The drive from Boise to Yellowstone is over 5 hours long, so we decided to break it up with a stop at Craters of the Moon. It was just the right place for us to stop on our way to Yellowstone.

So much lava!

I am so glad we stopped at Craters of the moon because I’ve been wanting to go there for a while. However, I’m also very glad I didn’t make the round-trip drive to the Craters from Boise. Craters of the Moon is definitely awesome to see if you are passing by anywhere near the area, but I am not sure it is worth 4-5 hours of round trip driving if it is your only destination.

Lava lava lava

Craters of the Moon is a 618 square mile lava field. Think about how huge that is! But of course, that means that all you see in front of you is lava lava lava.

We spent about an hour there, and went into a few caves.

It was pitch black inside – good thing we always travel with headlamps!

Oh look, lava

The temperature difference between the caves and the outside world was crazy – 100F outside, ice and steam from your breath inside the caves. It was really cool to see all the different ways the lava flowed from the way it hardened, and it is insane to think of how destructive a volcano can be.

Lava

Lava

Lava… were you expecting something else?

We really enjoyed exploring all around the caves and trying to take in the vastness of the lava… and then we were glad to continue on to Yellowstone 🙂