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.

Craters of the Moon in Idaho

We visited Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve as a small detour on our road trip to see Shoshone Falls near the city of Twin Falls in Idaho.

We had visited Craters of the Moon before, that that visit was a long time ago.

Craters of the Moon is best known for its volcanic landscape, which the National Park Servince website describes: "Craters of the Moon is a vast ocean of lava flows with scattered islands of cinder cones and sagebrush. We invite you to explore this 'weird and scenic landscape' where yesterday's volcanic events are likely to continue tomorrow."

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is jointly managed with the Bureau of Land Management and their website describes the park:

The Bureau of Land Management's Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is a 750,000-acre geologic wonderland, managed jointly with the National Park Service's Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. Its central feature is the Great Rift, a 52-mile long crack in the Earth's crust. The Great Rift is a remarkably preserved volcanic landscape. Exposed fissures, lava fields, lava tubes, craters and cinder cones form a strangely beautiful volcanic sea on central Idaho's Snake River Plain.

We visited in late May and unfortunately the caves and lava tubes were closed due to risky ice-related issues, but we were still able to see some interesting sights and we saw fewer than ten other people the entire time we were there.

Devil's Orchard Nature Trail

There is a large parking area for the Devil's Orchard Nature Trail.

The Devil's Orchard Nature Trail is a wheelchair accessible loop. The next photograph shows how some of the wildlife left their prints in the sidewalk as it was curing.

Trail is easy to navigate but features lots of interesting landscape.

Inferno Cone

Although the caves and lava tunnels were closed in late May, we were still able to go to three places listed on the "Places To Go" page, including climbing the Inferno Cone.

The Inferno Cone requires more hiking than it appears in the photograph above, but it's worth it for the 360 degree views. (Note no people going up or down when this photograph was taken in late May and contrast with this photograph on the National Park site.)

Spatter Cones

The Spatter Cones are very short walks from their parking area (note how empty that parking area was in late May).

As the National Park Service's Places to Go page states, these short walks allow visitors to "peer into the vents of these miniature volcanoes."

North Crater Trail

A trailhead for (end of) North Crater Trail is at the same parking area as the Spatter Cones.

Conclusion

Because all of the places described above are immediately accessible from the 7-mile Loop Road, it was easy to experience all of these sights and hikes in a couple hours. We would have liked to have experienced the caves as well, but it was too early in the season for that. Although we did not get to experience the caves, it was nice to experience Craters of the Moon in late May with pleasant (slightly cool) temperatures and very few other people.