Where in the West Should I Go? • 52 Places to Visit in 2022
Twin Falls is known by adrenaline heads in part thanks to Evel Knievel’s failed attempt to jump the more than 1,300-foot-wide Snake River Canyon in 1974. His ramp still stands, but BASE jumpers are much more common than daredevils these days.
The Perrine Bridge over the canyon is used daily by tens of thousands of drivers and, depending on the day, dozens of BASE jumpers. Thrill seekers fling themselves from the 486-foot-tall bridge year-round. Anyone who wants to experience it can sign up for a tandem jump, though those who simply want to appreciate the view (both of the canyon and the jumpers) can observe from the Twin Falls Visitor Center lookout or watch on a boat or kayak below the bridge.
The town is no one jump pony, though. There are hikes, like the nearby Balanced Rock (a 48-foot-tall, 40-ton rock that sits on a 3-foot by 17-inch base) and Little City of Rocks, as well as waterfalls galore. The most famous is Shoshone Falls(known as the “Niagara of the West”), which stands 212 feet tall and 900 feet wide, and flows in full from May through June.
The number of smaller, but still impressive, waterfalls is seemingly endless, spanning from unnamed cascades to Pillar Falls, Star Falls, Mermaid Cove and those in Box Canyon Springs (also a bald eagle wintering ground) and Thousand Springs.
Recover from chasing waterfalls and hikes at Miracle Hot Springs or one of the other many natural hot springs, both developed and undeveloped, in the region.
There are daily direct flights to Magic Valley Airport from both Salt Lake City and Denver.
