Itinerary:
Jan 3
3:00 PM - Gather time
3:30 PM - Depart American Heritage
Dec 4
8:00 AM Get up and eat breakfast
Explore lava tubes
10:30 AM Hot Springs
12:00 PM Depart for home
Description:
The road comes right to Tabernacle Hill, where there is a good deal of parking and camping. A lava tube runs to the east and west of the road.
Going to the east the lava tube goes back underground, on the north wall of that tube you can find a small entrance to a tube running north. This tube opens up to a larger area where you can camp in the tube. There is NO external light that reaches this tube. It has very little exposure to the outside temps. In front of the east tube, you will see another small crater. There is a small tube that you can explore located on the west end of the small crater.
Going to the west the lava tubes have a lot of rubble. There is a small area where you can set up a tent or two. We lowered gear through a hole in the ceiling to avoid carrying gear through the rubble. Continuing west, this tube turns to rubble and leads to the Tabernacle Crater.
Stuff to bring
Snacks (I will bring Dinner: Chicken Alfredo (chicken optional of course) Breakfast: instant oatmeal)
Swimsuit, towel, water bottle
A bag to store your outer clothes in while using the hot spring.
Make sure you have a working headlight! The lava tubes are pitch black.
Winter Packing Lists
Additional Info:
If you're doing research online a couple of cautions people publish that you shouldn't worry about. 1) The road has been vastly improved. Any cautions about mud and getting stuck are out of date. 2) Some people say they came to a closed gate and they claimed it was closed in winter. I have never seen the road gated. I can only guess they don't know how to get there and are using some other road/gate.