16 October 2016, Sunday
Once again we wake to sunshine, but the forecast is for heavy rain tonight with snow in the higher elevations. After breakfast we stop to photograph the desert submarine and then drive to Craters of the Moon once again. We head to Broken Top and the Wilderness Trail where we begin our hike by walking the trail around Broken Top, formed when lava was sprayed into the air from an eruption fissure. Then we climb to an overlook from which we can see the young (2100 years old) Blue Dragon Lava Flow. In the far distance we also see Big Southern Butte, a rhyolite peak formed about 300,000 years ago. As I survey the jumbled lava I can’t help thinking that it looks like an unfinished construction project. Then I reflect again. That’s precisely what it is!
Now we hike out onto the Wilderness Trail. We spend most of the afternoon on this 8 mile out and back path. We walk past more cinder cones which are just beginning to be colonized by resilient plants and limber pines that can tolerate the harsh environment. We see no one all afternoon. In fact, despite seeing deer and coyote tracks, the only other mammal we see is a tiny gray mouse. We also see ravens, Clark’s nutcrackers, and a red-shafted flicker who treats me to a brilliant flash of red as the underside of its wings catch the sun. O and I are struck by the silence out here. There is no sound except for the wind in the brush and the occasional squawk of birds.
About 2:30 we eat our lunch and then turn around. As we near the parking area we walk the rest of the Broken Top Loop stopping at Buffalo Cave which is a lava tube. We then take a wrong turn and end up walking over the top of a pressure ridge where crusts of cooling lava were forced upward by hot lava flows beneath. In places, the lava escaped and squeezed out to become lava toes. We realize our mistake when we see only jumbled a’a ahead, lying between us and the parking area. We quickly retrace our steps to the cave where we pick up the proper path.
Back to Arco we drive as the sky clouds over and the temperature drops. We enjoy our last “Atomic Burger” at Pickles and return to our room. Tomorrow we drive half way across Wyoming. We have some mountains to cross between here and there and are wondering how much snow we will run into.