Saturday, November 11, 2023

Southern Idaho Day Three

 The theme of Wednesday was flexibility... Thankfully Chris encouraged me to keep the first item on our itinerary but after that we just made it up as we went. :) 

What was the first item: hiking the Black Magic Canyon of Big Wood River. It's a shallow basalt slot canyon that is normally flooded with irrigation/rain/snow melt water for much of the year and it only accessible during the late fall and early winter. Visiting so close to the cutoff date, Chris called the number of the water district to make sure all was good. I'm so glad he did and that we went despite my trepidation. 

It was full of super cool rock formations and a really easy hike!






















































We were already so far south we decided to take a less direct route and stop by Twin Falls for a look at Shoshone Falls. Unfortunately all the parks and viewpoints on the Snake River were closed because they were treating the water for an invasive clam species found nearby. But the view from the visitors center was still very pretty and it just added one more reason to go back to visit again. 






Rather than eating at some chain in the "big city" we drove a little further southeast to a little brewery in Buhl. Both the food and the beer was delicious and the service was great! We got mac & cheese and an Idaho specialty: finger steaks. They are strips of steak battered and deep fried. YUM!



Next unplanned stop: Balanced Rock. The state park was gorgeous and the rock was pretty cool, too! Chris hiked up so I could take his picture from the road. 




























Since we were driving right by Miracle Hot Springs, we stopped and got a private pool for an hour... :) 





After a relaxing soak, we pushed on to Idaho City to our hotel for the night. Turns out we shouldn't have bothered. There were plenty of places to camp nearby. :/  But we did have some of the best BBQ we've ever had while there. :) 


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