The Sun Also Rises

The Moon

It was cold during my late night pee but, like most places, it gets even colder just before sunrise. That's all I have to say in this paragraph.

I could not wait for my bike ride on the Craters of the Moon scenic loop. I was ready to go at 7 o'clock, but I held out for a couple cups of coffee and a hike into lava country.

In case you didn't recognize me, that IS me, waving.

That's better. NOW you can tell the waver is me.

I like hiking, but I like bike riding better. Therefore, I hiked back to retrieve my bike from the campsite and started the scenic loop. I was overdressed from the beginning. As the sun got higher in the sky and the sweat increased, I'd shed another layer of clothing. I did that every 15-minutes until I was down to my biking shirt and shorts. I took pictures too.

There was a little bit of mild climbing.

It looked like patches of snow on the lava fields.

At first I thought they were the cryptobiotic crust that I've been warned is so fragile in the deserts of Utah and Arizona. Upon closer inspection, I noticed those patches were some kind of tiny flower. I saw what they were on my National Park informational brochure, but I'll quiz my friend Bill to see if he can come up with the answer.

At the time, I wasn't sure why it was called "Devil's Orchard," but now I do. It's because Satan himself tried to transform Idaho from the holy land of bike touring into the pitiful hell of bike touring. He spewed lava from hundreds of mini-volcanos to create a land nobody could love. Too bad for Satan, but there are legions of us who love this land . . . the holy land.

Moving on:

Climbing up to the top of Inferno Cone. The sun itself was becoming an inferno.

Looking down from Inferno Cone. If you look closely, you might be able to see The Reckless Mr. Bingbong down there.

Beyond the lava field are what they call "splatter cones." They're created by lava eruptions from mini-volcanos. I don't completely understand the geology of this place, but I sure like what I see.

The Reckless Mr. Bingbong is ready, willing and able. And he IS a truck--a Long Haul Trucker.

It took me more hours to ride that 8-mile loop than I want to admit. I wanted to stop for pictures every few minutes. And I wanted to hike on the moon at every opportunity. I savored every minute of that ride, and I promised myself that I'd do it again tomorrow--straight through--with no pictures.

WARNING: Food picture. New York Strip and grilled onion.

And tonight I stayed awake until sunset.

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Rachael AndersonWhat an amazing spot!
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2 years ago