Above the Snake River Canyon

Hello Everyone,

On Wednesday, Aug. 14th we drove to Twin Falls, Idaho, a place on the Snake River made famous by a daredevil motorcyclist thirty-five years ago and continued today by a new breed of daredevils.

The year was 1974 and our nation was deeply split, much as it is now. Then, it was over our continued involvement in the Vietnam War and the loss of life that came with that conflict. Demonstrators were in the streets and on the nightly news. Richard Nixon was in the White House, and to many, it appeared that our union was falling apart.
Then from the West came a man, whom many considered a ridiculous stuntman, who pulled the nation together to watch a spectacle he promised would be the greatest daredevil event in history. Robert Craig Knievel, better known at "Evel Knievel" drew the attention of the nation and the world to Twin Falls, Idaho, where he planned to jump the Snake River Canyon on a rocket cycle, on Labor Day weekend in 1974.  Thousands of people jammed the edges of both sides of the Snake River Canyon on September 8, 1974, and millions more were glued to their televisions to see if this stuntman could make the jump of over 1,600 feet to the other side, or splatter himself against the canyon wall, falling some 800 feet into the river gorge.
Well, he didn't make it. The rocket cycle malfunctioned and deployed the safety chute too early and he descended in the canyon rather unspectacularly but survived the attempt. The take-off ramp that was constructed for the event is still there, and Dad wanted to see it and stand where Evel Knievel stood and peer down into the river gorge. So he walked two and a half miles in 95-degree heat to get there. Here is the ramp as it appears today. It is 90 feet high, and on the day of the attempt, there was a scaffold another 90 feet high that the rocket cycle was attacked too.

This is the view from the bottom of the ramp, pointing toward the far side of the canyon.

This is the backside of the ramp a few feet from the edge of the canyon wall.

This is a view from the top of the ramp looking down into the river gorge. This is probably what Evel Knievel saw is he boarded the rocket cycle. Daunting isn't it?

Today's daredevils are a different breed. These people defy death by jumping from the top of the Perrine Bridge into the canyon with only a small parachute and a lot of courage. The sport is called BASE jumping and we watched them for nearly two hours as one group after another climbed over the rail of the bridge and launched themselves into the abyss. A spectator asked one of the leaders why they did this and he responded, "It would be fair to say, that most of us have at least one screw loose". It is 485 feet to the bottom from the bridge and the water is about 50 degrees if you land in it. Look closely to the left of the truck and you can see them climbing over the bridge railing. 

Just below the white truck, you can see the chute deploying as this guy descends for four seconds before the chute opens.

 Here, just below the bridge, you can see the light blue chute as he glides down toward the river.

Here is another group doing their thing.

That spot in the middle of the bridge is a young woman standing on the railing of the bridge, getting ready to jump.

 Her parachute is white and orange. Look near the middle of the picture to see her.

From there we went to Shoshone Falls a short distance from the city of Twin Falls. This waterfall is called the "Niagara Falls of the West" and even though it is spectacular, it doesn't hold a candle to the real thing.

Today, Aug. 15th, we drove up to two more of the local state parks, Malad Gorge State Park and Ritter Island State Park. After the fantastic river gorge we saw yesterday in Twin Falls, these were anticlimactic but worth seeing. Mom got some great pictures of a couple of Hawks and a White Pelican.

Tomorrow we are heading to Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks in Wyoming😃.