Craters of the Moon

I’ve had Craters of the Moon National Monument on my list to visit for a very long time. It’s not really on the way to or near much of anything in central Idaho - a state I had never been to before. So I was excited to finally be there and the parks employee at the gate seemed just as excited that I had made it.

The pictures I took (and the ones I had seen over the years) really don’t do the landscape justice. It really is otherworldly. Crispy, dark lava soils are everywhere with little patches of pure white flowers that somehow grow and thrive in spaced-out harmony. The climb up the steep, all-black Inferno Cone is far more daunting than I had imagined, but worth the effort.

Enjoy the pictures - but go see it for yourself.

But I know you're thinking of me 'cause it's just about to rain

Photographs from a week spent heading west to Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Nevada. It was a largely successful trip with lots of open road and interesting landscapes. There was a tire incident that was luckily resolved quickly at the Bonneville Salt Flats exit on I-80, but all was well outside of that all-too-familiar experience.

I’m once again at somewhat of a crossroads, a bit paralyzed creatively about what comes next after photographing the Great Plains for West of Here. Some of this trip was spent adding to that project, but, once I had pressed into the mountains, I found myself stuck on exactly why I was doing what I was doing. I’m sure this will resolve itself eventually due to the way I collect images for later organization, but I couldn’t stop thinking “Everyone photographs the mountains. What can I offer?”

Despite all of that, I am happy with the photographs I found and enjoyed the week on the road before winter arrives in Omaha.

Post title: The Mountain Goats - 1 John 4:16