Craters of the Moon National Preserve

We had an amazing time in Wyoming and were excited to see what Idaho has to offer over the next couple of weeks. Our first stop in Idaho was Craters of the Moon National Preserve. After a morning hike at Grand Teton, we headed towards Idaho Falls to resupply then stopped at a BLM called “Hell’s Half Acre” which is made up volcanic rock similar to Craters of the Moon. We did not realize how warm the high desert of southern Idaho would be and it was a sudden change from the mountains of Yellowstone and Grand Teton.

Scenic Loop Road

On our first day at the park, we stopped at the visitor’s center to get a park map and discuss current park conditions with the park rangers. To our dismay, we found out that due to some recent seismic activity in the area, the caves were closed to visitors.

The road through the park took us on a scenic loop past many of the main features. Along the drive we saw huge lava flows, cinder cones, and volcanic craters. We decided to leave the park for the day so we could take advantage of a free campsite on some BLM land near the park.

Tree Molds Trail

The next morning we re-entered the park to hike out to a feature called the “Tree Molds”. These impressions of tree trunks were formed when lava flowed around trees then solidified. The trail is a 2 mile round trip and was a nice morning walk.

Takeaways

This park taught us a lot about volcanoes and the formations created when they occur. We were especially intrigued to find out that most of the volcanic activity took place only 2,000 years ago and that Native American tribes from the area have records of peoples that witnessed eruptions. This is definitely a cool quick stop that should not be missed by anyone traveling through the area.

Thanks for reading!

-Alan