6.10.26
Travel Day! We moved to Twin Falls, Idaho. We left at 7:00
to try and beat the strong winds predicted. Mona doesn’t like the wind! Again,
we were allowed to set up early and the owner actually said it was good
thinking!
We talked to the owner and he suggested places to see and a
hike for Al. We went to the visitor center, that turned out to be a college kid
eating from a food truck and we got little information but we did walk to see
the Perrine Coulee Waterfall and the Perrine Bridge across the Snake River!
Romance
at the Bridge
Imagine this scene: Sometime during the summer of 1940,
Orville (Gus) Kelker made an unusual request of his girlfriend, Betty Painter.
Gus, a pilot, had asked Betty to meet him at the center of the bridge; Gus was
flying east of the bridge unnoticed by Betty as she parked her auto and
strolled out onto the bridge. Gus flew his aircraft with its engine at full
throttle deep into the canyon and under the bridge. Suddenly the aircraft
reappeared just in front of Betty and roared upward and over the bridge, diving
under it again. Gus then flew downriver waving his wings. Gus, to propose
marriage to Betty, had just flown a matrimonial knot around the bridge; a
flight he would allude to, but deny, forevermore.
This restored stagecoach belonged to I.B. Perrine, Twin
Falls founder. It was the mail wagon and passenger coach. It took 6 horses to
pull the fully loaded stagecoach up the steep grade of the canyon. Today the
Perrine Bridge is a year-round destination for B.A.S.E. jumpers who travel to
Twin Falls from all over the world.
6.11.26
We went to see Craters of the Moon National Monument. It’s
called that because astronauts Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchel, Eugene Cernan, and
Joe Engle learned basic volcanic geology here in 1969 as they prepared for moon
missions. Al went wandering…down a path and into some lava tubes. Our GPS is
either possessed or drunk. Random times the GPS would just spin around like it
was lost.
In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed Craters of the
Moon to be a National Monument, preserving “a weird and scenic landscape,
peculiar to itself.”
Many lava flows exist on the Earth’s moon, but astronauts
confirmed that most of the Moons craters resulted from Meteorite impacts, not
volcanic activity. The craters of Craters of the Moon are definitely the result
of volcanic activity. But where is the volcano? The volumes of lava in this
area are not from one volcano, but from a series of deep fissures known as the
Great Rift. Beginning 15,000 years ago, lava welled up from the Great Rift to
produce this ocean of rock. The most recent eruption happened only 2000 years
ago and geologists believe that future eruptions are likely.
6.12.26
Hagerman Fossil Beds. Named for the Hagerman Horse
which is an ancestor to modern day horses and has a single toe. In the 1930s
hundreds of these horse fossils were found here.
The earliest horse fossils date to 55 million years ago. These early horses wandered in forests, were as small as dogs and had multiple toes. Over time as forest landscapes turned into grasslands, less toes meant more speed and endurance on the open plains. The Hagerman Horse thrived in the grasslands about three to four million years ago. It has a single toe on each foot.
Did you know that the Yellowstone Hotspot used to be here? A
hotspot is when magma (molten rock) rises close to the Earth’s surface. The Hotspot
moves because the tectonic plate beneath it moves. The black rock is lava rock
(Basalt) form volcanic activity of the hotspot. Basalt can have vesicles
(Little holes) because of air bubbles in the lava when it cools.
Thousand Springs State Park
Devil’s Washbowl-The washbowl and canyon were created by volcanic activity and erosion. Glacial snowmelt from the north widened the canyon.
The Malad Gorge- The Malad River runs at the bottom
of the 250-foot canyon for 2.5 miles before it empties into the Snake River.
Uses of Water Overlook-This structure diverts the water from the Malad River to two Idaho Power Co. generators. Electricity has been created by the Malad River since 1911.
The largest land-based trout producer in the Americas.
Together, they command the majority of the US trout supply, managing the entire
life cycle from egg to plate in Idaho's Magic Valley.
Shoshone Falls –212 feet tall and 900 feet wide, one of the
largest waterfalls in the United States, it is taller than the famous Niagara
Falls in New York. Shoshone Falls is a sight to see in the spring when snow
begins to melt. In summer, a portion of the river is diverted for irrigation
purposes which reduces the flow over the falls.
Robert “Evel” Knievel was a daredevil and not much intimidated him. This is the earthen ramp
where Knievel launched from on a steam powered skycycle on September 8, 1974 and it’s is still visible on the Snake River
Canyon rim.
Though Knievel crashed on the jump because of a parachute
malfunction, he survived with only a broken nose. It was barely a scrape for a
man who had broken nearly 433 bones in his career, including his back seven
times. Knievel died on November 30, 2007, after an extended illness.
Want to see the actual jump or learn a bit more about his life? Click below:
