Local legends, beginning in the late 1800s, held that this area resembled the surface of the moon, on which—it must now be remembered—no one had then walked! Geologist Harold T. Stearns first used the name Craters of the Moon when he suggested to the National Park Service, in 1923, that a national monument be established here. Stearns found “the dark craters and the cold lava, nearly destitute of vegetation” similar to “the surface of the moon as seen through a telescope.” The name Craters of the Moon would stick after Limbert adopted it in National Geographic Magazine in 1924. Later that year the name became official when the area was set aside by President Calvin Coolidge as a national monument under the Antiquities Act.
Like some other areas in the National Park System, Craters of the Moon has lived to see the name that its early explorers affixed to it proved somewhat erroneous by subsequent events or findings. When Stearns and Limbert called this lava field Craters of the Moon, probably few persons other than science fiction buffs actually thought that human beings might one day walk on the moon and see firsthand what its surface is like. People have now walked on the moon, however, and we know that its surface does not, in fact, closely resemble this part of Idaho. Although there are some volcanic features on the surface of the moon, most of its craters were formed by the impact of meteorites colliding with the moon.
Moonscape or not, early fur trappers avoided the lava flows along the base of the Pioneer Mountains at the north of today’s park. In doing so, they followed Indian trails such as one found by Limbert that “resembled a light streak winding through the lava. When the sun was directly overhead it could be seen to advantage, but at times was difficult to follow. Think of the years of travel,” Limbert marveled, “necessary to make that mark on rock!” At least one Indian trail was destined to become part of Goodale’s Cutoff, an alternative route on the Oregon Trail that pioneers in wagon trains used in the 1850s and 1860s. Many adjectives early used for this scene—weird, barren, exciting, awe-inspiring, monotonous, astonishing, curious, bleak, mysterious—still apply. It is not difficult today to see why pioneering folk intent on wresting a living from the land did not tackle this volcanic terrain.
Geologists possessed the proper motivation to tackle it, however. Curiosity aroused by this lava field has led several generations of geologists, beginning with Israel C. Russell in 1901 and Harold T. Stearns in the 1920s, into a deeper understanding of its volcanic origins. With ever increasing penetration of its geological history, the apparent otherworldliness of Craters of the Moon has retreated—but not entirely. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) brought the second set of astronauts who would walk on the moon to this alien corner of the galaxy before their moonshot. Here they studied the volcanic rock and explored an unusual, harsh, and unforgiving environment before embarking on their own otherworldly adventure.
Most types of volcanic features in the park can be seen quite readily by first stopping at the visitor center and then driving the Loop Road. Far more features can be seen if you also walk the interpretive trails at the stops along the Loop Road. Still more await those who invest the time required to come to feel the mysterious timelessness and raw natural force implicit in this expansive lava field. Many travelers are en route to Yellowstone National Park and spend only a couple of hours visiting Craters of the Moon. This is ironic because here you are on the geological track of Yellowstone. In fact, Craters of the Moon represents what Yellowstone’s landscape will resemble in the future, and both areas can supplement your insight into what happens when the Earth’s unimaginable inner forces erupt to its surface.
Silvery leaves of the buckwheat dot a cinder garden with such regular spacing they almost look planted. Such spacing results from the shortage of available surface water: Each plant controls with its roots the space surrounding it, discouraging competing plants. Rainwater and snowmelt penetrate volcanic cinders so readily that their moisture quickly drops beyond reach of most plants’ root systems. For a close-up view of a buckwheat, see [page 36].
Although Idaho is famous for forests, rivers, and scenic mountain wilderness, its Snake River Plain region boasts little of these attributes. This plain arcs across southern Idaho from the Oregon border to the Yellowstone area at the Montana-Wyoming border. It marks the trail of the passage of the Earth’s crust over an unusual geologic heat source that now brings the Earth’s incendiary inner workings so close to its surface near Yellowstone. This heat source fuels Yellowstone’s bubbling, spewing, spouting geothermal wonders. Craters of the Moon therefore stands as a geologic prelude to Yellowstone, as its precursor and the ancestral stuff of its fiery secrets.
When did all this volcanism at Craters of the Moon happen? Will it happen again? According to Mel Kuntz and other U.S. Geological Survey geologists who have conducted extensive field research at Craters of the Moon, the volcanic activity forming the Craters of the Moon lava field probably started only 15,000 years ago. The last eruption in the volcanic cycle ended 2,000 years ago, about the time that Julius Caesar ruled the Roman Empire.
Craters of the Moon is a dormant, but not extinct, volcanic area. Its sleeping volcanoes could become active again in the near future. The largest earthquake of the last quarter century in the contiguous United States shook Idaho’s tallest mountain, Borah Peak, just north of here in 1983. When it did, some geologists wondered if it might initiate volcanic activity at Craters of the Moon. It did not. According to Kuntz, however, this is no reason not to expect another volcanic eruption here soon—probably “within the next 1,000 years.” Part Two of this handbook explores the still young and rapidly evolving understanding of the fascinating geologic story of Craters of the Moon.