CRATERS OF THE MOON

June, 2019

Craters of the Moon National Monument is about an hour and a half from Idaho Falls, Idaho, and yes, there are falls in Idaho Falls.

Once out of the Salt Lake City metroplex the ride to Craters of the Moon starts out due west for a little less than an hour.  Once reaching the town of Arco (population 869), turn south to reach the National Monument.  For such a small town Arco has an interesting history…

Imagine that only 15,000 years ago a number of deep fissures in the earth opened all along a single 100 miles in length; this has become known as the Great Rift. Below the fissures, lava is ever-flowing over below-ground volcanos and shifting tectonic plates. Imagine the pressure from the overlapping of tectonic plates is compounded by the eruption of volcanos launching volcanic rock and spewing hot lava out of the fissures. Imagine the lava flowing and rocks falling over 750,000 acres. Imagine this happening a time or 2 or 3 or more; the last eruption a mere 2,000 years ago (a few hours ago in geologic terms).  Imagine that the result is a topography of hills and valleys of black volcanic rock, few trees and scrubs, a little grassland and flowers growing low to the ground, lava bombs, splatter cones (miniature volcanoes), lava tubes (caves) formed when the surface lava cooled quicker than the lava underground, and that the only other place in the world that looks like this is in Hawaii, some 3000 air miles away.  In 1923 geologist Harold T. Sterns described the area as “the surface of the moon seen through a telescope.” Welcome to Craters of The Moon National Monument.

Craters of the Moon National Monument is just simply one of those otherworldly places to put on your bucket list – it’s definitely worth your time.

Barbara and Brian