round TRIP
Craters of the Moon
If one had asked us six months ago how we imagined the US state of Idaho, the answer would probably have been the following: Vast grasslands with long stalks swaying in the steady winds. Enclosed by long mountain ranges whose crests are already snow-covered in late autumn. Of course, there is also a wide highway that leads once across the state – past cute little towns, idyllic river courses and picturesque hilly landscapes.
Not the slightest thought would have led us to believe that Idaho is also home to a moonscape...
A moonscape in Idaho? Well, admittedly, the Craters of the Moon is a rugged, alien-looking moonscape in name only. In fact, it is an area of cooled lava flows and cinder cones in the centre of the Snake River plain, which owes its origin to the volcanic activity of the region. Because the Craters of the Moon area is very remote, it was not explored until the early 20th century, when it was placed under conservation in 1924 and expanded 13-fold in 2000. The now more than 2.800 km² area is considered a National Monument and is jointly managed by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management.
11 million years ago, the current area of the Craters of the Moon lay above a volcanic hotspot, which was fed by a so-called plume together with magma from the Earth's mantle. The rising magma melted the granite rock of the Earth's crust and the North American plate shifted. The hotspot was now no longer under the Craters of the Moon plain but under Yellowstone National Park. Until today. What still comes to the surface there in the form of hot springs and geysers has cooled down in the Craters of the Moon, but is not yet completely extinguished. The volcanic activity and shifting of the plates is a process that continues to this day and is far from complete. The last eruption in the lunar landscape was just about 2000 years ago.
These natural forces form the strangest formations in the protected area of the Craters of the Moon: cone-shaped hills, beach-like plains and boulder-like piles. Sharp-edged surfaces meet soft wave forms. One might think that there is no life in this black, glittering wasteland. A mistake. For everywhere it sprouts and grows: star-shaped mosses and lichens speckle whitish spots into the deep black. Tender pines and young poplars break through the apparent colourlessness with a hint of green. And coppery red on the ground and lovely blue in the sky frame gnarled, windswept trees like a passe-partout.
If you ask us today about the landscape of Idaho, one thing must be named: an unreal moonscape in the middle of the earth. A lunar landscape whose surface is far from being fully formed.
USA, May 2022. | All words and photos by The Sturgheons.
