Shoshone Falls

Although the city of Twin Falls (Idaho) is named for its Twin Falls, it is Shoshone Falls that gets most of the attention.

When you see Shoshone Falls for the first time (especially if there is decent waterflow as there was when we visited in late May), you quicky understand why it gets the most attention even with other beautiful waterfalls in the area such as Perrine Coulee Waterfall and Twin Falls.

Although the waterflow at Shoshone Falls was not at its highest when we were there, it was still impressive.

Shoshone Falls is often referred to as the "Niagara of the West" and is actually slightly higher than Niagara Falls. The volume of water is not as overwhelming as Niagara Falls, but it is nonetheless a gorgeous waterfall that does have some characteristics that make it look somewhat like Niagara Falls. Shoshone Falls was far less crowded in late May than Niagara FAlls was when we visited it in October.

Like Twin Falls Park, Shoshone Falls Park is managed by Idaho Power.

Experiencing Shoshone Falls was our primary motivation for this roadtrip to southern Idaho in late May and it did not disappoint!

Twin Falls in Twin Falls, Idaho

Although the city of Twin Falls (Idaho) is arguably best known for the Shoshone Falls, Pillar Falls, and even Perrine Coulee Falls, it is actually named after Twin Falls.

The Twin Falls were formerly two waterfalls next to each other (see how they looked), but is now a single waterfall because the southern waterfall is blocked by a dam.

The Once-Twin-Now-Single Falls can be viewed from an observation area within Idaho Power's Twin Falls Park (Idaho Power also manages the more well-known Shoshone Falls Park).

We were the only ones in the observation area when we visited in the late afternoon on a weekday in late May.

The canyon and Snake River below Twin Falls also provide a beautiful view.

Southern Idaho and the Twin Falls area are blessed with many so many picturesque waterfalls!

Perrine Coulee Falls

Perrine Coulee Waterfall is easy to access from Twin Falls (Idaho) and offers the opportunity to walk behind a waterfall.

As the previous image shows, Perrine Coulee Waterfall is located very near the winding road that descends from Twin Falls down to the entrance to Centennial Waterfront Park. There is a small parking area on the right side of the road (when ascending) in which we were able to easily park in late May 2023 that can be seen in the photograph below (to the right of the red vehicle).

We were able to find this very close parking spot thanks to directions provided in the helpful post "How to Find Perrine Coulee Falls in Idaho".

Perrine Coulee Falls can be seen from Centennial Waterfront Park's parking lot and that is another place one could park to hike to the base of Perrine Coulee Falls.

Perrine Coulee Waterfall is a beautiful waterfall.

What makes Perrine Coulee Waterfall even more desirable to visit is the ability to walk behind it.

Another nice perspective to view Perrine Coulee Falls is from above as shown in the first two photographs at the top of this post. This overlook can be easily accessed via the paved (cement) Canyon Rim Trail.

Perrine Memorial Bridge (Twin Falls)

The I. B. Perrine Memorial Bridge near Twin Falls (Idaho) is an attractive bridge (for Highway 93) set in an attractive landscape (spanning the Snake River and Snake River Canyon) near Twin Falls, Idaho.

First Perspective: At and Immediately Below Perrine Bridge

We saw this bridge from three different perspectives. The first was from immediately under it. There are parking areas on both sides of the highway that crosses Perrine Bridge and they allow relatively walking access down to a large view area near and under the bridge. The following photographs show the bridge and view from this perspective.

Perrine Bridge is one of the bridges described in "13 Tallest Bridges in the United States."

Perrine Bridge is said to be the 8th largest bridge in the United States.

Second Perspective: From Centennial Park

The view of Perrine Bridge from Twin Falls's Centennial Waterfront Park is also outstanding.

You can also view Perrine Coulee Waterfall from Cenntenial Waterfront Park's parking lot.

Third Perspective: From Scenic View Perrine Coulee Waterfall

Another interesting perspective of Perrine Bridge is seen from overlooks very near and above the top of Perrine Coulee Waterfall along the Canyon River Trail.

We didn't see BASE jumping off the Perrine Bridge while we were there, but we did enjoy the beauty of the bridge and its natural surroundings.

Kayaking the Snake River: Blue Heart Springs, 1000 Springs, and Ritter Island

We loved seeing Shoshone Falls and nearby waterfalls (Perrine Coulee and Twin Falls) in southern Idaho and Magic Valley in late May when relatively few other people were present. However, one downside of viewing Shoneshone Falls in late May was that the AWOL Kayak Tour to Shoshone Falls was not yet operating. We instead spent a half day kayaking the Snake River near Hagerman Wildlife Management Area in southern Idaho, which turned out to be a surprisingly spectacular experience.

We rented kayaks from Blue Heart Kayaking, which included access to and use of the Blue Heart Kayking launch site and their site near Thousand Springs State Park.

Blue Heart Kayaking offers three experiences for kayak rental: Blue Heart Springs, 1000 Springs to Ritter Island, or a combination of both. We elected the "Explore Both Destinations" experience so that we could kayak to Blue Heart Springs and around Ritter Island.

We were shown a map before we departed the Blue Heart Kayaking launch site and provided with directions how to best see the Blue Heart Springs and circle around Ritter Island to enjoy the Thousand Springs area.

By launching from the Blue Heart Kayaking launch site and ending at Blue Heart Kayking's site at 1000 Islands Resort, we were able to mostly go in the same direction as the river current flow (except for some of the trip around Ritter Island).

The water in the protected Blue Heart Springs area was extremely clear and blue.

We didn't get in the cold water to snorkel, but did take some photographs underwater with the GoPro camera and the water's color and visiblity below the surface were even more spectacular.

The Snake River current in the section we kayaked was not particularly strong, so we did need to do some padding even as we went with the current.

The bay with the Blue Heart Springs was not the only place on the portion of the Snake River that we kayaked that had crystal-clear water.

As recommended to us, we kayaked around Ritter Island in clockwise direction.

It quicky became obvious why this area is called Thousand Springs as we saw many small springs of water in the hillside. Many were so small that we had to look for them while others were large or next to several others and so were really obvious to see.

Minnie Miller Springs is the most spectacular of those at Ritter Island.

Although waterfalls and springs are obvious highlights of kayaking around Ritter Island, there are other beautiful aspects of kayaking around the island.

Lemmon Falls is an obvious highlight of kayaking the Snake River in the area of Thousand Springs Stake Park.

Blue Heart Kayaking shuttled us back from the landing point near 1000 Springs Resort to the original launch site. This was a spectacular kayaking experience with great weather (not too hot, not too cold) in late May. Although we'd like to return to Shoshone Falls to kayak near those falls, kaying the Snake River and seeing Blue Heart Springs and 1000 Springs was fantastic and we appreciated the opportunity to experience this.