More Graduation Trip

Still hanging out in the KOA park in Arco, Idaho.  We visited the Craters of the Moon Monument and there are no words to describe this place.  It is both eerie and beautiful.  We climbed a volcanic cone, hiked some trails, and went down into the lava tubes/bat caves.  I took all the pictures for the Craters with my new Galaxy S5 but haven't figured out how to load the pictures on my camera so I can share them.  We also went to EBR 1 that is just south of Arco. EBR 1 was an experimental breeder reactor that gave the town of Arco the ability to say they were the first ever to be powered by nuclear energy. Unfortunately there was a minor accident and it is now a place to visit.  Again I took all the pictures with the Galaxy S5.

Today we drove off into the mountains.  The plan was to drop our grandson at the Borah Peak Trailhead and scout the area while he attempted to climb to the summit.  As he left he made it clear that the summit was probably out and he would climb for three hours and turn no matter where he was.  We figured his total time on the mountain would be roughly five hours so off he went and we went exploring.

Reading the Instructions

While we have internet it is very slow and pictures such as the one above take some time to load.  We needed fuel so we returned to MacKay, Idaho.  Once fueled we took off back up Highway 93 towards the mountain that Zach was climbing.  I found a country road that obviously went through a farm valley and since we all know how much I love the farm, I forced Mia to sit through miles of nothing but farms and fields.  I was in search of old farmsteads but I didn't find anything much older than the 1950's.  I did find a couple of old buildings that are being preserved.

We looped through the valley and came back out to Highway 93 a few miles before the cutoff for the trailhead.  We were on our way to the next town a few miles from the cutoff when I decided to check my phone for messages.  Zach sent me a message saying that he had reached the 9870 foot level and had encountered severe winds and could see thunder clouds closing in.  He had mad a decision to come back down off the mountain.  Time being what is was we didn't think we could get to the next town and back before he was down so we waited for him at the trailhead.  About forty five minutes after he texted he popped out of the woods on the trail heading down.

Good to know that he has a level head and will come down if conditions don't warrant further exploration.  We spent the rest of the day in the small town of MacKay, Idaho before returning to the trailer for much needed rest.

Hope this finds everyone well.  We are looking forward to some moisture from the heavens tonight and maybe so thunder and lightening.  

Thanks for stopping bye.