After visiting West Yellowstone, we headed into Idaho to camp with some family. Arco Idaho looked like a good halfway point, and the KOA there made for a convenient stop. I’m not sure if Kristy was planning to visit Craters of the Moon National Monument all along, or if it was a happy accident, but a few days before our arrival we decided we would visit this location before heading to our campground, and I’m glad we did.

Before I get to Craters, let me first tell you that this was very rural Idaho. There were not a lot of towns of any size along our chosen route, though we did pass the Idaho National Laboratory, which had very prominent signs informing us to stay on the road and away from their nuclear testing site.

When we finally rolled into Arco, we were quickly made aware of the fact that this town was the first in the world to be lit entirely by nuclear energy, back in 1955, which I found to be pretty cool.

The Craters Monument is about 20 miles southwest of town. It was quite obvious when we arrived, as the landscape changes dramatically to fields of craggy lava rock as far as the eye can see. It truly did feel like we had left earth, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. It’s wild to look upon this vast field of volcanic rock, which is largely devoid of plants and trees, and realize it’s probably been like this for nearly 15,000 years.

We stopped at the visitor center, where a Park Ranger issued a Junior Ranger challenge for Owen to share some facts about the monument. With only a little help, Owen passed by telling the Ranger about how astronauts train for their missions on the rocks in the monument. This scored him another Junior Ranger badge.

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After consulting the maps at the visitor center parking lot, we took the truck and trailer on the roughly 10 mile loop road through the park, stopping at several scenic overlooks. We even squeezed in a short hike while we were there. While Kristy and I were fascinated by the landscape, I think Owen’s favorite part was climbing on the concrete picnic tables. It’s the simple pleasures in life.

This National Monument is pretty far off the beaten path, but if you ever have the opportunity to check it out, whether it’s for an afternoon or a weekend, we definitely encourage you to do so. Just try not to let this nugget from the NPS dissuade you: “The time between eruptive periods in the Craters of the Moon Lava Field averages 2,000 years and it has been more than 2,000 years since the last eruption.”