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Highlights
Cool
Facts
Facilities
Getting There
When to Visit
Web Sites
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Highlights
Craters
embraces an amazing array of volcanic formations – a mix of spatter cones,
cinder cones, fissure vents, raft blocks, and lava tubes (caves). Lava flows
include pahoehoe, and aa (names that originated in volcano studies on
Hawaii), and lava "bombs" come in such evocatively-named forms as
cow dung and breadcrust. Craters is your one-stop shop for basaltic
volcanism! A strange landscape, the area is considered so lunar-like
American astronauts have actually been trained at this site. (Did anyone
think to ask how the places compared, I wonder?)
Cool
Facts
- The Monument sits on a lava
field that is the largest in the United States at 618 square miles
(1,600 square kilometers).
- You can figure out where the
Great Rift lies, by the chain of cinder cones.
- The highest cinder cone is Big
Cinder Butte which stands more than 700 feet above the surrounding
plain.
- Craters is home to 300 species
of plants, 2,000 insect species, 148 birds, 47 mammals, 8 reptiles, and
a lone amphibian, the western toad.
- Plants and animals have adapted
in unique ways to deal with this environment. A sagebrush sitting
unprepossessingly on a lump of lava, might have a tap root going 20 feet
down to get at water. Marmots hibernate both summer and winter.
- In places, molten lava flows
encased standing trees and then hardened, and eventually the wood
rotted, resulting in vertical tree molds.
Facilities
- Visitor Information Center.
Displays, video, conducted walks, evening programs, and publications for
sale, water and comfort station. Phone: 208-527-3257
- Paved roads for vehicles include
a 7-mile loop road. Walking trails include disabled access.
- Campground is available.
- The southern part of the
Monument is a wilderness area closed to vehicles.
Getting
There
The Monument lies on U.S. Alternate
Route 93. You'll find it 29 kilometers southwest of Arco in Butte and
Blaine counties. Closest interstate is I-84 to the south.
When
to Visit
- Early May until late August
(especially late June) when wildflowers transform the harsh landscape.
- Winter to ski on the groomed
Loop Drive and see a strange landscape of black and white.
- Note: Extremes of weather are
part ‘n parcel of the Monument. The intense summer sun bakes the black
lava, generating air temperatures in the 90's (Fahrenheit). Winds are
daily occurrence, especially in the afternoon, and may reach 15 to 30
miles per hour.
And remember rock collecting is not
permitted!
Web
Sites
Craters
of the Moon
National Park Service page on the monument has basic information on how to
make the best of a visit to the monument, plus a link to their
expanded
web pages.
Craters
of the Moon, Idaho
It is worth waiting for the Aerial images of the monument to open. (On
the Volcano World web site.)
Craters
of the Moon, Idaho
Includes geographic setting, and geologic and eruptive history. (On
the USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory web site.)
Yahoo
Parks: Craters of the Moon
The Yahoo page for the monument. Mainly information sourced from the
National Parks Service on facilities, hours, fees and the like.
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