Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve
The Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is not located on the moon – it is located in the Snake River Plain in south central Idaho. Craters of the Moon’s landscape was formed by lava deposits resulting in the look of a moonscape. The most recent active volcanic activity occurred nearly 2,100 years ago. A tour along the North Crater Flow Trail offers views of this most “recent” activity.
In the Great Rift volcanic rift zone, the Craters of the Moon formed not by a massive volcanic eruption but through fissure eruptions, which occur along the cracks in the earth’s crust. From these fissures came fluid basaltic lava. Gas is able to escape and without the high gas pressure eruptions are relatively mild. The results are lava flows and cinder cones. (A cinder cone is a cone-shaped volcano formed of ash and cinder.) The 25 cinder cones at Craters of the Moon are small volcanoes. The area is currently dormant and scientists do not expect any reawakening activities for another thousand years.
Though prevalent throughout the northwest, the Native Americans didn’t settle in the lava flow area, but artifacts of the Northern Shoshone tribe have been found in the area where they likely hunted for the dense form of basalt that was good for arrow points. Today the area is set aside as a monument and preserve on 750,000 acres.
Craters of the Moon offers trails and scenic views for visitors to observe plants and wildlife living among the different lava habitats. Guest can tour the park on hiking trails. The cinder slopes offer an amusing site of neatly spaced wildflowers in late spring. Visitors have been fooled into thinking these flowers were planted, but in actuality, the limited water supply caused the flowers to space themselves based n the available resources. The Craters of the Moon is one of the most interesting sites in the world to explore. In the summer, visitors enjoy the campground. In the fall, backpackers head into the wilderness to camp. In the winter, cross country skiers and snowshoers wait for the first snowpack.
The Craters of the Moon Visitor Center is open daily year round and is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. The Loop Drive is closed in the winter. A park ranger from Craters of the Moon has shared excellent tips on how to enjoy this incredibly unique landscape, which at first glance, looks like barren rock land. He recommends that the visit be in the early morning or late afternoon. This is because the intense light and heat of the midday sun affects the impression of the color of the rocks on the senses. Second, summertime is a great time to visit the park, but the new life of spring and the cool hues of fall bring out the best in the park. Third, he recommends that visitors take advantage of the programs offered at Caters of the Moon, in order to learn why the area is so fascinating.
Sun Valley, Ketchum, and the Sawtooth National Recreation Area
Sun Valley is known for world-class skiing. Ketchum is known for Ernest Hemingway. Together, these two towns lie in the valley below the skiing paradise, Bald Mountain, in south central Idaho. This mountain region is a year-round recreational playground and the gateway to the Sawtooth National Recreation Area.
Ketchum, Idaho started as shipping and smelting community for the Wood River Valley mines. It later became best known for the home of author Ernest Hemingway. Ketchum is host to Wagon Days, an old-west carnival and parade, which is held each Labor Day weekend. The largest non-motorized parade in the West displays more than 100 buggies, carriages, buckboards, and wagons. Other Wagon Days events include wagon train rides, antique fairs, professional bull riding, and more. Ketchum is also home to the Trailing of the Sheep Festival, an annual October event. In keeping with the century-old tradition, sheepherders move their flocks from summer pastures in the mountains, through the Wood River Valley to winter desert grazing areas.
Bald Mountain, or Baldy, is the premier ski mountain at the Sun Valley resort. Baldy features 19 ski lifts with so much lift capacity that lift lines are virtually non-existent. Baldy is 3,400 ft vertically, from top to bottom, and offers 64 runs on 2,054 ski acres. Top skiers consider Baldy the country's best ski mountain and several Olympians have trained on Baldy. This is also the site of the first chair lift, which was designed based on the system used to load bananas onto ships.
The Sawtooth Mountains have been referred to as “America’s Alps”. The mountains feature a stunning and rugged wilderness area. From Ketchum/Sun Valley, the Sawtooth Mountain Range lie to the north and offers 40 peaks over 10,000 ft above sea level and 300 mountain lakes. The Galena Summit Overlook in the Sawtooth National Recreation area offers breathtaking views of the valley. Some of the country’s best white-water rafting is in this area on the Payette, Salmon, and Snake rivers.
Sun Valley, Ketchum, and the Sawtooth National Recreation Area together draw millions of visitors to the area each year for the winter downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, ice skating, and more. The summertime is equally busy as visitors flock to the area for rafting, boating, swimming, flyfishing, horseback ridding, a round of golf on the world-class golf courses, and more.
Silverwood Theme Park
Silverwood brings the gun-slinging thrills and excitement of the Wild West to life in the Northwest’s largest theme park. Silverwood’s home is Athol, Idaho, just north of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and northeast of Spokane, Washington. The theme is of a turn-of-the-century Victorian mining town. Admission to Silverwood provides access to the adjacent Boulder Beach Water Park.
Silverwood features more than 60 rides and attractions from top-notch rollercoasters to water rides to fun rides for the kids. Two wooden coasters and two steel coasters are found at Silverwood. The wooden coasters include the air coaster Timbre Terror and Tremors, a 60-mile wooden rollercoaster that plunges through underground tunnels. Steel coasters are the Gravity-Defying Corkscrew, the first in the nation to treat rides to an upside down ride, and Tiny Toot. Five other high-intensity rides are found at Silverwood.
Antique cars, a vintage carousel, a Ferris wheel, bumper boats, a log flume ride, and a paratrooper experience offer the best in amusement park fun. Children will have their fill of fun at "Garfield's Summer Camp", a playground that features the Tiny Toot Roller Coaster, a tree fortress, an airplane ride, and a small-scale Ferris wheel. The house of Garfield and Odie features the beloved cartoon characters. The vintage steam train ride travels through the Silverwood forest and offers a behind-the-scenes look at the rides and attractions. Other attractions at Silverwood are the shows. The Main Street Theater offers a marionette show and Garfield cartoons. The Ice Palace Theater features ice-skating performances. Over a dozen places to eat and gift and souvenir shops are located throughout the park. Special events and guests are featured throughout the season.
Boulder Beach Water Park offers all the slides and pools to make a day at the park complete. If cooling off in the summer sun is your thing, you can float on Elkhorn Creek through waterfalls and lounging pools. Kids will enjoy the wet fun at Polliwog Park, which offers over 50 interactive play activities including water cannons, mini-slides, geysers, and a 580-gallon bucket dump waterfall.
Silverwood Theme Park is open daily from the end of May through Labor Day, and weekends starting in May through the first week of October. Boulder Beach Water Park is open June through September.