To the land of Mordor

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To the land of Mordor

Postby Wolffarmer » Tue May 29, 2012 7:21 am

Several weeks ago I took a little trip up to the southern part of the Craters of the Moon National Monument. To a large kipuka called Laidlow Park. 78,000 acres of range land surrounded by lavas.

I left the pavement at Kimama Idaho and headed north on the Kimama/Carry road at about 15 miles I turned eastish at the Laidlow air strip. Then in about 5 miles crossed the lava flow to enter the kipuka.

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This flow is about 10-25,000 years old. In my opinion. A good road over it. Then it was miles of good road. Some was gravel but mostly dirt. I was headed to the eastern part of the kipuka. Near the volcano called the Bear den. I went up a road that didn't look like it had been driven yet this year. Maybe not last year either. I stopped on the road, right on the road, and made camp for the night.

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The camp was peaceful, could not see a man made light any place or noise. Did some reading and turned in and slept nice and warm in the TD.

In the morning on the ridge behind me.

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Three deer

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Big South Butte, about 40-50 miles away

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Cinder cone north of camp a few miles over some older lava flows.

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Loaded up and ready to roll some more.

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After a few miles start getting close to the "Wall of Death" as I call it. A rather young flow of AA lava. Maybe a bit over 2000 years old.

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Getting closer

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Road to Mordor

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Getting close to Mordor

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On the road in Mordor. Crossing the AA lava flow on a road made of light broken lava. It kind of crunches and rolls under your tires. It is also a bit like glass.

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The road is about 1 mile long then you get back to the normal desert roads. I then went up to the northern part of the kipuka.

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Views of the Sawtooth Mountains with a lava flow in foreground.

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One of the stock watering holes. Grazing is allowed as part of the agreement with the National Parks when they expanded the Monument in the 90s'

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Official National Park sign on my way out of the kipuka. I left by the North West road and to the northern part of the Kimama Cary road and then south to Kimama. It was about 120 miles from pavement to back to pavement. Was a nice little trip. No fees to pay just gas.

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Re: To the land of Mordor

Postby Martiangod » Tue May 29, 2012 7:29 am

Awesome pics, nice to see places i can,t. Looks like a peacefull little trip, thanks for sharing
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Re: To the land of Mordor

Postby IndyTom » Tue May 29, 2012 7:59 am

Great Pics. I second Chris, thanks for sharing. It is a place I have never heard of.

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Re: To the land of Mordor

Postby KCStudly » Tue May 29, 2012 2:31 pm

Nice peaceful get away, Randy. Thanks for sharing. :thumbsup:
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Re: To the land of Mordor

Postby campmaster-k » Tue May 29, 2012 6:50 pm

Very cool place Randy, thanks for posting. I hate piss ants.
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Re: To the land of Mordor

Postby S. Heisley » Tue May 29, 2012 7:06 pm

Thanks, Randy. That was a very interesting trip tale with much that most of us would probably never see, if not for your pictures. :thumbsup: :applause:
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Re: To the land of Mordor

Postby Wolffarmer » Tue May 29, 2012 9:08 pm

Thanks folks. Maybe sometime I can take a bunch of ya out there.

I forgot to mention that when I woke up that morning there was hardly a cloud in the sky, The breeze was just barely noticeable and there was a mess of meadow larks singing for me. Was one of the better mornings I remember.

On that trip there was little wind so I could usually stay out of most of my dust and once in the kipuka I did not pass anybody else while on the road. In there I ran across a couple of sheep outfits and one family was stopped to look at a crater with a bunch of nice shady aspens.

Randy
Last edited by Wolffarmer on Mon Aug 05, 2013 9:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: To the land of Mordor

Postby DragonFire » Tue May 29, 2012 9:52 pm

fantastic pictures...I had no idea there were lava flows there...frozen in time while making their way across the bunch grass meadow...simply amazing. Saw a couple of flowers in the earlier pics..makes me wonder what it looks like in spring bloom.

Just you, the wind, and the wild things. What a fantastic trip. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us...
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Re: To the land of Mordor

Postby Wolffarmer » Tue May 29, 2012 10:08 pm

We don't have the flowers like in Death Valley and those kind of deserts. But we do have some nice flowering plants. I like the blue lupine. and the wild onions sometimes called Death Camas. They are tasty, Just don't taste to much. ;)

Oh and the one cactus we have can come in different colors. It is just a run of the mill beaver tailed or pad type cactus, nothing to spectacular.

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Re: To the land of Mordor

Postby eaglesdare » Wed May 30, 2012 5:52 am

wow, loved the pics. thanks so much for sharing with us. i would be a little worried about driving over that stuff. i can't imagine it being good for the tires. but wow again, that part of the country is really beautiful.
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Re: To the land of Mordor

Postby desertmoose » Wed May 30, 2012 3:25 pm

beautiful country Randy.

By the way, I don't remember your tear being blue. Did you repaint it or is my memory worse than I thought? :?

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Re: To the land of Mordor

Postby Wolffarmer » Wed May 30, 2012 8:19 pm

Your memory is fine. My staining on the cheap wood kept getting worse and worse so I painted the sides. The baltic birch use on the top, front, etc was great so I still have 1/2 a woody.

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Re: To the land of Mordor

Postby Wolffarmer » Wed May 30, 2012 8:23 pm

Hey slow. Some years back I wondered out on those lavas and came across a big ole bone, well the end of one kind of looked like a leg joint or something if I remember right. Did not see any others around there. It was real old, probably a buffalo.
Just and uneducated guess.

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Re: To the land of Mordor

Postby Scouterjan » Fri Jun 01, 2012 12:28 am

Randy, great pictures, thanks for posting, nice wide open spaces all to your self
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Re: To the land of Mordor

Postby Mukilteo » Sun Jun 03, 2012 2:51 pm

Now that's my kind of camping.
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