Local legends, beginning in the late 1800s, held that this area resembled the surface of the moon, on which—it must now be remembered—no one had then walked! Geologist Harold T. Stearns first used the name Craters of the Moon when he suggested to the National Park Service, in 1923, that a national monument be established here. Stearns found “the dark craters and the cold lava, nearly destitute of vegetation” similar to “the surface of the moon as seen through a telescope.” The name Craters of the Moon would stick after Limbert adopted it in _National Geographic Magazine_ in 1924. Later that year the name became official when the area was set aside by President Calvin Coolidge as a national monument under the Antiquities Act. Like some other areas in the National Park System, Craters of the Moon has lived to see the name that its early explorers affixed to it proved somewhat erroneous by subsequent events or findings. When Stearns and Limbert called this lava field Craters of the Moon, probably few persons other than science fiction buffs actually thought that human beings might one day walk on the moon and see firsthand what its surface is like. People have now walked on the moon, however, and we know that its surface does not, in fact, closely resemble this part of Idaho. Although there are some volcanic features on the surface of the moon, most of its craters were formed by the impact of meteorites colliding with the moon. Moonscape or not, early fur trappers avoided the lava flows along the base of the Pioneer Mountains at the north of today’s park. In doing so, they followed Indian trails such as one found by Limbert that “resembled a light streak winding through the lava. When the sun was directly overhead it could be seen to advantage, but at times was difficult to follow. Think of the years of travel,” Limbert marveled, “necessary to make that mark on rock!” At least one Indian trail was destined to become part of Goodale’s Cutoff, an alternative route on the Oregon Trail that pioneers in wagon trains used in the 1850s and 1860s. Many adjectives early used for this scene—weird, barren, exciting, awe-inspiring, monotonous, astonishing, curious, bleak, mysterious—still apply. It is not difficult today to see why pioneering folk intent on wresting a living from the land did not tackle this volcanic terrain.