Cities & Culture
Arco & the Atomic City
Craters of the Moon · South Central Idaho
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- Craters of the Moon · South Central Idaho
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ABOUT THIS ATTRACTION
The little town that lit the world with nuclear power: Arco’s downtown B-52 tail and its numbered sail-shaped high-school class signs commemorate the nearby Idaho National Laboratory’s firsts — the first city powered by nuclear electricity (1955) and the first nuclear submarine prototype reactor. The gateway to Craters keeps its atomic history proudly on display.
HISTORY & BACKGROUND
The story behind it
Arco was the county seat on the Big Lost River when the U.S. Navy and the new Atomic Energy Commission built the Naval Reactor Facility in the desert west of town in the early 1950s; on July 17, 1955, experiments at the BORAX-III reactor made Arco the first city in the world lit by nuclear power, and the prototype reactor that followed powered the first nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus. The town’s high school graduates paint their graduation year on the hillside numbers each spring — a tradition since the 1920s — and the decommissioned B-52 tail in the city park commemorates the laboratory era. The Idaho National Laboratory remains one of the nation’s major nuclear research sites, and Arco serves it as gateway and home.
WHAT TO SEE
What to see here
GOOD TO KNOW
Facts & Curiosities
Arco was the first city in the world powered by nuclear electricity, on July 17, 1955.
The Nautilus submarine’s prototype reactor was built and tested at the nearby desert site.
Arco High School graduates paint their class year on the hillside numbers each spring.
A decommissioned B-52 tail stands in the city park as an atomic-era memorial.
MAP & LOCATION
Arco & the Atomic City
Arco & the Atomic City, Craters of the Moon, South Central Idaho, United States
43.6353, -113.3000
MORE ATTRACTIONS
More to see in Craters of the Moon
THINGS TO DO
Things to do nearby
FOOD & DRINK
Where to eat nearby
The Lost Taco — Arco’s favorite street-Mexican counter.
Bad Boyz Pizza — lava-hot pies and cold beer in Arco.
Mountain View RV Park restaurant — southern BBQ plates on the way to the monument.
Pick’s Place — burgers, shakes and the town’s lunch counter.
Carey’s Antelope Creek Ranch B&B dining — reservation dinners on the road south.
Picnic at the monument — shaded tables at the visitor center (pack in, pack out).
HOTELS & STAYS
Where to stay nearby
Craters of the Moon KOA — full-hookup pool-and-cabin resort 19 miles from the visitor center (see camping).
Mountain View RV Park — grassy full-hookup sites with BBQ restaurant in Arco (see camping).
Craters of the Moon RV Park — 30/50-amp pull-throughs minutes from town (see camping).
The monument’s Lava Flow Campground — tent-and-small-RV sites under the cinder hills (see camping).
Mackay’s motels and the White Knob RV park 40 minutes north in the Pioneer valley.
Carey’s Silver Creek area ranch stays 30 minutes south.
ITINERARIES
Day-by-day routes
NEARBY DESTINATIONS
Continue the journey
INTERESTS
Explore by what you love
ROUTES
Routes through here
Broken Top Loop & the Spatter Cones
The monument’s classic loop: a perfect spatter cone, a bomb field, and a half-collapsed crater through wildflower country.
3 km · 1.5 h · easy
VIEW ROUTEPeaks-to-Craters Scenic Byway
Sixty miles from Borah Peak’s alpine face across the Lost River valley into the black lava — Idaho’s strangest drive.
95 km · 2.5 h · easy
VIEW ROUTEPeaks to Craters — Ketchum to Challis via Mackay
Idaho’s empty middle: 183 km from Ketchum up the Lost River valley beneath 12,662-foot Borah Peak to Challis — high desert, big peaks and no traffic.
183 km · 4.9 h · easy
VIEW ROUTECraters of the Moon Loop — Arco to Mackay
A ride through two Idahos: 120 km from Arco — the first town powered by nuclear electricity — through the black lava fields of Craters of the Moon to Mackay beneath the Lost River wall.
120 km · 3.7 h · easy
VIEW ROUTEPART OF
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