Tom and I were headed to the Lemhis to climb Sunny Bar Peak. En route, we figured we'd stop by and scramble up a few of the named peaks (cones) in the Craters of the Moon National Monument.

The first peak we hiked up was Grassy Cone. Grassy sits across US 93 from Craters of the Moon (technically within the monument, but not in the original monument boundaries). It was a quick and easy ascent up from the highway. Views of Blizzard Mountain from the top were impressive and the peak had great views of the rest of the Craters of the Moon monument.

Our next objective was Big Cinder Butte. Big Cinder Butte is the highest point of the main Craters area. We parked at the end of the loop road (the furthest point it gets south). This is the Tree Molds trailhead and is near the base of the peak. We then followed the tree molds trail about 1/3 of a mile, before heading over to ascend the west face of the peak. We found game trails here and there as we headed up the steep face.

We eventually found our way to the summit, which has great views. Blizzard Mountain, Timbered Dome, the Lost Rivers, the Twin Buttes, and lava fields in all directions.

We made our way down and then drove over to the Big Crater/Spatter Cone parking lot. Here we hiked about 1/2 a mile on trail to Big Crater, before forking left and hiking cross country to Silent Cone.

It was fun exploring these peaks. We were done around 3pm and off to Arco for some dinner before exploring the Lemhi range.

For Sunset. we parked on US 93 1.4 miles before (Carey side) the entrance to Craters of the Moon visitor center.

For the other 2, we utilized the seven-mile loop, which starts at the visitor center.

See the trip report and GPS tracks.