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Shoshone Falls, Idaho
March 11, 2009 | 34 Comments
The Snake River Canyon at Shoshone Falls, Idaho
Others call it Shoshone Falls. We call it “the detour near the susu place.” (susu = pee).
Idaho is the beautiful state in the north-west with the map that shows everyone the finger. That red patch is Twin Falls County where Shoshone Falls is located.
It goes like this. Someone or the other visits us from the rest of civilization. Think about it. You live in Chicago, London, New York City or Mumbai. Coming all the way to Idaho is like going to Uranus or something. “Idaho? Where is it? Is it near New Jersey? Or California?”
Almost next door to California with a tiny sliver of Oregon in between, we attempt to explain (we purposely don’t tell them about the chunk of Nevada as well).
“With a tiny sliver of what in between?”
“Never mind. Just below Canada and east of California. We even get Indian groceries here.”
That, somehow, makes them feel a lot better about visiting. To reassure them that they didn’t waste their time and airfare, we take them to Yellowstone, or Grand Tetons, or Sun Valley or Utah or wherever. We pile into our Subaru and drive. We have many days of driving ahead of us.
Two hours from our home, we have this town called Twin Falls. There’s a big rest stop called Garden of Eden. That’s our default place for filling the gas tank and taking a pee break. It’s early – like 6 a.m. We don’t mention Shoshone Falls, ‘cos it’s too dark to see anything.
Fast forward four days. We’ve driven 1000+ miles and are on our way back home. We stop again for a pee break with the truckers at the blessed Garden of Eden. We’ve been in the car six or eight hours since morning, need to stretch our legs, and casually ask while pulling into the susu place:
“You guys wanna see a waterfall? It’s just down the road from here.”
Everyone is tired, pissed off and just wants to get home, which is two hours away. And they’ve seen about half a dozen waterfalls in the past three days. Then someone says: “Why not?” The others give him/her the stinkeye. We pile back in the car. Before taking them to the Falls, we stop by the bridge on the Snake River at Twin Falls.
In 1974, crazy motorycle stuntman Evel Knievel tried to jump over this section of the Snake River canyon on a ‘skycycle‘.
He failed. It was televised live and you can watch the attempt on Youtube.
Time for Patel Shot I. (When you accost a passerby to “Take a picture of the whole phamillly pleezzz with the bridge in the background”, it’s called a Patel Shot.)
Ten minutes down the road we drive into this place.
The Snake River that runs from the west to the east of Idaho has carved out some spectacular canyons over the centuries.
Shoshone Falls is nestled among one of these canyons. At 212 feet, the falls are higher than the Niagara Falls, and called the “Niagara of the West“. The highest point of the Niagara Falls is 173 feet (53 m).
Shoshone Falls is spread over a rim 900 feet (274 m) wide. These pics were taken late last summer, when water is often diverted for irrigation. Around this time of year (spring), there’s a huge, roaring wall of water that looks like this.
Pic from Wikimedia Commons
It’s funny. We’ve been to Shoshone Falls five or six times, but never in spring. That’s because we’ve only been there while passing through to go somewhere else.
The Shoshone Indians used to catch salmon at the foot of Shoshone Falls.
Shoshone Falls has existed for 30,000 to 60,000 years. It is a total barrier to the upstream movement of fish. The falls was the upper limit of sturgeon, and spawning runs of salmon and steelhead could not pass the falls. Yellowstone cutthroat trout lived above the falls in the same ecological niche as Rainbow Trout below it. Due to this marked difference, the World Wide Fund for Nature used Shoshone Falls as the boundary between the Upper Snake and the Columbia Unglaciated freshwater ecoregions. (Wikipedia)
Right to left: the falls, the dam and the canyon
Time for Patel Shot II. Wait. Is there someone else in the frame?
Look at the next three pics carefully.
Meet Molly the Marmot from Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. It’s not for nothing they are called ‘moving rocks’. In each of those three pics, just below the clump of sagebrush, you can see Molly’s Idaho cousin. Same marmot, three angles.
Filed Under: Idaho, Photo Essays, Shoshone Falls, TRAVEL
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34 Comments
OMG! Its beautiful, i am so going there next summer! thank you so much for putting up the pictures, now i have new place to go!
Very beautiful pics, esp the falls.. gorgeous.
Those pict look like a postcard! I don’t think even if i spot over there I could enjoy, very realistic snaps.
Simply beautiful, and an unexpected treat, too!
I’ve heard about the Snake River…I’ve heard WONDERFUL things about it, but I have yet to visit. Thanks so much for taking us along for the ride. Next time, can we be one of the passengers in the Subaru? We promise to behave, not roll our eyes, or beg for extra potty breaks. We really, really do want to charge along with you.
Wow…Spectacular place and the photograps are awesome…This is the latest addition to my ‘places to visit’ list (an endless one at that)
U guys are so fortunate to be living in “Idaho”, not near Chicago Or NY … & u take ur guests those national parks. Can we be your guests? we will eat improper food:-) & be really really good.
Breathtaking place & pcitures, i could just cup my face with my hands & stare for ever as if i am really there.
That susu place reminded me of a twin fall in WV we had named susu falls.. for we went in extreme summer heat, hiked for few miles to see trickle come out in place of falls;-)
The pics are gorgeous! Idaho is a gem of a state eh?
We stayed in Boise(Idaho) for few years. Not many have heard about that state..It is surrounded by beautiful places..Awesome pictures..It made my memory fresh of all those places..
Awesome snaps!
I’d not heard about these falls at all… the place looks beautiful.
Lost my words…..I am unable to decide what actually is better,the awesome Nature or ur captures…I wish some scientist do come up with a TELEPORTATION device,so that i can see all these refreshingly lovely places in no matter of time(travelling is a big no no for me….motion sickness u seee)
All said and done,your SUSU place has such a beautiful surrounding…it could put to shame , the most exotic,stinking-ly rich loos…..lolz
And hey never heard before about the Patel shot..sounds funny
The falls is awesome! The splendid nature !
Breathtaking photographs..I wish I will have chance to visit this place someday
LOL @ “the detour near the susu place.”
Gorgeous place, isn’t it? Wish I could go there and wander around aimlessly but can’t. Tied up with responsibilities called Kids and an old man dog!
Enjoy, you lucky people!Me go and arrange for 2 birthdays!!
We too live in such a place which make people go ”You live in***?? Now,where is it?”
But, seriously, those are gorgeous pictures
That is a beautiful place. No one would want to visit New Jersey after that
And why weren’t we shown the Patel Shot ?
Even in this open minded era I believe you should be congratulated for quietly showing us you have a relative who is, apparently, a Marmot. (Not that there is anything wrong with that).
I’d always thought a lot of the folks in Idaho were close-minded. You are teaching me that is not entirely true.
Thanks for the courageous lesson AND the striking photography.
PS – is it harder or easier in your experience to get good shots while getting the stinkeye?
after susu and a cappuccino, the stinkeye tends to go away.
Wish i live there too. Beautiful, well i can’t complain that much were i live is beautiful , whole og belgium come for holiday here as ther eis a beach 5 minutes from where i live.
I have heard about Shoshone falls. Would love to come see the falls. We have some relatives visiting this spring.
We do have lot of waterfalls in Washington but this one is too good.
As usual, great shots:) Found the post very interesting and I would not have known about this amazing sight if not for your info. And now you’ve succeeded in making me yearn to travel to Idaho. We plan a trip to the Grand Canyon National Park in April and NY and its surrounds in May. Hopefully, we can accomodate Idaho into the itenerary:)
its so much better to live in the middle of nowhere, yeah i want to see the patel shot too
Think, we did drive past Snake river on the way to yellow Stone , through Grand Tetons, from Salt Lake City.. Not so sure if it is Snake river(bad memory). We took a break, had our Lunch.. beautiful!! The whole country side is so beautiful.. The sound of water makes us feel something so amazing within.. Hope to see Shoshone Falls some day..
PICTURE PERFECT! Just like a postcard…. nope…. BETTER!
Wow…Nice composition…all the pictures are wonderful. Susu place, called ‘Garden of Eden’ added a great touch to the article
Wow.. this is absolutely gorgeous!!Well.. i stay in Wyoming (yes!!in Alpine which is on ID/WY border) and its such a pretty place to live and we went down the snake river ( River rafting) several times last 2 years and its just incredibly amazing!
what a breath-taking place.
paz
Jai n Bee..hilarious (detour at susu place!) The pics are mindblowing!Thks for such a visual treat!
Beautiful pictures!
What a beautiful place! I love your pictures!
cheers,
Rosa
Ah, I came for the curry and found photos from my old stomping grounds.
Thank you for posting this.
Jai, thank you so much for sharing your gorgeous photos with friends from around the world. I lived in Twin Falls for eight years in the 1970s and I must say you captured the beauty of the area (and the marmot–the locals call them “rock chucks”) perfectly. By the way, I was one of hundreds of people (including the vice president of the United States) who watched Evel Knievel fail to make his motorcycle leap across that chasm. He lived to tell about it, too, since he was equipped with a parachute.
Love your blog. This story is hilarious! I love the pics, they are just gorgeous! I never thought they had such great looking scenery in Idaho! My son the potato lover had me convinced there is not much more to Idaho than potato fields, thanks for busting that myth!
Its simply awsome & hats off to your camera skills…wish i too get such pics when i visit Shoshone falls…Patel shot too good to know.. Thanks again
Thank you Jai and Bee for posting those wonderful photos. When I was 19, I hitchhiked from Illinois to see Evel Kneivel jump over the Snake River. I watched the daredevil stunt standing down in the canyon about 10 feet from edge of the river at the top of Shoshone Falls. There were about 20 to 30 thousand hippies, bikers, and others who did not want to pay the high admission fees to get into the concession stand compound (or were not allowed in) above the canyon where Kneivel’s ramp and the media were for the televised event.
But we all had the best view by far. I remember this one fellow who was so stoned, he was standing in the water at the top of the falls and we all thought he was going to slip and fall right over the edge. A couple of guys held arms and were able to pull him off before he would have plunged to his certain death.
I happened upon this thread because I am trying to track down anyone who was there and may have some old photos or stories of the event they’d like to share. If you were there and have happened upon this post, please click on my name and share your experience. Thanks again.