Hiking & Nature
Devil’s Orchard
Craters of the Moon · South Central Idaho
QUICK INFORMATION
- CATEGORY
- Hiking & Nature
- COUNTRY
- United States
- REGION
- Craters of the Moon · South Central Idaho
- DURATION
- 2
ABOUT THIS ATTRACTION
A garden of lava fragments: monoliths of older flow rock stranded like islands in younger pahoehoe, crossed by an accessible half-mile interpretive loop that threads between the blocks. The monument’s easiest walk and its best close-up of the lava’s strange architecture.
HISTORY & BACKGROUND
The story behind it
Devil’s Orchard preserves an older flow’s fragments surrounded by younger lava — a geologic island chain the Shoshone called a place where the devil laid out his garden; the interpretive loop was built as one of the National Park Service’s first fully accessible lava trails, its paved path threading between the monoliths with cinder patches and limber pine islands. The trail’s panels interpret the volcanic story and the night-sky darkness programme; the half-mile loop is the monument’s standard accessible walk and its most-photographed lava close-up. The Orchard preserves an older flow’s fragments surrounded by younger lava — a geologic island chain — and the paved half-mile loop was built as one of the National Park Service’s first fully accessible lava trails, threading between the monoliths with limber pine islands; the name echoes the Shoshone story of the devil laying out his garden.
WHAT TO SEE
What to see here
GOOD TO KNOW
Facts & Curiosities
Devil’s Orchard is an older lava flow’s fragments surrounded by younger flows.
The paved half-mile loop is one of the NPS’s first fully accessible lava trails.
The name echoes the Shoshone story of the devil laying out his garden.
Limber pine islands grow among the lava blocks along the loop.
MAP & LOCATION
Devil’s Orchard
Devil’s Orchard, Craters of the Moon, South Central Idaho, United States
43.4050, -113.5061
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
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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