A Trip to Craters of The Moon For Research

In working on my novel I felt the need to go back to one of the areas I am using for a setting in the book. Since it is only 2 hours from home its something I could easily do. So on Saturday I headed out on an excursion.

This one view of the landscape all kinds of lava rock and a very un-hospitable terrain. 

This show some of the more smooth rock from the Pahoehoe(pa-hoy-hoy) lava flows. You could easily walk on this. When you look closely it looks like petrified wood.  My characters would love to be traveling on this the whole time but they are not.

There are lots of ridges and valleys where you could get your foot stuck.

Here is some more of the Pahoehoe lava where is forms like ribbons or ropes. Some areas easy to walk on others not so much

We took a tour to Indian cave, here is our Ranger guide who told us all about lava, caves, lava tubes and the wildlife there. It was very informative.  I ended up taking lots of notes to refer back to.

Here I am in the cave. The climbing was a challenge. I used my hands sometimes and could really feel the sharp pointy rocks.  You could easily cut yourself on them.

This is a section of the cave that we climbed out of. Then we walked over the lava fields in areas of varied difficulty back to civilization.  It made me see that I need to make it harder on my characters. Walking across this terrain is not easy. You couldn't do it fast.

Here is a short video I took of the landscape we were walking to get back to our car. Those wooden poles are like cairns to lead us on the correct path.  I learned a lot by going back here and really experiencing what it would be like to cross terrain like this.  It will help me in writing about my characters journey.   Now another setting I'll be using will be the steppe country of Mongolia. I won't be able to take a trip there so the internet and reading will have to suffice.  I am excited to get back to my characters Caitlin and Torin,  Celtic like warriors who are on a journey across a hostile land. What bad things happen to them only time will tell.

Kate