side note: the visitor’s center had these crazy hand dryers that blew so hard they actually rippled the skin on your hands, like someone’s face in a wind tunnel. They were the only hand dryers I have ever seen that actually worked.) After Nate chatted up the ranger lady (Don’t worry, she was at least 30 years his senior), she mentioned that people sometimes ski off of the cinder cones in the park. That’s enough reason for us to try it! I still didn’t have my telemark skis ready, so I ended up hauling my heavy alpine skis and boots on up the hill. Nate took pity on me and decided to walk as well, which turned into wading uphill in waist deep snow. We finally made it and I got my first backcountry ski turns in, which were made great by having earned them the hard way. After another lap up the hill (much easier since we had already broken the trail), it was back in the van and onwards towards Colorado. Oh, and it turns out they did train astronauts there, but only in geology so they would know what kind of samples to bring home.

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