Idaho’s Finest

There were two areas we wanted to explore during our time in southern Idaho: Twin Falls and the Sawtooth Mountains. The weather looked more questionable further north in the mountains. We chose to take advantage of the good weather window the first day and headed towards the Sawtooths.

As we made our way just past the town of Ketchum, Carter said “Daddy, I think I just saw a moose!” Carter has a good track record with spotting moose, so we made a quick u-turn to see if he was right.

Turns out he was!! It was a momma moose and her two calfs.

Before long, we were back in one of our favorite places – the mountains!

We stopped at a pull-off area to take some pictures and the boys and I took the opportunity to throw some rocks in the river! It was a little chilly that morning, as you can tell by our hoodies!

We hit our highest elevation of the trip at 8,700 feet!! The view was incredible!

Our first stop of the day was Pettit Lake. It was such a peaceful spot and for most of the time, we were the only ones there. It was amazing!

After we had our fill of throwing rocks in the lake, we made the short-drive north to Redfish Lake. This area was much more heavily trafficked but still beautiful. We stopped at the visitor center first and then went to the lodge for some souvenirs.

We found a neat spot next to a river, to have a lunch break.

By this time, the rain was moving in and we made our way back to Bellevue. As we navigated the winding road back up to 8,700 feet, the temperature dropped to 35 degrees and the rain turned into little snow pellets. We decided to stop at the top and enjoy the crazy weather!

Pulling into our hotel for the night, we noticed the temperature had risen over 30 degrees, to 67. It’s crazy what a little elevation change can do!

The next day was all about exploring the Twin Falls area.

To reach Twin Falls from the north, the main route across the Snake River canyon takes you over the Perrine Memorial Bridge. This is a popular spot for base jumping. The boys saw someone jump off as we were driving over it. That’s a hard pass from us! Haha!

Our first stop was at Shoshone Falls State Park. It is advertised as being the Niagara Falls of the west. This was probably the thing we were most looking forward to seeing in the area. Unfortunately it was not flowing at full capacity. It was still a beautiful waterfall.

Dierkes Lake is right next to Shoshone Falls and is included in the cost of admission. The water was a neat blue color and the rocks made for a nice backdrop.

One of our more interesting stops was the sight of Evel Knievel’s attempt to jump the Snake River canyon back in 1974. I showed the boys the video last night, so they could see who Evel Knievel was. Haha! After standing on top of the ramp he used, we came to the conclusion that we would never attempt that!!

Perrine Coulee Falls was our next stop. We had read there was a trail behind the falls. Parking for the trail was a bit tricky to find and the trail was a little steep at first, but the view from behind the falls was so cool!

Our last stop in Twin Falls was Niagara Springs State Park. It was a little out of the way to get there, but totally worth the drive. It was much different than anything else we have seen so far.

We closed out our time in Bellevue with a quick rain shower and rainbow!

Grand Teton and Yellowstone await!

That’s right. I said Yellowstone! They are opening up the southern loop of the park this Wednesday! We have a busy couple of days ahead of us, but we are excited!