The Travelling Celts

Why did we go here?

by Michael Cameron

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is a U.S. national monument and national preserve in the Snake River Plain in central Idaho. It is along US 20, between the small towns of Arco and Carey, at an average elevation of 5,900 feet above sea level. The protected area's features are volcanic and represent one of the best-preserved flood basalt areas in the continental United States.

It was established on May 2, 1924. In November 2000, a presidential proclamation by President Clinton greatly expanded the Monument area. The National Park Service portions of the expanded Monument were designated as Craters of the Moon National Preserve in August 2002. It spreads across Blaine, Butte, Lincoln, Minidoka, and Power counties. The area is managed cooperatively by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

Three major lava fields and about 400 square miles of sagebrush steppe grasslands cover a total area of 1,117 square miles. The Monument alone covers 53,571 acres. All three lava fields lie along the Great Rift of Idaho, with some of the best examples of open rift cracks in the world, including the deepest known on Earth at 800 feet. There are excellent examples of almost every variety of basaltic lava, as well as tree molds, lava tubes, and many other volcanic features

The place, is quite desolate, not scenic or pretty by any stretch of the imagination unless I suppose you are a volconologist. So why did we end up there? To be honest it was halfway between places where we wanted to be, and we had to stop somewhere. Would we go back? Absolutely!

Click the links below for the Crater photos and/or videos