On my second day, I drove from Idaho Falls to Craters of the Moon National Monument, almost exactly 1 and a half hours away!
I left my hotel pretty early (before 7 am).  Notice it was 58 degrees!  When I arrived at Craters of the Moon, I had driven 85 miles.  I was trying to make the 9 am guided ranger hike!
I stopped at the visitor center to use the bathroom, get my cave permit, and confirm the ranger walk would take place.  They gave me a map and directed me to the Tree Molds parking lot, where we would walk the Broken Top Trail.	Our ranger was wonderful!  There were only five visitors on the tour.
The first two sights on our hike were flowers.  This is blazing star, and we also saw monkeyflowers!	Look how porous this lava is!
The trail changed as we went along.  Here, there are trees and lots of sagebrush.	It was just a sea of lava at the overlook!
As we turned south, the trail changed again, and we left the vegetation.	For the last bit of the trail, we even got to walk over lava!
Since I heard of it, I've always loved pahoehoe ("ropy") lava, and they had a beautiful example at the end of the Broken Top trail!	After the guided hike, I drove to the cave area and ate my picnic lunch in the wind at one of the picnic tables.  What a view during lunch!
After lunch, I started the Caves Trail.	Maybe it was not the best idea to do this trail mid-day, as it was just walking in the hot sun over lava, but I slathered on the sunscreen and went for it!
Here's the entrance to the cave I hiked through: Indian Tunnel.	They have a stairway to get you started down, which was very helpful.
I had the cave all to myself!  WOW!
I hiked all the way through Indian Tunnel and came out here, at the exit.  It was the most fun I've had in a long time!	After Indian Tunnel, I walked the brief Devil's Orchard Trail.  I then went up this, the Inferno Cone trail, where you get to hike up a volcano.  Imagine the Dune Climb at Sleeping Bear Dunes but of cinders!  This was the windiest area of the day by far.  I put my sunglasses away for fear they would blow away!
	I visited the Spatter Cones, hit the Visitor Center again to watch the two videos, and then headed out at about 4 pm after 7 hours of fun.  One last stop: a picture with the sign!