South Central Idaho Travel Region

Map of the Region
Back to Idaho Regions Page

Visit the town of Hagerman Here

South Central Idaho - Discover The Secrets Of A Once-forbidden Land. A waterfall higher than Niagara. Rock monoliths 60 stories tall. Underground rivers gushing from sheer canyon walls. The beautiful secrets of this once-forbidden land are only now becoming known to the world. Irrigation has made the land a veritable paradise, one of the richest farming areas in America. The river gorges, rock formations and waterfalls of South Central Idaho rival in power and beauty to any in the world.

Southern Idaho's canyons are a revelation to many visitors. One of the most amazing is Malad Gorge, 30 miles northwest of Twin Falls. One of Idaho's better kept secrets, the dizzying proportions of the Gorge defy comprehension. A steel footbridge spans the 250-foot deep canyon. Below is an impressive 60-foot waterfall called the Devils Washbowl.

Some of the world's best bass and trout waters are found in the rugged Snake River Canyon. Hatcheries near Buhl and Filer raise rainbow trout, catfish and telapia. Four state and federal hatcheries grow rainbow and steelhead trout for Idaho waters. In fact, each year over two million rainbow and steelhead are produced here, more than anywhere else in the world. Of special note is the Minidoka Wildlife Refuge north of Rupert. Fishermen troll Lake Walcott for trout, bass and perch.

Driving down inside the canyon is a fanciful experience, a world apart from the terrain high above. The Perrine Bridge spanning the canyon is 1,500 feet long and 486 breathtaking feet above the river. This is where Eval Knievel tried to jump the canyon in a rocket cycle. In town are two museums of note. The Herrett Center for Arts and Science on the College of Southern Idaho campus has in its collection over 3,000 North and Central American Indian artifacts, ranging from 12,000 year old relics to contemporary Hopi Kachina Dolls. In 1995 the Faulkner Planetarium, a 151-seat, state-of-the-art theater was added to the center. Above all, visit Shoshone Falls east of town. Bathing the area in a cool rainbow mist, the falls plunge 212 feet, 52 feet farther than Niagara Falls. Flows are most spectacular in the spring.

South of Burley is an eerie and dreamlike landscape where people have been doing a double-take for centuries. It's called City of Rocks and it's now a national reserve. There's little warning of what's to come as you drive the gravel road over rolling hills of desert sage. Suddenly, huge granite columns loom up 60 stories high! The area has a poignant history that can still be glimpsed. Here is where would-be Californians parted from the Oregon Trail and headed southwest over desert plains and high mountain passes.

There are trails for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding. Petroglyphs can be faintly seen on some of the rocks. An interpretive area near the footbridge provides in-depth information on the history and geology of the area. Another site that should not be missed is famous Balanced Rock. Forty-feet tall and weighing 40 tons, the massive rock can be seen perched on a base only a few feet in diameter. Listed by Sunset Magazine as a main point of interest in the Northwest, the Shoshone Ice Caves north of Twin Falls are a natural wonder well worth exploring. The lava tube, 1,000 feet long and between 8 and 30 feet high, is adorned with sparkling icy shapes even in the summer.

Zebras In North America? At Hagerman Fossil Beds, scientists have discovered the skeletal remains of mastodons and saber-toothed cats as well as extinct species of beaver, otter, bird and fish. Some of the fossils may be 3.5 million years old. Most notable is Equus simplicidens, a horse somewhat akin to the zebra of Africa.

Driving between Hagerman and Twin Falls on Highway 30 is a once in a lifetime experience that locals never tire of. It's easy to see how the Thousand Springs Scenic Byway got its name: gushing from the steep canyon walls and cascading into the river below are hundreds of natural springs. It's as if an underground river suddenly exploded from the earth itself. The source of the water is the Snake River Plains aquifer, one of the world's largest ground water systems. Beneath Southern Idaho's porous volcanic rock, water creeps through an area of several thousand square miles.

Call our central reservation service to book your trip:
Toll-free 1-888-84-IDAHO (1-888-844-3246)

Copy on this page used by permission from the Idaho Recreation & Tourism Initiative