Vacation - Tuesday: The lava tubes

Pin It When I left Hurricane, I decided I’d venture to places I’d never before seen. Hence, I ended up in a little lonely place called Millard County. I was fully expecting grand sights after all of my research of the area, but found myself somewhat disappointed at the difference between the descriptions of said places, and what they actually were like.

Plus the directions were very poorly written.

I did, however, find a place which definitely rated up there on the ‘cool meter’ known as the lava fields where the lava tubes were located.

Lava tubes can be formed in a few different ways, one of these is the idea that lava flows over the surface of the ground and then hardens on top. Underneath, however, the lava is cooling much more gradually and continues to flow beneath the protective overcoat of sorts. Because of this flowage, a sort of tunnel is left behind once the lava has completed its journey.

I found some of these tubes and the places where portions of the ceiling had dropped away, revealing the tubes themselves. In some places, the roof had dropped for nearly a quarter mile making it more of a lava trench than a tube.

I decided to explore these tubes, so, attaching both headlamps and grabbing my small flashlight, I headed into the depths of the chasm.

Inside, the sunlight shone down through the ceiling in places, making the place beautiful. Also, the 30 degree drop in temperature was also a welcome addition to the adventure.

Inside some of the tubes, the air was a bit musty (where there was poor ventilation) and some smelled of pigeon droppings (a popular nesting place for birds). I tried to get a few shots of the tubes from the inside by ‘painting’ in the light with a flashlight, but my light was far too weak and the photos are less than desirable. I apologize for these shots on which a flash was used…I didn’t have a diffuser, and they look terrible; however, a terrible shot is better than nothing at all.

Please tell me that I’m right.

I stayed in this area for a couple of hours and did enjoy myself; I even explored a few tubes which went on for quite some time. I must admit, it was just the slightest bit creepy after being alone in those dark places for long enough, but it was awe-inspiring as well.

Finally, it came time for me to head off to explore bigger and better places, and I ended up going off to “The Devil’s Kitchen” which had been promoted as being something pretty amazing, but I found myself somewhat underwhelmed and disappointed with what was offered. Once-again the description of what it was was not what was really there…

Just how much of a letdown was it? Let me put it this way, it was so disappointing that I didn't even bother to take any photos of the place. I did, however, take a few photos of my little hitchhiker who'd stowed on board my hood to save himself a few miles of travel.

He was much more cool than the kitchen...