August 22, 2008 - The Shoshone Falls and the City of Rocks

Back when I only had time to make token visits to states so I could say I visited them while also trying to be able to visit all states in the Continental U.S., I had to look for one thing to see which would make the trip worthwhile. For Idaho, my goal was to see the Shoshone Falls. These are the Niagara Falls of the West. They are absolutely beautiful.

Flying to Idaho (into Boise) from our area would be a pain in the neck. It might take as long as ten hours including stopovers. Stopovers might happen in Las Vegas or Salt Lake City. I'm definitely glad I drove here.

Shoshone Falls
The Shoshone Falls are just outside of the city of Twin Falls. The area getting to the Shoshone Falls is beautiful. See the photos.


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The falls themselves are absolutely gorgeous. They are huge and simply breathtaking to see. I had read that it's best to see them in the spring. Apparently in the summer and fall, the amount of water is lower. Well, these were certainly powerful enough for me. There was plenty of water going over the falls. See the photos.

I spent a couple of hours at the Shoshone Falls. From there, I went to Albion, ID to see the City of Rocks National Preserve.

Drive to the City of Rocks
After I got off I-84, the road became a constructon zone. They seemed to be resurfacing the road. Only one lane was usable. They would hold up one lane and then a state DOT worker would drive in a vehicle at the head of that group of cars to the end of the construction. This was ordinarily a 65 mph road but it was brought down to 35 mph.


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On the way to the City of Rocks, there was a sign pointing to Malta. Those who know me in person know the significance of that town. But, it was seventeen miles in the opposite direction of the park. There were lots of nice views along the way. Photos have not yet been posted. See the photos.

At a certain point, the signs indicated I needed to turn onto a gravel road. It was 25mph. Along the way, there were cattle grazing. One particular cow was not locked up. She was grazing by the side of the road. She looked up with an angry look on her face and started going for my vehicle. I could stop easily, but I did NOT want to deal with another large animal. In particular, I didn't want anything to involve livestock. Even if I did stop, I didn't want the cow running at my vehicle. Thankfully, the cow changed its mind and went back to grazing. I got along my way and was happy to be out of there.

On the drive to the City of Rocks, there was a sign advertising Almo, ID. It claimed it was an authentic old fashioned western town. I decided to try seeing it after I left the City of Rocks.

City of Rocks National Preserve
The City of Rocks is basically a national park. However, I did not see a visitor center or ranger station around. There were no signs announcing admission fees. People just drove in and out. See the photos.

There are lots of large rocks in various interesting positions. Some are grouped together. Others were alone. There were prickly pear cacti in many places. People were climbing up one of the biggest rocks in the park.

Near a camp site where people were around, there was a trail that lead off to a canyon area. There were lots of great photo opportunities there. Just when I got tired and was ready to leave, I noticed this could be considered the "grand finale." At the time I visited, it wad that point when I could get some beautiful reddish photos (these are not posted yet but will be at the end of the City of Rocks album). There was only a small window of time to get them before the sun went so far down that the flash had to be used.

On the way out, I became worried about the cow. I didn't want to have to deal with that again. However, the GPS took me on a different route, thankfully. See photos of the drive from the City of Rocks.

I tried to find Almo, ID. However, I couldn't find it. But, by that point I was quite tired and wanted to get back the hotel. I was staying in Twin Falls for one more night since I wanted to see Craters of the Moon National Park the next day. This is about ninety minutes from Twin Falls.