Craters of the Moon, the Oregon Trail
in Idaho
History A Safer Alternative The Oregon Trail followed the course of the Snake River, about 100 miles south of the monument. In 1852, John Jeffrey began promoting a spur trail which traced traditional Shoshone migration routes. He wanted to generate business for his ferry at the mouth of the Blackfoot River.
Although the cutoff received some use from 1852-1854, it was not until a decade later that a large percentage of Oregon Trail traffic chose the route. In 1862, an emigrant party asked guide Tim Goodale to lead them west from Fort Hall on the cutoff pioneered by Jeffrey. They hoped the alternate trail would enable them to reach the Salmon River gold fields more directly.
Goodale succeeded in leading a group of 1,095 people, 338 wagons, and 2,900 head of stock safely from Fort Hall to Boise. It took this enormous wagon train -- the largest to travel any section of the Oregon Trail -- over 3 hours to get into or out of camp. By 1862, the Northern Shoshone and Bannock tribes were beginning to resist the intrusion of emigrants into their homeland.
- States
- Idaho
- Trail type
- National Monument & Preserve trail
- Centroid nearest city
- Boise, ID · 137 mi · ~3.9 hr drive
- Centroid coords
- 43.5603°, -113.4716°
About Craters Of The Moon National Monument & Preserve
This trail is inside Craters Of The Moon National Monument & Preserve, a national monument & preserve managed by the U.S. National Park Service. Conditions, road status, trail closures, and reservation requirements are published on the park's NPS page — check it before driving in, especially in winter or during major weather events.
Entrance fee: $20 per vehicle (verify current rate on the park page). An America the Beautiful annual pass ($80) covers entrance to all NPS units.
Official NPS trail page: https://www.nps.gov/places/craters-of-the-moon-the-oregon-trail.htm
Park homepage: https://www.nps.gov/crmo/index.htm
Plan your hike
Maps + permits: long-distance trails like this often require permits for through-hiking, backcountry camping, or specific sections (especially in National Parks). Check with the maintaining organisation listed above and the relevant land manager before booking travel.
Water + supplies: water sources vary seasonally on most U.S. trails. Carry a filter and consult current trail-condition reports — through-hiker journals (PCT-L, AT Reddit, etc.) and the maintaining organisation publish regular updates.
When to go: hiking seasons vary widely with elevation, latitude, and snowpack. Through-hikers traditionally start the AT in March-April (Springer northbound) and the PCT in late April (Campo northbound). High-elevation western trails (CDT, JMT, Wonderland) generally aren't passable until July.
If you've hiked Craters of the Moon, the Oregon Trail and have current notes (water sources, trail closures, permit changes), tell us at /contact — we update pages as we learn.
Other trails within 50 miles
Sources
Trail data on this page is compiled from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), the maintaining organisation's public-facing materials, and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA where excerpts are quoted). Distance, terminus, and descriptive text for nationally-designated trails are hand-curated from federal land-manager websites and trail-association sources. We do not modify the underlying data; this page presents what is already publicly recorded. To suggest corrections, see our methodology page.