Craters of the Moon in Idaho

We visited Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve as a small detour on our road trip to see Shoshone Falls near the city of Twin Falls in Idaho.

We had visited Craters of the Moon before, that that visit was a long time ago.

Craters of the Moon is best known for its volcanic landscape, which the National Park Servince website describes: "Craters of the Moon is a vast ocean of lava flows with scattered islands of cinder cones and sagebrush. We invite you to explore this 'weird and scenic landscape' where yesterday's volcanic events are likely to continue tomorrow."

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is jointly managed with the Bureau of Land Management and their website describes the park:

The Bureau of Land Management's Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is a 750,000-acre geologic wonderland, managed jointly with the National Park Service's Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. Its central feature is the Great Rift, a 52-mile long crack in the Earth's crust. The Great Rift is a remarkably preserved volcanic landscape. Exposed fissures, lava fields, lava tubes, craters and cinder cones form a strangely beautiful volcanic sea on central Idaho's Snake River Plain.

We visited in late May and unfortunately the caves and lava tubes were closed due to risky ice-related issues, but we were still able to see some interesting sights and we saw fewer than ten other people the entire time we were there.

Devil's Orchard Nature Trail

There is a large parking area for the Devil's Orchard Nature Trail.

The Devil's Orchard Nature Trail is a wheelchair accessible loop. The next photograph shows how some of the wildlife left their prints in the sidewalk as it was curing.

Trail is easy to navigate but features lots of interesting landscape.

Inferno Cone

Although the caves and lava tunnels were closed in late May, we were still able to go to three places listed on the "Places To Go" page, including climbing the Inferno Cone.

The Inferno Cone requires more hiking than it appears in the photograph above, but it's worth it for the 360 degree views. (Note no people going up or down when this photograph was taken in late May and contrast with this photograph on the National Park site.)

Spatter Cones

The Spatter Cones are very short walks from their parking area (note how empty that parking area was in late May).

As the National Park Service's Places to Go page states, these short walks allow visitors to "peer into the vents of these miniature volcanoes."

North Crater Trail

A trailhead for (end of) North Crater Trail is at the same parking area as the Spatter Cones.

Conclusion

Because all of the places described above are immediately accessible from the 7-mile Loop Road, it was easy to experience all of these sights and hikes in a couple hours. We would have liked to have experienced the caves as well, but it was too early in the season for that. Although we did not get to experience the caves, it was nice to experience Craters of the Moon in late May with pleasant (slightly cool) temperatures and very few other people.

Apostle Islands Cruises Grand Tour

For our first visit to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, it seemed obvious that we should participate in a cruise provided by Apostle Islands Cruises.

Apostle Islands Cruises offers several cruises and shuttles during the summer (including some that stop at select islands), but in October only the non-stop Grand Tour was offered.

The Apostle Islands Cruises depart from the extremely scenic, charming, and photogenic town of Bayfield, Wisconsin.

I imagine that Bayfield is also charming and photogenic, but it was especially so with the trees' leavings changing colors in early October.

Although not all cruises and shuttles were being operated by Apostle Islands Cruises in October, an advantage of this timing was much smaller crowds in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and in Bayfield.

Because we stayed at the Harbor's Edge Motel, we had only a very short walk to the pier to board the cruise. Bayfield was very quiet in those morning hours. A line did eventually form and the photograph below shows it when it was about half of the total length it would reach.

There were plenty of seats on the ship for our Morning Grand Tour and quite a few empty seats on the lower, enclosed floor.

The Apostle Islands Cruises website states that the Grand Tour is 2.5 to 3 hours in duration and describes this tour:

The Grand Tour takes you on a narrated, informative 55-mile scenic tour. Throughout this memorable cruise, you'll pass extraordinary natural scenery, beautiful historic Raspberry and Devils Island Lighthouses, standing rocks, extensive sea caves, and marine wildlife. Learn the rich history of centuries of human interaction with Wisconsin's "Crown Jewels" on majestic Lake Superior.

The article "Top 7 Highlights of an Apostle Islands Cruises' 'Grand Tour'" talks about the "top 7 highlights [that] make the Apostle Islands Cruises tour so 'Grand'."

Unsurprisingly, the "beautiful islands" (#1) and their "spectacular sea caves" (#4) are among the top seven highlights of the Grand Tour.

One of the top 7 Grand Tour highlights (#2) is Raspberry Lighthouse.

Another Grand Tour highlight (#3) is Devils Island Lighthouse.

Wildlife is another highlight of the Grand Tour (#5) and we saw lots of aquatic birds on this cruise.

The #6 item on the list of highlights of the Grand Tour is related to the history associated with the Apostle Islands such as Historic Manitou Fish Camp.

The Apostle Islands Cruises Grand Tour combines a leisurly boat ride with beautiful scenery and history and allows one to cruise on the largest freshwater lake (surface area) in the world (Lake Superior).

We particularly enjoyed going on this cruise in October with the leaves changing colors.

The highlight of our visit to the Apostle Islands was kayaking on Lake Superior off the mainland (especially kayaking the large sea caves off Meyers Beach with our tour guide and no one else on the water), but the Apostle Islands Cruises Grand Tour allowed us to get much closer multiple islands. It would be fun to visit in the summer and take the shuttles to some of these islands to kayak near the islands.