Arco, ID

29th & 30th April: Days 21 & 22

A short 83 mile hoppity-skip took us from Ketchum to Arco along a section of the very scenic US-20. This runs in the Snake River plain, surrounded by mountains. The enormity of this country is becoming more and more apparent.

Brace yourselves for some Arco facts…

Arco’s main claim to fame is that is was the first community in the world to be lit by electricity generated solely by nuclear power back in 1955. (For about an hour). Experimental breeder reactor No. 1 is about 18 miles from the town, and was the world’s first nuclear power plant.

This is it from afar.

It was never a commercial venture, but burnt until 1964 as a test bed for the new energy source. The plant is now a museum, and you can maraud all over it on a self guided tour. Tragically it is not open for another month, which was very disappointing for my travel companion.  The ‘season’ sure starts late in this neck of the woods.

Arco plays host to the conning tower of the submarine the USS Hawksbill, aka the Submarine of the Desert or ‘Devils Boat’. A trifle bizarre.

Whilst we were taking the obligatory tourist photos, a chap remarked how impressive it was. For a milli-second he believed me when I said that what was even more impressive was the effort put into digging the hole to bury the rest of it. Must rein in that sarcastic British humour.

The hillside above the town is known as Numbers Hill. Since 1920, every graduating high school class has painted the number of the year on the rocks high above the town. Part vandalism, part artistic heritage.

Arco is also the closest town to a US National Monument called Craters Of The Moon, which is our main reason for stopping here. This is a huge area shaped by volcanic activity over the past 14 million years. The most recent eruption being 2500 years ago.  We spent the day there, driving the loop road and stopping at various points to do walks and a few climbs. A very lunar landscape surrounded by amazing nothingness.

We had the inaugural truck-bed picnic, with at least 4ft to spare.

August 21 is the date of the full solar eclipse, and Arco is on the path of totality. This would be an amazing place to watch it, but alas we will be far from here.

So there. So much of interest in such a small place we’d never heard of.