About this place
Over 66,000 acres of public land, nearly all of it lava.
The flow is 5200 years old. It looks like a flat moonscape, cut with deep crevices and almost bare.
Lichens and mosses are the first plants to take hold on bare lava, and they are here.
Mule deer, antelope, coyotes and rabbits are the animals you are most likely to see. Sage grouse and mourning doves live on the flows too.
The easy way in is the rest area on Interstate 15 near Blackfoot, where short trails with signs lead you out across the lava. Try it.
The facts
- Cost
- Camping fee not confirmed
- Type
- Open area. Camp anywhere within it
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
Getting there
It sits in Bonneville County, ten miles west of Idaho Falls.
Coordinates 43.47222222, -112.3469444
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
There is another spot of ours within reach, and some better-known places further out.
- East Butte Directions
- Cedar Butte Wilderness Study Area Directions
- Menan Buttes Directions
- Big Southern Butte Directions
Every distance on this page is the driving distance. A short distance can still take a long time. The road may be closed for the season, covered in snow, or washed out. Many of these roads are dirt. Plan your route before you leave home. Out here there is often no phone signal to look it up on the way.
Nearest town and supplies
- Shelley, ID Directions
Shelley is big enough that you’d normally expect fuel and somewhere to buy food. Nobody from here has been to check, so don’t count on it if you’re running low.
Why the drive to town is usually twice what the map says — what we found measuring every campsite in this guide.
When it’s time to move on
On most public land you can camp for 14 days before you have to move on. Check this site’s own limit before you plan a long stay. When you move on, the Bureau of Land Management usually wants you at least 25 to 30 miles away. So the free campsites closest to you are the ones you cannot use.
One in this guide sits inside that 25 miles. The nearest one you could move to is Appendicitis Hill Wilderness Study Area, Idaho — 58 miles in a straight line, but a 65 mile drive.
This guide covers five states and does not list every free campsite, so there may be something closer that we do not hold. Check this site’s own rule before you rely on it.
Have you been here?
Fees and access change, and the records do not always keep up. If you have been, tell us what you found.
Thank you, that is recorded. It helps the next person.
Add road notes for this site
The thing we cannot get from any government record is what the drive in is actually like. If you have done it, this is the most useful thing you can leave behind. We read everything before it appears, and we print a first name with it if you give one.
Thank you. A person will read it before it goes on the page.
Where this information comes from
The description on this page is ours. The facts in it, and the fee and facility details below it, come from the Bureau of Land Management’s own records, read in August 2026.