Craters of the Moon backpack

We had a great time on a desert backpack at Craters of the Moon.  It is about a 2.5 hr drive from Boise, via Mountain Home, Fairfield and Carey.  We had 12 scouts, many of them on their first backpack, from ages 10 to 17.   7 adults showed up to ride herd on them.

We hiked about 5 miles to a cinder cone, and camped inside the cone. It was fairly flat inside the cone, and there was a stand of nice pine trees. Each of us carried about a gallon of water, which seemed to be sufficient for two days of camping.

This was a "lava tree" we saw, of which there were many.  It shows where a lava flow hit a tree in ancient times, and flowed around it. The tree is gone, but the lava molded the shape of the tree perfectly.

The picture below shows the scouts tents set up in the crater.  There was plenty of room for several groups.

Above: we found a metal can lid to what must have been a big can of coffee.  I wonder when this can of coffee was made.

Above is a diminutive and low profile allium (wild onion) found growing in the pumice gravel.