CRATERS OF THE MOON EXPEDTION!

Want to know where you can experience terrain resembling the moon's terrain, but never leave Planet Earth?  Visit Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in Idaho!

The invitation to "EXPLORE THE MOON" will be a definite eye-catcher to youngsters interested in becoming astronauts!
On one of my many solo driving trips Out West, my PLANS did not have a particular deadline for returning to Arkansas, so I took the time to make a short detour off the Interstate, to visit Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve (www.nps.gov).  I knew nothing about the park (except for a scene I remembered from a movie), so I was thankful to be able to read about it, on one of the bulletin boards available to visitors (photo above).  A picture of the current visitor center is shown below:

 

The first cinder cone I climbed, provided the opportunity to get a wider view of the surrounding landscape, as shown in photo below: 

The park is huge, comprising 750,000 acres, of rugged volcanic landscape, amounting to 11 square miles.  

One can get a sense of the height of the cinder cone I climbed, by noticing how small the cars look, in the parking lot at the bottom.  One can PLAN in advance, to know the elevation change, from bottom to top, by studying the park information at the visitor center.  

With an advance PLAN, you can calculate your total mileage walked from the parking lot to the top, and back down again.  

The only trail marking on the ascent, is the pressed down cinders, from hundreds of visitors making the trek to the summit.  

To help frame a photo of the surrounding landscape, I eventually found a tree limb, to place in the top of the composition.  The black areas of the foreground and in the valley, show the extent of the lava flow, that helped create the park.  It was a result of The Great Rift, which is a 52 mile long fissure in the earth's crust, that developed over 15,000 years ago.  

This is a photo of me by the aforementioned tree, where I had used one of its limbs, as a "frame".  The tree has to be a hardy specimen, to survive the harsh growing conditions on the top of a cinder cone!  Likewise, I was feeling like a "hardy specimen", because I had successfully made the climb to the summit!  So, of course, I wanted a photo to prove it!

I set my camera on "automatic" so I could get a view of the other side of the summit, from the previous photo.  I also took a photo that showed the 7-mile loop road that visitors can drive through, but it does not show up in the photo.  

I was not the only one who wanted a photo at the summit, to commemorate the accomplishment!  This couple also wanted proof of their summit location!

I took the photo below, of a couple shielding themselves from the hot sun, by using an umbrella!  They obviously established their PLAN to prevent sunburn, before they started their walk!

The reason I capitalized the word "PLAN" in these paragraphs, is because I am using these photos as a visual aid, to help me learn one of my First Place 4 Health (www.FirstPlace4Health.com) memory verses that says, "Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and He will establish your PLANS."  (Proverbs 16:3)  Although my original PLAN only called for visiting relatives in Oregon, when I realized I was retracing the wagon wheels of pioneers on the Goodale's Cut-Off section, of The Oregon Trail, (www.OregonTrail.org), I was intrigued and wanted to learn more about the hardships they experienced.  I had visited one of my elderly cousins who lived in Dairy, Oregon, and he was a wheelwright, who repaired wagon wheels.  I had read that the volcanic stone of this part of the trail was extremely wearing on wagon wheels, and resulted in many abandoned PLANS, so I can imagine someone who knew how to make and repair wagon wheels would have been very important! 

I am thankful that the LORD established a PLAN for me to be able to visit Craters of the Moon, because the experience gave me a visual aid for a wisdom Bible verse, and "MILES OF SMILES"!  Tricia