May 2026-8. The Beginning of the End: Utah, Idaho, & Oregon

 May 23-26, 2026

    People often ask what our route is, where we're stopping and when. Our reply: well, we think we're going to this region and maybe we'll go here. But if we see something else along the way, we may go there instead.

    Unusually, we had two planned stops on our May trip. The first was the Durango-Silverton Railroad, which had to be reserved, though we did change our reservation three times. The second was a stop in Meridian, Idaho to visit Marilyn's brother and family. We told them we couldn't specify when we'd be there until we got closer, which was okay with them.

    The rest of our trip was our usual elastic itinerary.

Utah

We can never get enough of Utah's colors & formations. Boondocking our last night in Utah—for now.

    We left our boondock site near Capitol Reef National Park in Torrey, Utah, and drove north on 24. Our destination was Hill Air Force Base Family Camp near Ogden, so we could do laundry and take showers. We made a reservation on the way.

Driving north on Hwy 24 toward Salt Lake City.

    Our tent site was on pavement, and it was hot, but we found some shade next to the park and pulled in behind a truck and trailer. Guess what Marilyn did as soon as the van was level?

Yep, she headed to the awesome water play area, with its umpteen ways to get delightfully wet & cool. Doug accompanied her, in case she drowned.

  

Marilyn & the kids had a great time. She couldn't figure out why all the other adults sat on the sidelines.

     Back at the van, the gentleman parked in front of us came over to chat with Doug. He was retired Air Force Medical Corps, Hospital Administrator, so he and the retired Naval Aviator had lots of notes to compare.
    We'd talked about going to the Pizza Hut next to the base for dinner. As the military chat showed no sign of concluding, Marilyn finally ordered delivery, assuming they routinely deliver to the base. The new driver and Marilyn both learned that they do deliver—and the Gate calls whoever ordered to come meet the driver. After some back and forth, the Navy man allowed the Air Force man to drive him to the Gate. The pizza was decent, though Marilyn ordered too much as usual.

Torrey UT –Ogden UT–Craters of the Moon ID–Meridian ID–Goose Lake OR.  4 days/982 miles.

    On to the next adventure...

Delicious coffee in Clearfield, UT.

      In the morning, not far from the base, we chanced on Something Wicked Coffee. The owner and shop were quirky, breakfast delicious, and the coffee some of the best we've had. You can find them on Facebook and Instagram if you're in the area. We'd go again.
    We picked up I-15—we rarely travel freeways—and continued toward Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in Idaho.

It was a beautiful area, with many small communities & large farms.

Wasatch Mountains to the east.

Idaho
    Just over the state line we stopped at Cherry Creek Rest Area/Visitors Center. It's awesome—Marilyn picked up many free brochures and maps for both Idaho and other states.

Doesn't get much prettier: green hills, blue skies, white clouds floating along.

Along I-15.

    Snake River. At Blackfoot ID we crossed the Snake River. US 26 crosses Idaho on the Snake River Plain. Most of Idaho's major cities and agricultural land lie within plain, which covers about 1/4 of the state. 

    The Snake River is truly like a humongous snake. At 1,080 miles, it is the largest tributary of the 1,143-mile-long Columbia River. From its source at 9,200 feet near the southern end of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, it travels west then south through Jackson WY; northwest then southwest then west across Idaho; northeast then northwest along the Idaho-Oregon and Idaho-Washington state lines; and finally west across Washington to the Columbia. 

Snake River Watershed & Snake River Plain (Shannon1 - Own work).

    The river meanders, barges, and trickles through mountains, across plains, into reservoirs and over dams, down rapids, through canyons and valleys. It irrigates farms, produces electricity, and provides recreation. It joins the Columbia in Wallula Lake, a reservoir 341 feet above sea level formed by McNary Dam on the Columbia. There are 325 miles miles to go to the Pacific Ocean. 

     Basin and Range Province. The Snake River Plain cuts across Basin and Range Province. We've driven 

across Nevada on Hwy 50, "Loneliest Road in America," and further north on Hwys 93-375-95, so we're f

amiliar with basin and range topography, but we hadn't heard of Basin and Range Province. 

Basins & Ranges: Driving Hwy 50 across Nevada, climbing & descending mountains, with long flat basin stretches between & vistas that go on forever. 

    Basin and Range Province covers about 300,000 square miles, including most of Nevada and parts of California, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and Mexico's Sonora state. Millions of years ago, earth's crust expanded, creating faults in its surface. These faults 

then pushed up mountains, leaving valleys below. 

    Back to the present. Continuing across Idaho on US 26,

we noticed two large hills standing out starkly to the north. Middle Butte and East Butte together with Big Southern Butte to the south comprise the Big Buttes.

Middle Butte & East Butte rising from the Eastern Snake River Plain.

       Middle Butte is the lowest, at 6,391 feet elevation. East Butte rises to 6,572 feet and Big Butte stands at 7,550 feet. The surrounding Snake River Plain is 5,000 feet in elevation. The plain is formed largely of shield volcanoes. These are volcanoes from which lava flows rather than being blown out. Multiple shield volcanoes flowed together. Fissures, domes, cinder cones, and craters interrupt the plain. 

Middle Butte. Dark skies & clouds made for great views driving across Idaho.

Lost River Range of the Rocky Mountains, Central Idaho.

   Idaho National Laboratory. Also within the Snake River Plain is the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), originally the  National Reactor Testing Station built in  1949. The lab brought growth to the nearby town of Midway—located midway between Arco and Blackfoot—which was renamed Atomic City. 

    In 1955, a nuclear power plant, the Experimental Breeder Reactor-I (EBR-I), was built in Arco, which became the first town lit entirely by nuclear electricity—for 1 hour. Later in 1955, the power plant suffered a partial meltdown. The site became a National Historic Landmark in 1966 and was turned into the Atomic Museum in 1975.

    In early 1961, a fatal explosion occurred at the National Reactor Testing Station, rendering Atomic City a ghost town. The site never completely shut down and became the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), a center for nuclear R & D. In 2022 a monument was erected to the one Navy and two Army men who died in the 1961 explosion.

Eastern Snake River Plain: ≈boundaries INL site (HQ in Idaho Falls), Atomic City, EBR-1 Atomic Museum; Big Buttes; Craters of the Moon. 

  Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve.

    The geology of Craters of the Moon is typical of the Snake River Plain. The momument includes a 618-square-mile lava field, with 60 visible lava flows. Of the 20 flows that have been dated, the youngest dates back 2,100 years and the oldest 15,000 years.  

Craters of the Moon.

    We bypassed the Visitors Center at Craters of the Moon (and forgot to stop there the next morning) anxious to see if there were campsites left in Lava Flow Campground. Not only were we in luck, but the fee is $15.00—$7.50 with our Senior Pass. We soon parked in a great site.

Lava Flow Campground is aptly named as sites are within a lava field, one of the youngest in Craters of the Moon at 2,100 years.

Getting the van level without going over the edge was tricky, but Doug of course did it perfectly.

    Doug got out one of our collapsible camp chairs to read in the shade. The chairs are great for van travel as they fold into a bag about 15" long, 6" in diameter. Often, once we are on the road, we just fold in the legs to store the chairs in the "garage" under the bed.

Doug at Valley of the Gods—didn't get a pic of him at Craters of the Moon. We've had many iterations of this type of chair. Some have been forgotten at campsites, others deemed not comfortable, & some actually wore out. 

 

Meanwhile, Marilyn took her trusty orange collapsible bucket to the nearby pump. Down the hill by the keyhole picnic table she doused herself to cool off, the first of multiple times that day.

Road through Lava Flow Campground.

    A fairly constant stream of traffic drove through Craters of the Moon—you have to drive to the various formations and trails—so we opted to head out the next morning and get on the road to Meridian.

Marilyn & her brother, sister-law, Tater, Doug.

    We had a good visit with Marilyn's brother and family, whom we'd not seen in a few years. It turned out her nephew and friends had been at Craters of the Moon the same time we were and had seen our van. Along with reminiscences and family meals, we were treated to wind, hail, thunder, and lightning. As you can see, no matter where they live, Californians find barefoot the best shoes, and if shoes are required, then sandals.

Oregon

    Snow in May again thwarted our route ideas as it had done a couple of weeks prior in Colorado. Snow was forecast for the East Side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, meaning no trek through Yosemite National Park to home. We'd also thought to go to Lassen Volcanic National Park, but though it had opened a few days earlier, there was still plenty of snow. Even as I write this in July, hikers are warned of snow-covered sections of the Lassen Peak Trail—the peak is at 10,500 feet.
    To go south, we had to go northwest and cross the Snake River at Ontario OR. Hwy 20 took us along the Malheur River, a tributary of the Snake. It was lucky/unlucky French trappers who coined the name Malheur—"unhappy," literally "bad time"—when, with an overabundance of furs, they left some behind only to return and find the furs had been stolen. 

    Of course you're familiar with the Bates Motel? When he saw the sign in Vale OR, Doug slowed and said, "Quick, take a picture!" to which Marilyn responded, "Why?" Well, Hitchcock's 1960 movie Psycho (adopted from Robert Bloch's 1959 novel) features a Bates Motel, but in California. The TV spinoff Bates Motel (2013-'17), prequel to the movie, takes place on the Oregon Coast. 

Vale, OR.

    The Bates Motel in Vale is a family-owned establishment that has been in operation since before Psycho. It was not the site of filming for film or TV. According to reviews, it is a good basic motel. Many folks however, like us, just stop to take a pic of the sign.

One of four metal sculpture signs at entrances to Vale OR, this one by Gary Kerby, on Route 20.

    We made a U-turn to take a pic of the "Come Again" cowboy sign that looks so much like the artwork of a friend of ours! Vale was the first stop in Oregon on the Oregon Trail. In 1992, in an effort to revitalize the town's economy, some citizens formed the Mural Society, today the Vale Heritage Reflections Mural Society. You can see photos of the over 30 murals painted around town to date on the Vale Chamber of Commerce website. Depicted in addition to the Oregon Trail are the Northern Paiute Indians, original inhabitants of the Malheur River area; French trappers, Basque sheepherders, Japanese farmers, Mexican Vaqueros, and Chinese laborers; trains, mining, and the annual July 4 Rodeo; and daily life, including local quilters whose quilt sales helped fund the senior center. 

More excitement along our route: the Malheur County community of Harper, named for Marilyn's family, of course....

Along Route 20 in Oregon.

Southeastern Oregon farmland.

Beautiful old barn, abandoned.

Malheur River.

Northern Great Basin Experimental Range.

    The Northern Great Basin Experimental Range, operated jointly by the USDA and Oregon State University's Agricultural Experiment Station, was established in 1936 to research the ecology and management of rangelands. 

    Basin and Range Province, Take 2.  Hwy 395 runs along the shore of Lake Abert next to Abert Rim, a basin and range formation. Abert Rim, formed by layers of lava flows, is 30 miles long, 2,500 feet high. Lake Abert covers 65 square miles but averages just 5 feet deep.

Lake Abert.

    Like Utah's Great Salt Lake, Lake Abert is hypersaline, saltier than the ocean. It seems surprising then that it is a major stop on the Pacific Flyway. But alkali flies and brine shrimp that have adapted to the environment provide a feast for migrating birds. 

In places, the shore of Lake Abert was far out, the result of agricultural diversions & climate change-induced drought.

In other places, we drove right along the lake shore.

Large boulder, typical of the lava geology of the area.

    Our stop for the night was Goose Lake State Park on the Oregon side of the Oregon-California state line.

Goose Lake State Park is literally on the state line, on the Oregon side. 

Goose Lake is largely in California.

Quiet campground. 

    It was a cold evening & we were glad to have electricity for our heater. We have a house heater in the van that runs on gas from the fuel tank, but it is a little noisy, so we prefer the electric heater we carry with us if we happen to have shore power.

Some neighbors.

There were few other campers.

In the morning, we drove the 1/2 mile back out to Hwy 395, turned right, & were immediately in California.

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Hooptedoodle
    When we get home from a trip, Marilyn often goes down rabbit holes investigating places we've been, whys, whats, and wherefores. Some results merit being in the post proper, but others are more of a hm, might be interesting to some folks—aka, hooptedoodle. Mack defines it in Steinbeck's Cannery Row—see the sidebar. 

    Snake River: As it has with the Klamath River and numerous others, American Rivers is involved in planning for the removal of four dams on the lower Snake River. Reports on alternative methods to provide services currently stemming from the dams are due to be completed in 2026 and 2027. 

    Basin and Range Province: Map shows full extent of Basin and Range Province in US and Mexico.

Teal outline: Basin & Range Geological Province.

Pink outline: Hydrographic Great Basin.

Black outline: Great Basin Desert.

    History: Of course before Europeans arrived, the Americas were home to indigenous peoples. While many whites viewed Native Americans as obstacles to western expansion, Mormons viewed them as a lost tribe of Israel in need of conversion. Either way, Native Americans were displaced. A difference is that while the indigenous populations of Utah and Idaho reflect the national average of 2% to 4%, Utah's Mormon population is nearly 70% and Idaho's approaches 30%, while the national average is 2%.
    Toilet Paper: Yes, toilet paper. We've all seen the toilet paper lockup that's unfortunately necessary in parks. Craters of the Moon is uber serious about preventing theft.

Craters of the Moon bathroom: an uber toilet paper lock-up.

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    And on that note, we leave you until our final post on our May 2026 trip.