Mountain Home

I stopped at the small city of Mountain Home as I left Boise for Twin Falls. The downtown area doesn’t have a lot going on, but they have named themselves the Mural Capitol of Idaho. Local art teacher Brenda Raub and the rest of the Community Canvas organization have worked to bring the city to life with over 200 murals in the town. Walking around the downtown area, murals adorn most of the sidewalls and alleys of the buildings. The most famous of the murals is the Wishing Wall, which invites people to paste pennies to the wall and make a wish.  People have spelled out their names and created interesting designs on the wall. I picked up a morning treat at a local bakery and enjoyed walking around downtown before making my way to the big stop for the day. 

Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve

Much of this road trip was about experiencing the National Parks in the area.  I started out the road trip a few weeks back with the big ones – Grand Tetons & Yellowstone – but I also wanted to explore some of the smaller ones along the way. 

Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve was unlike any other place I’ve ever been. Over 15,000 years ago, this area was a hotbed of volcanic activity.  The landforms we see today are the product of eight major eruptive eras over the course of 5,000 years.  The most recent eruption was over 2,000 years ago, so I felt comfortable that I wasn’t endangering myself as I walked around the lava beds. I know very little about volcanic activity and lava forms, but I learned about several different types of lava during the course of my short visit to the park. 

The park is easily explored in one day as it is set up around a seven mile loop road.  Along the road are parking areas to access hiking trails and viewing platforms.   I visited in the heat of the summer, so while I spent some time hiking the shorter trails and viewing the lava formations from the viewing platforms, I didn’t tackle any of the longer hikes which are fully exposed to the sun. The park offers eight hikes in total – ranging from less than a tenth of a mile to about ten miles. 

My first short hike of the visit was the 1.8 mile Broken Top Loop Trail. The trail encircles and ascends a small hill, which provides a nice panoramic view of the park. The trail offers a variety of terrain as it loops around the small mound and showcases the lava formations of the cinder cones, spatter cones, pahoehoe, slabby pahoehoe and lava tubes of lava. These unearthly formations contrast with the soft and ashy colors of the sagebrush and sparse vegetation.  The trail also offers access to the Buffalo Caves; since this cave is more for experienced spelunkers, I saved my cave exploration for the next hike.

At the onset of the Caves Trail, the path traverses the stark landscape of the pahoehoe lava and doesn’t feel like it will be a relief from the heat, but as soon as I descended into the Dew Drop cave, I quickly felt the temperature drop.  Dew Drop is a small cave that gives a quick glimpse into what is to come for the next cave: the Indian Cave. 

At over 30 feet high, with skylights bringing in the light, Indian Cave doesn’t have the claustrophobic feeling that I expect to have within caves; however, it did require me to scramble over rocks over the course of the quarter mile trail and climb up to exit through one of the larger skylights. The cave is named after the stone rings and stone structures the Shoshone tribes left behind. The Shoshone tribes used these caves for shelter and a source of water. Craters offers a few other lava tube caves available in the park, though some are closed right now and others require equipment and headlamps to navigate.

Thousand Springs State Park

On a hot summer’s day, Thousand Springs State Park sounded like a refreshing and beautiful way to spend some time.  I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised – but I was – at the sheer number of small waterfalls I passed during my drive into the park.  In some places there were so many different waterfalls that it looked like a blanket of water. The views and sounds of the flowing water coming straight out of the side of the mountains set a lovely backdrop.

I set up along the small beach across from Ritter Island at the Thousand Springs Preserve to enjoy some water time.  Ritter Island creates a small offshoot of the Snake River that in essence feels like a lazy river.  Families set up picnics, brought floats and fishing poles to enjoy the shallow and easy moving water in the area.  Ritter Island is open some days of the week for walks and events, but it was sadly closed during my visit. 

Holesinksy Winery

There’s a collection of wineries in the area, and for my trip, I picked Holesinsky Vineyard and Winery in Buhl.  The bucolic setting and small tasting room set the tone for a peaceful visit.  The owners and other patrons were friendly and knowledgeable about the area, which added some nice local flavor to the experience. The Winery offers a large selection of both dry and sweet, red and white wines, playful and classic, so they have something for everyone.