Twin Falls, Idaho ~ Historic Downtown and Shoshone Falls @ Snake River Canyon

Sawtooth · #1 Posted **Jun 29, 2011, 2:41 AM**

Twin Falls is in South Central Idaho on the Snake River Plains. 120 miles east of Boise on I-84.

2010 Population: 44,125
Micropolitan Population near 100,000 and nearly 175,000 in the Magic Valley where Twin Falls is the big town, the commercial center for this area of Idaho.

Interesting facts:
Wilson Butte Cave near Twin Falls has evidence of humans dating back nearly 15,000 years and has some of the earliest evidence of human life in North America. The area has a lot of deep canyons, lava caves, and archaeological sites scattered around.

Nearby is the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument and has the largest concentration of Hagerman Horse (Equus simplicidens) fossils in North America. This fossil beds contain the world's richest late Pliocene epoch fossil deposits with over 220 species of plants and animals.

Also in the area by the river is the worlds largest trout farm, sturgeon caviar farms, and alligators raised in geothermal water and some harvested for meat.

In the early 1900’s the largest irrigation project in the USA began in the Twin Falls area, and currently Southern Idaho has some of the most acreage of irrigated farm lands in the USA. The Snake River aquifer is one of the largest in North America.

Perrine Bridge was once, in its old form, the highest bridge in the world and is the reason Twin Falls currently claims to be the Base Jumping Capitol of the World.

Map is from the Idaho tourism website.
http://www.visitidaho.org/assets/ima...th-central.jpg

Enjoy!

Shoshone Falls ~ 212' high and 1000' wide
East of Perrine Bridge and around 5 miles from the downtown area.
The falls were formed over 14,000 years ago after Ancient Lake Bonneville flooded over Red Rock Pass in Idaho and created the Snake River Canyon.
There are a lot more photos of Shoshone Falls later in the thread.

A viewpoint by the Falls

Historic Downtown
All of the photos were taken on a Sunday morning. Downtown has a great stock of impressive architecture and a warehouse district. The main area of downtown is well kept and has a lot of shops, restaurants, bars and a cool old theater. There appeared to be some restoration work in progress on some of the old facades. The Warehouse District by the old rail tracks is another story, there is grit, a lot of run down brick warehouses, some refurbished buildings with pubs and office space. Between downtown and Perrine Bridge is the cities main shopping/retail/restaurant corridor and also the College of Southern Idaho.

Warehouse District

More Shoshone Falls

hauntedheadnc · #2 Posted **Jun 29, 2011, 4:50 AM**

I'm impressed!

Robert Pence · #3 Posted **Jun 29, 2011, 10:16 AM**

Excellent photos, and some stunning scenery. The bridge has an elegant and graceful design; it's really beautiful.

Expat · #4 Posted **Jun 29, 2011, 12:56 PM**

Beautiful scenery & dramatic bridge. I love seeing these towns I know nothing about.

ColDayMan · #5 Posted **Jun 29, 2011, 1:46 PM**

Beautiful stuff.

JBoston · #6 Posted **Jun 29, 2011, 3:51 PM**

I was in Idaho last week, its such a magnificent state. My boyfriend and I hiked Hells Canyon up near the Oregon border. The scenery is just so epic throughout the entire state. Thanks for the tour!

Northernlad · #7 Posted **Jun 29, 2011, 10:28 PM**

Awesome tour of a city I don't really know very much about and have driven by a few times on the Interstate without stopping in. It looks like TF has a larger downtown area than I thought it would. The Shoshone Falls are stunning, you up in Idaho are lucky to have big rivers

I have a family reunion to attend later this summer and will float the Payette River near Boise and am excited!

giovanni sasso · #8 Posted **Jun 29, 2011, 10:34 PM**

very nice, sawtooth. i've found twin falls a very pleasant place both times i've passed through it. the snake river canyon is spectacular, and the way they've developed into it (golf courses, parks, etc) seems to be pretty unobtrusive. i have an almost identical photo of the perrine bridge with a triple-long trailer passing over it. and i got a haircut at the perrine barbershop downtown!

Sawtooth · #9 Posted **Jun 30, 2011, 1:29 PM**

Thanks everyone!

Cottonwood · #10 Posted **Jun 30, 2011, 7:32 PM**

Great work Sawtooth. The Snake River Canyon (all of them) is beautiful and Shoshone is a gem. It's amazing how much scenery the Snake River Plains offer between Pocatello and Boise.....just driving on the Interstate a person misses out on so much.

Cottonwood · #11 Posted **Jun 30, 2011, 8:14 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sawtooth

I forgot to add that this building is beautiful....it is an old Masonic Temple?

xzmattzx · #12 Posted **Jul 1, 2011, 12:58 AM**

Great pictures!

Sawtooth · #13 Posted **Jul 2, 2011, 5:21 PM**

Thanks xzmattzx.

Cottonwood, I like that building too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JBoston

I was in Idaho last week, its such a magnificent state. My boyfriend and I hiked Hells Canyon up near the Oregon border. The scenery is just so epic throughout the entire state. Thanks for the tour!

Hells Canyon is awesome, did you go into the Seven Devil Mountains?
The Rapid River area towards Heavens Gate is a great place to hunt morels.

kcexpress69 · #14 Posted **Jul 2, 2011, 10:56 PM**

Great job on the pictures!! The downtown looks decent, and loved the pictures of the falls!!

JBoston · #15 Posted **Jul 3, 2011, 5:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sawtooth

Thanks xzmattzx.

Cottonwood, I like that building too.

Hells Canyon is awesome, did you go into the Seven Devil Mountains?
The Rapid River area towards Heavens Gate is a great place to hunt morels.

Yes! In fact we went to an amazing hot spring up there.

Evo5Boise · #16 Posted **Jul 3, 2011, 5:43 PM**

Great thread. You do an excellent job of showcasing Idaho Sawtooth. Twin Falls really is a nice little gem.

Also, for some reason, the Twin Falls County building reminds me of the Clock Tower building from Back to the Future. =D

IdaBoi · #17 Posted **Jul 5, 2011, 9:52 PM**

Beautiful pictures!

Sawtooth · #18 Posted **Jul 5, 2011, 11:39 PM**

Thanks kcexpress69, Evo5Boise and IdaBoi!

Evo,
Another thread is on the way. I was fortunate to spend the weekend in one of the most beautiful places on the earth and have a few photos to post later this week after I have sorted through them.

Here's a hint:

Ex-Ithacan · #19 Posted **Jul 6, 2011, 10:58 AM**

Good stuff. Nice looking downtown, and wonderful scenery. I like this shot:

Can almost feel the power of the falls.
Thanks.

IdaBoi · #20 Posted **Jul 7, 2011, 10:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sawtooth

Thanks kcexpress69, Evo5Boise and IdaBoi!

Evo,
Another thread is on the way. I was fortunate to spend the weekend in one of the most beautiful places on the earth and have a few photos to post later this week after I have sorted through them.

I have a pretty good idea based on the picture. Can't wait!