Idaho National Parks

Idaho national parks are rich with stories of the colorful characters of the gold rush era and early explorers of this part of the country. These stories are told against a backdrop of geologic and volcanic formations, fossils, and geothermal landscapes sure to leave the visitor wanting more.

Visit these Idaho National Parks:

California National Historic Trail: The road to California carried over 250,000 gold-seekers & farmers to the gold fields & rich farmlands of California during the 1840's and 1850's - the greatest mass migration in American history. More than 1,000 miles of trail ruts and traces can still be seen in the vast undeveloped west – reminders of the sacrifices, struggles, and triumphs of early American travelers and settlers.

California Trail Ratings

City Of Rocks National Reserve: This unique geologic area became a landmark in 1843 for California-bound emigrants. They left wagon ruts across the landscape and their signatures in axle grease on Register Rock, Camp Rock and many others. A few granite pinnacles and monoliths are in excess of sixty stories tall. The smooth granite faces offer exceptional rock climbing.

City of Rocks Weather

Craters Of The Moon National Monument & Preserve: A vast ocean of lava flows with scattered islands of cinder cones and sagebrush. We invite you to explore this "weird and scenic landscape" where yesterday's volcanic events are likely to continue tomorrow.

Craters of the Moon Weather

Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument: Largest concentration of Hagerman Horse (Equus simplicidens) fossils in North America - 30 complete horse fossils and portions of 200 individual horses. Internationally significant Monument protects world's richest late Pliocene epoch (3 - 4 mya) fossil deposits: over 220 species of plants and animals! Glimpse life before the last Ice Age and view earliest appearance of modern flora and fauna.

Hagerman Fossil Beds Weather

Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail: Between May 1804 and September 1806, 32 men, one woman, and a baby traveled from the plains of the Midwest to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. They called themselves the Corps of Discovery. In their search for a water route to the Pacific Ocean, they opened a window onto the west for the young United States.

Minidoka Internment National Monument: The Pearl Harbor attack intensified hostility towards Japanese Americans. As wartime hysteria mounted, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 causing over 120,000 West Coast persons of Japanese ancestry (Nikkei) to leave their homes, jobs, and lives behind to move to one of ten Relocation Camps. This constituted the single largest forced relocation in U.S. history.

Minidoka Weather

Nez Perce National Historical Park: Since time immemorial, the Nimiipuu or Nez Perce have lived among the rivers, canyons and prairies of the inland northwest. Despite the cataclysmic change of the past two centuries, the Nez Perce are still here. Join us in exploring the park's thirty-eight sites and experiencing the story of a people who are still part of this landscape.

The Oregon Trail: A History: On to Oregon! It all began with a crude network of rutted traces across the and from the Missouri River to the Willamette River that was used by nearly 400,000 people. Today the 2,170-mile Oregon Trail still evokes an instant image, a ready recollection of the settlement of this continent, of the differences between American Indians and white settlers, and of new horizons.

The Oregon Trail: The Journey West: In book or pamphlet form, guidebooks were soon available for emigrants. Some provided good, solid, reliable information. Others contributed to the "Oregon Fever" that swept the country in the 1840s describing the land in almost Biblical terms.

Yellowstone National Park: Established in 1872, Yellowstone National Park is America's first national park. Located in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, it is home to a large variety of wildlife including grizzly bears, wolves, bison, and elk. Preserved within Yellowstone National Park are Old Faithful and a collection of the world's most extraordinary geysers and hot springs, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.