{"id":89,"date":"2016-08-24T23:07:27","date_gmt":"2016-08-24T23:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/?p=89"},"modified":"2018-02-08T22:26:14","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T03:26:14","slug":"solo-road-trip-idwymt-national-parks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/2016\/08\/24\/solo-road-trip-idwymt-national-parks\/","title":{"rendered":"Wheeling Solo on the Road: Craters of the Moon, ID"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The morning of August 19, I got into my rental car to begin my second solo road trip since being confined to a scooter or power wheelchair full-time\u2014and actually, since my MS diagnosis in 2005. You may have read my blog posts from my Canyonlands trip back in November 2015; that was an adventure I\u2019ll never forget, and didn\u2019t think I could ever duplicate. But here I am trying! The different with this trip is that I\u2019m more anxious (and more than a bit scared) about dealing with breaking apart my scooter and putting it into and taking it out of the rental car trunk. This concern was exacerbated by the fact I haven\u2019t been walking at all since I got my accessible Ford Explorer MXV in late May. To make myself feel more secure in the short hobble between the driver\u2019s seat and the trunk, I bought a very lightweight folding walker in Boise, and that has made a huge difference.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Okay! I\u2019m in the car. I have my walker in the front seat, my GPS, my\u00a0SPOT GPS emergency beacon<\/a>, two bottles of water, snacks, my phone charger, and selfie stick\/monopod. Time to roll! My first objective would be\u00a0<\/span>Craters of the Moon National Monument<\/a>, about three hours to the east of Boise. The drive was mostly uneventful; a few golden hills here and there, many treeless plains, a few foothills off in the distance, and an ever-present low amber haze\u2014a byproduct of forest fires.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I approached CotM, I could tell I was getting close by the black rocky mounds all along the roadside. CotM is a huge lava formation that wasn\u2019t even considered a notable discovery until the 1930s. It was created by lava seeping up through fissures in the earth and through \u201csplatter cones,\u201d where lava would literally splatter out of small volcanic cones. Much of the park basically looks like 75,000 dump trucks came in and unloaded millions of tons of coal every day for a year. In addition to the rocky formations, there are hills made of black sand, much like in Hawaii. But the landscape isn\u2019t lifeless; there are white lichens and flowers growing everywhere, as well as sagebrush and other greenery. Honestly, it\u2019s the most bizarre place I\u2019ve ever seen in my life\u2014and that\u2019s saying something.<\/p>\n