So imagine my surprise as we're driving into Twin Falls and I look down from the bridge we're on to see a super sweet gorge with a raging river in it. Soooooo cool. Add that to the list of places we need to go. (It was Malad Gorge.) And then when we were at an NPS site that shared facilities with Idaho State Parks, we were pointed to Box Canyon. Ok, sounds neat.

Malad Gorge felt almost like a normal kind of place. Sure, the river had cut its way deep into the ground, but it looks like any other river tumbling downhill. The source was somewhere way upstream. We wandered down the paved trail to an overlook. Cool.

Box Canyon, though. Wow. You're driving along a dirt road to the trailhead. It's dry. It's brown. It's flat as far as you can see. Nothing special until you walk up to the edge of the cliff and look down to the brilliant blue water emerging from the base of the cliff! The water was the same electric blue I love seeing ringing a frozen lake in early summer. Spectacular! And so much green!

There's a trail along the edge of the canyon that drops to the creek. While there's little growing on the plateau in June it was super lush down below. We blasted past the sign warning us it was an "unimproved trail" and even tried to find a way upstream. It didn't go, but at least Mrs. Moosefish got a taste of the idiocy I force on the kids all the time.

Somehow there were few people in the canyon even though it offered a haven from the dry heat all around. I would have loved to stay and explore more, but alas, we had to head back.

Oh, and to get back to the place we were staying? Yeah, we had to drive across the bridge over the Snake River canyon. This place is lousy with canyons and gorges. I definitely recommend you go and check them out.

📍On the lands of the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla people.