We weren’t sure if we’d last two nights here because it’s so desolate, we were worried it might be cold and windy, and our dog Ubuntu can’t go on most of the trails. It was well worth the trip though.

The campground definitely is desolate compared to the trees and lakes we’ve been camping near, but it’s also not crowded which is a very nice thing not having to fight for a spot on a Friday night. It wasn’t even close to half full either night. We got one of the few spots in the place that had a tree large enough to provide some shade. During the day it got pretty hot in direct sun, which is almost everywhere, but it was pretty nice in the little shade we could find. At night it was actually a lot warmer than it had been in the mountains, although the elevation here is still close to 6000 ft.  The weather at night was interesting with really high winds the first night and a thunder and lightning rain storm the second. But our tent handled it all very well, and the warm sun during the day dried everything out very quickly.

Geneveve was very excited about the Junior Ranger program. At night they had a special ranger talk for kids, and she also got a junior ranger badge for completing an activity booklet. The first night at the ranger program she was quiet and didn’t answer much, but the second night she was shouting out answers to questions like “Should you feed the marmots?” The only one she got wrong was “Should you get a fishing permit and follow the hunting regulations?” She really has no idea what that means. There were a couple college aged rangers who saw us for both evening programs, and saw us a lot in the visitors center including one patio talk where we were the only ones there, so by the time we left it seemed like we knew them pretty well and Geneveve was really excited about getting her Junior Ranger badge. When some kid later told her it was fake she cried.

Since Ubu couldn’t do the hikes, it actually worked out so that Kim and I could take turns having some alone time. In the morning Kim took the kids to a ranger guided cave walk in a lava tube while I hung out with the dog and read a book. In the afternoon I took the kids on a couple short hikes, including to the summit of a cinder cone for some awesome views of the incoming thunder and lightning storms.  It would be nice if National Parks weren’t so restrictive about dogs, but we’ll make the most of it this trip.  Perhaps one day when we’re dog free (sad to think about) we’ll take a National Parks focused trip.

The lava filled scenery reminded me a lot of areas in Hawaii, just a few thousand years later and without the ocean and beaches nearby.  The history of the area is somewhat interesting, but the geological information much more so for me.  It’s kinda crazy that we can determine how the earth changed over millions of years.  Now hopefully we can start to predict when Yellowstone is gonna blow up so I know to get as far away as possible first.