Desert Destination: Lunar Crater

Ready to get away from it all? Really away? Take US Highway 6 out to the middle of Nevada and you will find the Black Rock Lava Flow and Lunar Crater. The nearest hotel or restaurant is well over an hour away, but feels even farther. I had visited the Black Rock Lava Flow in 2009, and wrote this very nice post.

The lava flowed out of vents and covered over 1900 acres. That's a lot of land!

The kids were eager to get out of the truck and stretch their legs. They scrambled easily up onto the lava.  I got the kids to pose for a photo. They think it's fun to make silly poses. (Note Desert Girl's shoes--I will explain them soon.)

I enjoyed seeing the lava flow with the backdrop of the cinder cones. This Lunar Crater area covers about 100 square miles and includes more than 20 extinct volcanoes and 35 lava flows. You can read more about the geology on this USGS page.

I saw this cave and wanted to go there, but it was a little too far and the kids had declared no hiking for them. Instead they were making a pile of lava rocks and calling it a shelter. They were happy, I was happy, and I did get to wander around a bit. Then it was time to go see the main attraction.

But, first, a brief interlude as we watch a dust devil. Perhaps that's why so much soil is interspersed with the lava.

I had passed this sign a few times over the last ten years and always told myself, Someday I really am going to go see that lunar crater. And today was that day! I was very excited.

The scenery was otherworldly, with cinder cones and lava lumps all over. The road turned out to be only 7 miles long and it was in much better shape than the one-mile long road to the lava flow.

Not to my surprise, we were the only ones at the parking area. Adjacent was a sign and the crater itself. The crater is a maar, a shallow crater formed by the heating of underground water until it boils up and explodes. Two of them exist in this volcanic area.

This crater is called Lunar Crater because in the 1960s NASA brought astronauts out to train in this area.

Desert Boy took off down into the crater before I could say anything. Desert Girl and I trailed after. Desert Girl had been reading a book from the library that we had picked up just a couple hours previous that featured a little girl in a dress and fancy shoes. Desert Girl had her fancy Mary Jane's on, and she quickly learned they were not a good choice.

So we were a little slow, but that let me take photos of the 430 ft deep crater that's about 4,000 ft across. Impressive!


She did smile for a photo.

Eventually I managed to yell at Desert Boy to stop, but he was already half-way down in the crater. I would have loved to have gone all the way down, but I was concerned that it might take us a long time to get back up, and I didn't want to carry Desert Girl. So we will have to return another day to go to the very bottom and explore some of the other nearby craters. Here's the BLM website for the area.

Isn't this curved basalt awesome?

Lunar Crater became a National Natural Landmark in 1973. I'm glad it has some extra recognition, it deserves it!

Lessons Learned

The kids and I are back from a spring break trip to Death Valley and other parts. We were all glad for a change of scenery, and my travel itch is satisfied (for awhile!).  I'll have several posts of fun desert destinations coming soon.

With about 1100 miles added to the truck, here are a few lessons learned from this trip:

1. Ten bandaids is not enough for five days with two kids who like bandaids a lot. Even though we have a "no blood, no bandaid" rule.

2. Bribes work. Even a bribe like "be good for the next three hours of driving across seven mountain ranges (no kidding!) and you will get ice cream."

3. Take advantage of willing people to play with your kids, especially if that gives you a few minutes to relax.

4. But if your son suddenly starts crying because his new best friends have just left (and he doesn't know their names, but thinks one of them might be called Bacon Boy), then it's probably time to do something else.

5. If you have a preschooler who isn't quite potty trained at night, don't believe her when she tells you at night in the tent that she doesn't need a diaper.

6. Don't sleep in the low spot of the tent. Just in case aforementioned preschooler who really should have a diaper doesn't have a diaper.

7. Consider the rain as a convenient way to clean gear that might just be a wee bit stinky.


I'm sure I will think of a few more as I go through about 1,000 photos that I took. Yep, we had some good times.

A Little Fishing

 I think this may turn into our summer of fishing. We've already gone three times, and one time Desert Boy even caught fish, learned to clean them, and ate them for dinner (I was out of town so missed getting photos of that momentous occasion). He loves to fish. I'm good with that. I'm thinking of lots of fishing trips this summer where I bring my lawn chair, a good book, and let the kids fish to their hearts' content.

Do you like to fish? What's your favorite fish?

Survival: Making Fire

 My husband decided it would be a god time to try our fire making skills. This is something that's always stressed on the survival shows we watch. On the other hand, we don't want Desert Boy to get too enthusiastic about making fires. So we decided we would start with a fire-making method that isn't too hard, but does require some specialized gear: a magnesium bar and flint.

We gathered fine fuels, had something to shave the magnesium flakes onto, and set off to make a fire. I love the look Desert Girl has in the photo above.

Dear Daddy took a turn and couldn't get the fire going.

Desert Boy took a turn. He couldn't get it going.

I took a turn. I couldn't get it going.

Dear Daddy tried again. It still didn't work.

I was grumbling. If I were in the backcountry and cold and miserable and needed this fire, it took way more effort than I would have!

Finally a little bit of smoke appeared. But do you see an extra ingredient in the photo above?

The extra ingredient was a lighter. A tried and true, easy way to start a fire. (I don't consider this cheating, I consider it smart!)

So why couldn't we start a fire with a magnesium stick and a flint? I went to YouTube to get some pointers and found this nice video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ_LrBafzNY

We probably didn't have enough magnesium.

So I tried again. And let me tell you, I couldn't get enough magnesium flakes (the size of a quarter) in fifteen minutes. I was not impressed. So we will be looking for other fire starting methods. In the meantime, we'll keep a lighter with us!

We might not be too good at survival right now, but we're going to get better this summer!

Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who voted for this blog in the 2013 Outdoorsy Mom Blog contest!

My goal was to get in the top 25, and you helped me not only accomplish that, but also to get into the top 12!

Thanks so much!

One of the benefits of the contest is learning about all the other outdoorsy moms out there. I've really enjoyed checking out the various blogs and recommend giving them a look. I've also made some new virtual friends, have gotten ideas for this blog, and been inspired.

Thanks again!