← Idaho guide · National Historic Site
Minidoka History · A day that begins with one good stop.
See your first dayWhy this place matters
During World War II, over 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were forcibly removed from their homes and incarcerated without due process of law. Although little remains of the barbed-wire fences and tar-papered barracks, the Minidoka concentration camp once held over 13,000 Japanese Americans in the Idaho desert.
Read the full NPS story ↗
A flexible first day
These are ways to explore, not a timed itinerary. Check conditions before you set out.
Read the site orientation before walking the grounds.
Spend time with the stories of those incarcerated here and the civil liberties questions they raise.
Outdoor access and ranger program times can change.
Find your bearings
Switch stops to see where this chapter sits in the wider state.
Outline: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 cartographic boundary files. Points show guide starting areas and NOAA stations.
NOAA 1991–2020 · monthly normals
These stations show two parts of the state; neither is a forecast or necessarily local to this site.
No monthly snowfall normal is published for this station. Choose the other station to compare snow.
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | 19.6 | 23.1 | 30.6 | 39.4 | 48.2 | 54.8 | 62.6 | 61.1 | 52.6 | 41.8 | 29.3 | 19.7 |
Normal = 1991–2020 average at the named NOAA station. Snowfall is new snow over a month, not snow currently on the ground. A blank NOAA snow series is shown as unavailable, never as zero. See current NOAA snow depth ↗
Weather changes the trip
Outdoor access and ranger program times can change. The graph above uses a named NOAA station; conditions at this place may differ with elevation and weather. Check the local NWS forecast ↗
Keep exploring Idaho
Use Boise for food and a river walk, or add a mountain town near Ketchum as a separate chapter. See current events ↗
Make the trip yours
Tell WTDO your dates, where you start and how you travel. The first plan is free.
Plan this trip free