South Fork Trail, City of Rocks National Reserve, August 2022 Idaho’s City of Rocks National Reserve—one of only two national reserves in the National Park system—protects a 14,000-acre tract that includes an extensive cluster of granitic formations known as the “Silent City of Rocks.” While the chalky white and grey spires are perhaps not as …
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Perrine Coulee Falls, August 2019 While nearby Shoshone Falls gets all the attention, perhaps the most alluring waterfall in southwestern Idaho is Perrine Coulee Falls, literally a stone’s throw away from the city of Twin Falls. This free-falling chute, which drops nearly 200 feet into the Snake River Canyon, is notable not only for its …
Shoshone Falls Park, August 2019 At 212 feet and more than 1,000 feet wide, Shoshone Falls is a behemoth of high-volume power in southwestern Idaho. Here the Snake River cuts through a deep and colorful canyon, famed as the site of Evil Knieval’s failed river jump in 1974. Viewing platforms at Shoshone Falls Park offer …
Box Canyon Springs, Thousand Springs State Park, August 2019 When approaching one of the many canyons of southwest Idaho, it is easy to have doubts: can such a feature even be possible amid all these flat plains? The crop fields of the Snake River Basin could pass, after all, for the vast lowlands of Kansas …
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Indian Tunnel, Caves Trail, Craters of the Moon National Monument, August 2019 Following a volcanic eruption, underground lava tubes serve as thoroughfares for draining molten lava. When the lava cools and remaining flows drain out of the tubes, the subterranean passageways remain, leaving behind caves to explore. There are several spots in the United States …
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Inferno Cone, Craters of the Moon National Monument, August 2019 “A weird and scenic landscape, peculiar to itself” is how President Calvin Coolidge described the volcanic, lunar-like landscape in south-central Idaho when he created Craters of the Moon National Monument in 1924. In the years before the designation, hearty explorers and geologists had crisscrossed and …
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