After we spent about a week in the desert by the Bonneville Salt Flats (check out our blog) we headed North for Idaho. Our plan was to stop in Twin Falls and the next day carry on to Spokane. We found an old abandoned RV park in Twin Falls where we spent the night. When we were looking for things to do in the area we read about Shoshone Falls being the Niagara Falls of the West so we decided to go and have a look.
Shoshone Falls
It was a beautiful day (watch the video here) as we headed towards the Falls. They were just a few miles away so it did not take us long to get there and paid the $5 entry fee. We parked our rig in the designated area and headed for the top of the falls where there were some beautiful homes on the other side of the Snake River. Other than that there was not much to see so we headed for the Falls. The sight was much more impressive and there were several platforms to watch the water crushing down.
The power plant was built in 1907 and several additions were made over the years. These days a lot of water from the river is used to irrigate fields. That area of idaho was still very much dessert and is only fertile because of the water from the river. I think this has an impact of the amount of water coming down the falls. Perhaps in July the water flow has slowed down as all snow up in the mountains has melted already. Part of the water fall was dry but you can see there used to be water at some point. At the time we were there there was no water coming down the right. The flow of the water can be regulated so that the power plant always gets water.
Anyway, the little ones had their fun riding their scooters and Ripstik. It was very hot and after about an hour we had enough and wanted to move on. There was a sign for Dierkes Lake so we headed toward it. When we arrived we were pleasantly surprised.
Dierkes Lake
There was a lake with cliffs, a pontoon bridge creating a swim area, a floating pontoon, diving boards, public bathrooms, a huge lawn and so on. It did not take too long before all the kids were in the water. There also was a kiddy pool area so Romi and Bodhi had somewhere to play safely. The place was crowded.
The water was relatively clear except for some grass clippings and had comfortable temperature. Noah, Basti and Max jumped off the cliffs right away, Noah doing a flip a couple of times. Josephine and Pauline are decent swimmers and like all the others we could not get them out of the water. At least not for long.
Because our trailer was in the parking lot it was easy for us to have lunch and we grilled burgers in the evening. The park closed at nine o’clock and we made it out barely on time. As the children had so much fun we decided to stay another night and head back to the lake.
Saturday
It was Saturday the next day and we had a much harder time finding a parking spot. The children went into the water right away and everything was great.
No Dogs Allowed
Until security approached us saying dogs were not allowed in the park. We did not have a problem the day before and we had spoken with security then. Today there was a different crew and they took a different approach. There were 2 other dog owners in the park. One of them had traveled some distance to get there and refused to leave as there was no mention on the website and we had not seen a sign in the park either.
So police were called and they spoke to each owner. We were told we could move a little further away from the water, to other side of the park. We were not given that option by security but the officer kindly advised us and we obliged. The other dog owners stayed for a little longer, ready to be taken to court. Police did not show up again and we stayed until it was dark and had no other run-ins with security.
The next morning we carried on towards Boise to go to Church. There we stayed after mass to talk to some of the parishioners and found out about a pilgrimage in Post Falls which we decided to walk…
Leave a Reply