Waterfalls & Grand Teton

May 28, 2024

Waterfalls & Grand Teton

It's certainly been a while since we wrote an update, but here's a tip for anyone who hasn't been to Grand Teton or Yellowstone: don't count on wifi or cell reception! Download anything you'll need while you're still outside of the parks.

And now, back to our story...

A motif running through our explorations since the last blog is that of waterfalls. We’ve stumbled upon them, sought them out, hiked down to them, hiked up to them, pulled off the road for them, and even walked behind one. The movement of water over rocks, down hillsides or off cliffs is so majestic, isn’t it?

We were looking for housing on our journey to Grand Teton, and Twin Falls, Idaho, caught our eye. You don’t name a town “Twin Falls” for no reason, right? Oh, and this place did not disappoint. The town itself is perched on the cliff of a canyon, but you don’t even realize that until you drive right up to the edge; Twin Falls itself is rather flat and average for a medium size town. Then you drive up to the edge of the canyon and suddenly the place becomes spectacular.

We drove down into the canyon for a short hike at Centennial Waterfront Park.

See Ray in this one?

And as we returned to our car, we spotted the first falls (Perrine Coulee Falls) — “Ooooh, how pretty!” we thought, and we snapped a few photos from the parking lot.

Driving back up out of the canyon, All Trails said there was a turn out point with a trail at a sharp bend in the road. We parked in the narrow shoulder and got out. Now we were MUCH closer to that same falls. More photos were snapped.

Then a couple about our same age suddenly popped up out of a rather steep and rocky spot next to the road. Their clothes were covered in drips. “Wow! Is it a difficult hike?” I asked. “Nah,” the woman answered. “It’s really worth the effort.” So down we went, and soon we were standing behind the falls on a 4 foot wide ledge. Not even scary. But so satisfying!

Check that one off of our bucket list!

Here's a little bonus unnamed minor waterfall-ish sprinkle near where our car was parked:

The second waterfall of the twins is Pillar Falls, and it was down a very steep and twisty (but also roughly paved) 2 mile trail. We clocked in 29 flights of stairs on our watches after completing 2/3 of that one. After the steep descent, we were leery of going all the way down and then not being able to get back to the top of the cliff. To rest and catch my breath on the way back, I just leaned forward at a 45 degree angle at one point and put my hands on the ground. It was that steep.

If you were alive during the 1970s, you might remember Twin Falls, ID, for another reason: Evel Knievel’s Snake River Canyon jump attempt (and failure). He didn’t die, but his parachute opened only a second after take off. The ramp is still there, if you want to visit and/or climb it.

Only 3 miles further down the road was Shoshone Falls, so we nabbed some photos of that one, too, and picnicked in their pretty park. Impressively powerful flow of water!

Another bonus mini waterfall:

Idaho Falls, ID, wasn’t as cool as Twin Falls, Idaho, but the rippling, foaming river tumbling over rocks in town was still photo worthy and fun to walk around. We stayed in a quirky hotel with great pillows and a view of the river, so that was memorable!

Finally, on to the National Parks. First, Grand Teton. It’s cold in the mountains! No waterfalls, but we did see bears. Or at least we saw the same bear a lot. We hear it’s really unusual to see bears, but we got lucky — lots of sightings at a safe distance.

Look at these mountains!

The snow on Day 2 was predicted, but still surprising. We’re not used to snow at the end of May! It significantly reduced our ability to enjoy the mountain views. Our joke to folks we passed on the trails was that we all hadn’t paid the “Mountain Premium” so they’d turned the mountains off that day. Someone else joked that the mountains were closed for cleaning.

Our river rafting trip was cancelled due to the snow, so we rescheduled it for the next day — which was a clear, cold 55º, but a good 10º warmer (and drier) than the day before. Great trip! Jesse handled that fast-moving raft with great skill. I asked how long it had taken him to learn the hazards of that portion of the Snake River, which has lots of downed trees, and he said that it changes every day. The trees fall in or get swept away.