September 9, 2008
Day 13: To Craters of the Moon
Traffic noise was loud inside my motel room overnight. I got up at 7:30 and on the road at 9. The weather was sunny and I had a brisk tailwind for the first 10 miles going south through the town of Bellevue. But then for some reason I had a headwind for the last few miles going south to US 20.
On US 20 I turned east towards Craters of the Moon National Monument. After only 4 miles I stopped for lunch at a very nice store/restaurant in the village of Picabo.
Most of US20 is flat but there is a big hill separating Picabo and Cary. The road has a narrow paved shoulder and traffic was relatively light. Not as bad as many US highways.
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10 miles east of Cary I stopped for a soak at Wild Rose hot spring. It's only 100 yards off the highway on the edge of the lava zone. I soaked for an hour. Fortunately the tall lava rocks on the south side of the pool gave me some shade. The hot pool is 50 feet long and 4 feet deep. The source is 102F and the pool is 101F. Clear and odorless. Perfect! And very fascinating to be surrounded by lava. It's obviously a local party spot because trash was everywhere. I stuffed a grocery bag with 20 pounds of trash. As I was leaving some motorists stopped to look at the hot spring and they agreed to haul away the trash.
From the hot spring I pedaled another 15 miles to the Craters of the Moon visitor center. Lava to my right for the entire distance, and to my left for most of the distance. I'm crossing the northern edge of lava flows that sprawls 20 miles (east-west) by 50 miles (north-south). The weather was sunny and the temperature was 90F. The mostly bare black lava really absorbs the sun's heat.
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The road climbs steadily for 10 miles to 6000 feet elevation. Then a short downhill to the Craters of the Moon visitor center. I arrived at 5:55 PM, just before the visitor center closed.
The campground was closed for reconstruction of the roads and water system. But free tent camping was temporarily permitted in the picnic area. So I set up my tent there on lava cinders (no soil). The ground was very warm. Two English ladies drove up a few minutes later and set up camp next to me. We enjoyed the conversation and they gave me wine and filled my fuel bottle from their gallon of Coleman fuel. While we were talking a fox ran through the campsite. We saw bats flying around.
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The evening was unusually warm considering that the elevation was nearly 6000 feet. The dark lava and cinders absorb the sun's heat and stay warm for hours after sunset.
Overall it was a great day. Very warm day and even a rare warm evening. I felt strong and enjoyed the scenery, both on and off the lava.
Distance: 54.4 miles (87 km)
Climbing: 1609 feet (488 m)
Average speed: 10.2 mph (16.4 km/h)
Maximum speed: 33.5 mph (53.6 km/h)
Today's ride: 54 miles (87 km)
Total: 576 miles (927 km)
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