On Sunday morning, we packed up the car and headed west to Craters of the Moon National Monument.  We first heard about the Craters of the Moon from a CNN article about the “top 15 places to go before you’re 15” back in March.  In case you’re wondering what a “National Monument” is versus a “National Park” (as I was), the National Park Service advises that a National Monument is an “area reserved by the National Government because they contain objects of historic, prehistoric, or scientific interest” whereas a national park is an area set aside for the general public due to an “outstanding scenic feature or natural phenomena” (source).  As such, the Craters of the Moon was pretty small compared to the national parks we’ve been to so far.

When we first arrived at the park, we stopped in the Visitors Center and watched a movie about the establishment of the national monument.  We learned about how the white settlers avoided the desolate area, why the Native Americans find it to be sacred, and the work of Robert Limbert which caused it to become a national monument.  Craters of the Moon got its name from residents comparing its look to what they believed they saw the moon’s surface to look like through a telescope.  (During the moon visits in the 1960s, though, we learned that the terrain is not the same).  The terrain here was formed from the volcanoes that were last active about 2,000 years ago in the area.

Look! Craters!

(Not really… the Husband took a photo of a poster in the Visitors Center)

After we had our fun in there, we hopped in the car to tour the Loop Drive off of which were numerous look out points and trails.  The first one we stopped at was the first “point of interest” – North Crater Flow.  There was a quarter-mile paved trail which took us out into the hardened lava.

If you look really close at the next one, you can see me in the top third of the right third of the photo (the Husband tried to show the rocks and size to scale)

Across the road from all of the above rockiness was the super smooth lava rocks.

And lots more vegetation.

After the first stop, most of the rest were closed for repaving of the roads We were able to stop at 2 more stops though and snap a few more photos.

The desolation just goes on for miles and miles and miles…

Before we headed out of the park, we noticed that the North Crater had a trail that took us on top of one of the hills so we jumped out to see what we could see.  It was a steep climb but as we made it we saw a chipmunk (the only wildlife we saw other than pretty neat crickets/grasshopper looking bugs)

The view from up there…

And then we headed out.  A few miles from the visitors center, we came upon a “scenic overlook” and took our obligatory couple photo with the terrain in the background.

After our trip to Craters of the Moon, we headed back east toward Idaho Falls and through to Wilson, Wyoming where we’re spending the next few days! We’re headed to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons and who knows where else this week and we’re so excited.  Before we left Idaho, though, we saw some more great scenery.

See you from Yellowstone!