ThingsToDo.com Logo Things to do in Idaho
 

Idaho National Parks

Craters of the Moon National Monument
Craters of the Moon National Monument
Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument
Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument

 

City of Rocks National Reserve - "We encamped at the city of the rocks, a noted place from the granite rocks rising abruptly out of the ground," wrote James Wilkins in 1849. "They are in a romantic valley clustered together, which gives them the appearance of a city." Wilkins was among the first wagon travelers to fix the name City of Rocks to what looked like "a dismantled, rock-built city of the Stone Age."

Craters of the Moon National Monument - The Craters of the Moon Lava Field covers 618 square miles and is the largest young basaltic lava field in the conterminous United States. The monument preserves 83 square miles of it for the enjoyment of present and future generations. The park contains more than 20 volcanic cones including outstanding examples of spatter cones. There are 60 different lava flows on the surface, and they range in age from 15,000 to just 2,000 years old.

Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument - Hagerman Fossil Beds NM contains the largest concentration of Hagerman Horse fossils in North America. The Monument is Internationally significant because it protects the world's richest know fossil deposits from a time period called the late Pliocene epoch, 3.5 million years ago. These plants and animals represent the last glimpse of time that existed before the Ice Age, and the earliest appearances of modern flora and fauna.

Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail - This site celebrates the heroic expedition of the Corps of Discovery, led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark. Thirty three people traveled with them into unknown territory, starting near what is now known as Wood River, Illinois in 1804, reaching the Pacific Ocean in 1805 and returning in 1806.

Nez Perce National Historic Park - For thousands of years the valleys, prairies, mountains and plateaus of the inland northwest have been home to the Nez Perce people. The Park contains 38 sites, mostly in Idaho, but others that follow a trail from the Wallowa mountains of Oregon, through central Idaho, Wyoming and Montana - 1500 miles all together.

Yellowstone National Park - By Act of Congress on March 1, 1872, Yellowstone National Park was "dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people" and "for the preservation, from injury or spoilation, of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders. . . and their retention in their natural condition." Yellowstone is the first and oldest national park in the world.

California National Historic Trail - The California Trail carried over 200,000 gold-seekers and farmers to the gold fields and rich farmlands of California during the 1840's and 1850's, the greatest mass migration in American history. Today, more than 1,000 miles of trail ruts and traces can still be seen in the vast undeveloped lands between Casper Wyoming and the West Coast, reminders of the sacrifices, struggles, and triumphs of early American travelers and settlers.

 

 

 

For more information visit the National Park Service website