After driving through the flat farmland of Idaho, the cavernous gorge of the Snake River was a shock to the system. Twin Falls is the gateway to the Snake River Canyon, and much of the town’s sights to see are associated with the river.
Walking distance from the Twin Falls visitor center is the Perrine Bridge. It stands 486 feet above the canyon and is one of the only place in the United States where BASE jumping is legal. I enjoyed watching – not joining – the BASE jumpers and their colorful parachutes glide from the bridge to the canyon below.
The Canyon Rim Trail bisects the Perrine Bridge and offers stunning views of the river as well as informational plaques about the history and science of the river. As I watched the dare devil BASE jumpers on my 1.8 mile walk to the Southern Rim of the Canyon, I read about the more famous dare devil – Evel Knievel. In 1974, Evel Knievel attempted to jump across the quarter mile wide divide between to two sides of the canyon with a skycycle. Unfortunately, his parachute malfunctioned, and he didn’t complete the jump. Shockingly, he walked away from the terrifying feat with only a broken nose.
Perrine Coulee Falls drops from the top of the canyon for almost 200 feet. It’s a short hike down to the base of the falls, where the trail then continues along the ridge of the canyon to beneath the falls. Looking up and seeing the sheer force of the water falling down to the jagged rocks below is awesome. While other falls are seasonal, these are just as grand throughout the seasons.
Elevation 486 is situation on the rim of the canyon and looks over the Snake River as well as the Canyon Springs Golf Course. I stopped here for an appetizer and drink to enjoy the beauty of the late afternoon light making the valley glow below.
Twin Falls was named after a pair of large waterfalls; however, one of the falls was diverted in the 1930s for a power source, so only Shoshone Falls remains. While Shoshone Falls can be viewed from a platform along the rim of the canyon, I decided to book a boat and kayak tour to see it from below. AWOL Adventure Sports‘ tour of the falls includes a motor boat ride under the Perrine bridge. At the end of the boat ride, our tour group was dropped off on some large flat rocks in the middle of the Snake River where our kayaks we ready for us.
Our short portage had us walking around Pillar Falls – a series of cascading falls through large pools and the rhyolite pillars. Because of the dry weather at the time, the falls was more rocks than water, but the large rock formations were impressive on their own.
From there we started our mile kayak to the base of Shoshone Falls. At 212 feet, Shoshone falls is one the largest natural waterfalls in the United States. Nicknamed the “Niagara of the West” – and actually standing 45 ft taller than it’s namesake – the falls spans the 900 ft width of the curved river bank. While it was a dry summer when I was there, so the falls weren’t at their grandest, they were still pretty impressive.
The tour also brought us to some natural caves and small sandy beaches. The mix of kayaking, walking, exploring, and boating was the perfect way to enjoy the beauty of the Snake River.
Downtown Twin Falls runs a few blocks on Main Street. The western style architecture, intricate details on the lanterns & clocks, and thoughtful landscaping made this historic downtown a cute place to walk around. Most of the stores are designed for everyday living, but there is also a good selection of eateries. I enjoyed the industrial ambiance of Koto as I sampled some of their creative bites at Koto paired with their in house beer.
Mac On the Map 
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