There is LAVA in IDAHO!

And not just a little bit of lava! 750,000 acres of lava! For reference, that’s over twice the size of Grand Teton National Park (GTNP is 310,000 acres)! 🤓

Did you ever have a friend ask you to do something and you are ‘meh’, but then it turns out to be amazing? Well, that is what happened with me and Craters of the Moon! I will back up to bring you up to speed …

After 10 days in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, we took a couple of ‘down days’ in Alpine, Wyoming. Alpine is a quiet mountain town and we visited Melvin Brewing Company (awesome, by the way) and camped near the Snake River. The benefit of Alpine is excellent cellular service, so we were able to spend time ‘adulting’ (pay bills, check email, etc) while planning our next move.

From Alpine, we had two options: either drive south to Salt Lake City or head further west to Alco, Idaho to visit Craters of the Moon. I was pushing to bypass Idaho and immediately head south to the nearest Hilton. I had my sights set on the world’s largest Costco, a hotel shower, cable TV and free wi-fi. On the other hand, Mark was intrigued by lava in Idaho and [after much discussion], we decided to take this short diversion. (I mean, really, what’s another couple of days without a shower?)

The drive to Idaho followed the beautiful Snake River for several miles before the landscape turned flat and filled with potato fields. Seemingly out of nowhere, mountains emerged. And seriously – there is a GIANT lava field in IDAHO! I have never truly absorbed this reality.

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is a large park with very little developed. We covered the scenic drive and most of the trails in about a day and a half. However, there are cool features in this park that are worth the side trip if you find yourself in this area of the country.

LAVA and lots of it! For as far as the eye can see are dormant volcanos, spatter cones and lava fields. This area erupted only 2,000 years ago and plant life is emerging but scarce. Amazingly, there are several trails that allowed us to look into cones, view former lava lakes and see evidence of trees that were overtaken by lava.

CAVES and they are awesome! Actually, the caves are lava tubes. Except for Indian Tunnel, the caves are merely holes in the ground where you crawl in with a flashlight. Indian Tunnel has stairs leading into the cave, is 800 feet long and is obviously the most visited lava tube. If you find yourself here and looking for a great cave, Boy Scout Cave was our favorite by far.

WILDLIFE is scarce in this rugged landscape. Small mammals (pika, chipmunks, squirrels) are common as well as bats and rabbits. We heard an owl one evening near our campsite. There is concern about the bat population and the transmission of the white nose syndrome. However, a ranger was on hand to inform visitors how to help prevent the spread to the 13 species of bats that live here.

STARS and the Milky Way are astounding in this International Dark Sky Park. Light pollution is minimal and Mark took some amazing night sky pictures. I saw a sticker in the gift shop that sums it up “Craters of the Moon: half the park comes out at dark”.

This was a great stop and epitomizes our vision for the road trip. Enjoy the pictures from this weird and scenic landscape in IDAHO!

Next stop: Salt Lake City for hot running water, a meal that someone else cooks and a binge night of cable TV! Additionally, we still hope to hit the flagship Costco, but have no idea where a Costco-sized-anything will fit in the van! Hope you are having a great week! 😘

(Click any picture below to open the gallery and read the captions)