BlackSmith Bed & Breakfast Inn
Yellowstone ~ Jackson Hole ~ Idaho Falls ~ Rexburg ~ Heise Hot Springs ~ Rim Rock Elk Ranch
Kelly Canyon-Swan Valley ~ Craters of Moon ~ Yellowstone Bear World ~ Jefferson County Museum~ Teton Flood Museum
Craters of the Moon has been described as "The strangest 75 square miles on the North American Continent" by one early traveler. Others deem it "a weird lunar landscape," "an outdoor museum of volcanism," and "a desolate and awful waste". Virtually unknown until 1921, the area was made a national monument in 1924, and today it embraces 83 square miles. The Shoshone Indians never inhabited this are in large numbers, but they hunted here. Pioneers in covered wagons skirted the lava flows; later cattle ranchers avoided the place; and miner staked claims only nearby. But this odd landscape, showing our globe's awesome forces, eventually became an object of awe.   Geologists predict that the landscape will sometime erupt again. Surface patterns and formations abound here which are typical of basalitic lava associated with volcanism the world over. "Where is the volcano?" you might ask. There is not just one, for her the Earthd a great wound and lava spewed out. The fissure vents, volcanic cones, and lava flows of the Great Rift zone began erupting only 15,000 years ago and ceased only 2,000 years ago. To the south in the park lies the vast Craters of the Moon Wilderness established by Congress in 1970. This region boasts stark volcanic features flanking the Great Rift and challenges serious hikers and explorers. Before you decide on such a trek, check with Park rangers. There is no water in summer, and the Hawaiian word for one type of lava here means "hard on the feet."   Garnering livelihoods from this alien, Moonlike landscape are no less than 2,000 insect species, 148 birds, 47 mammals, 8 reptiles, and a lone amphibian, the western toad. Mule deer are sometimes seen around Paisley, inferno, and Broken Top cones. Secretive predators, bobcats and great horned owls, hunt here. The prairie falcon preys on other birds and small mammals with lightning dives. In the campgrounds you may see chipmunks and golden mantled round squirrels. More than 300 species of plants are found in this apparently desolate landscape. Big sagebrush, antel bitterbush, and rubber rabbitbrush are established on the older lava flows. On the younger flows, mockorange and tansybush may fill deeper crevices where soil matter have accumulated. Wildflowers carpet Craters of the Moon from early May until late August. The more delicate annuals bloom during late May and early June when snowmelt and occasional rains provide fair amounts of moisture. With summer's dryness the more drought resistant plants continue to grow and bloom.
The BlackSmith Bed & Breakfast Inn is located 15 miles north of Idaho Falls, Idaho at 227 North 3900 East, just .1/4 mile off Hwy 20 website promotion   BlackSmith Bed & Breakfast Inn

Rigby, Idaho