We decided to stay two nights in the area so we could get in some exploring. Here's our rig at Twin Falls 93 RV Park--another great place to stop for a short stay, located right off Highway 93.
You can see we have some weather coming in tonight. Chance of rain? According to The Weather Channel only a 20% chance starting at 9:00 p.m. Should be clear tomorrow for the next leg of our journey, but the wind is supposed to be gusting between 14-16 mph ... not good for RV travel!
While it clouded up in the evening, the daytime was beautiful. Our initial idea was to head to Craters of the Moon National Monument, which didn't look too far away when looking at the map. We headed out not (too early of course) using my phone for navigation. I didn't take the time to look to see how many miles we had to travel and how long it was going to take us to get there. I simply thought (from looking at the map) it wasn't that far.
How wrong a girl can be! We had gone about 40 miles when the GPS (who Gary calls Grunelda) said "Go 80 miles ..." WHAT?*&%$ Another 80 miles? No way! We both had the same thought, "It's too far and the payoff isn't going to be there." So we turned around and I saw a sign that said something about Fossil Bed National Monument which wasn't too far out of our way back to the campground so we set the GPS for the new location.
Okay, let me just say this about that. Please don't go out of your way to see the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument! If you're here ... go for it, but certainly don't go out of your way! The only place you can see the fossils is at the Visitor's Center which happened to be closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (the day we were there). The reason it's a national monument is to protect all the fossils that are buried in the slopes of the Snake River ... okay, that makes sense! So what we were left with was two overlooks, but first the entrance sign ... of course!
Our first stop was at the Snake River Overlook.
These bluffs all along the river are where the fossil beds are located. Hagerman is home to over 200 different species of fossil plants and animals including: sabertooth cat, mastodon, bear, camel, ground sloth, and many other species. Over 3,000 new fossil fragments are found each year.
And here's Gary at the overlook.
The next (and final) overlook was the Oregon Trail Overlook.
Going through this one area are the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails. Never in history had so many people moved voluntarily over such a distance. During the Great Western Migration more than 400,000 people packed up their goods and dreams and headed out over the wagon roads. Their seven-month, 1,600 mile journey would now only take a few days to drive. The map below depicts the three different routes the settlers took.
The Oregon Trail is in red and ends in Portland, the California Trail is in blue with a number of different ending locations, and the Mormon Trail is in green, ending in Salt Lake City. The trails followed the Snake River in this region.
Looking at the Snake River from the Oregon Trail Overlook.
Can you tell it was windy? My hair and jacket are getting blown all over the place.
And that, folks, is all you get to see of the Fossil Beds National Monument! However, that was NOT all our sightseeing for the day. Using my handy-dandy phone (which has some issues I might add) I searched for the Twin Falls in Twin Falls and came up with Shoshone Falls bragging that they were the Niagara Falls of the West ... now who could pass up seeing that, I ask you? The falls were located in Twin Falls so it certainly wasn't out of our way. The bonus was we got a two-fer ... Shoshone Falls AND Dierkes Lake. Hold onto your seats, cowboys and cowgirls!!!
We stopped at Dierkes Lake first. It was a beautiful, small lake.
What made this lake so impressive was the recreation area that they created by it. This is a cordoned off swimming area that includes a diving board (bottom of picture in the middle to the left of the tree) and swimming/diving platform. Is that too cool or what? I saw kayakers, fishermen, sunbathers and picnickers in the park--all enjoying this spectacular site.
Here's the park that is adjacent to the beach and swimming area.
And here I am standing by the lakeshore.
Now off to Shoshone Falls. Can you see the rainbow? We were advised before we paid our entrance fee that the falls were not fully flowing and that is evident by some of the "trickles" you see on the right-hand side. But they were beautiful ... just not quite like Niagara Falls, and I have been to Niagara Falls so I know!
Our final sightseeing excursion for the day was stopping at the I.B. Perrine Bridge in Twin Falls. This is a truss arch four-lane bridge carrying U.S. Highway 93 over the Snake River Canyon. Perrine Bridge is approximately 1,500 feet long and 486 feet above the Snake River. Construction on the bridge started in May 1973 and was completed in July 1976. The bridge is named for I.B. Perrine who spearheaded the early 20th century irrigation projects in the Magic Valley region and is largely credited as the main founder of Twin Falls. According to the Internet, people base jump off this bridge. Really?? Why?? I don't have a logical answer to that query because you would NEVER (and I do mean NEVER) find me even close to doing that ... or anything remotely like that!
These two bridge photos I pulled from the Internet so you could get a good picture of the bridge which I was standing on when I took the other photos.
This is one of the waterfalls that flows down the canyon wall into the Snake River.
This photo gives you a longer view of the Snake. You can just barely see that waterfall.
Luke 11:11-13
Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?
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