Twin Falls Spring 2019

Twin Falls is an old favorite in southeastern Idaho, noted for some spectacular visual attractions such as the Perrine Bridge with its BASE jumpers and Shoshone Falls.

Any visitor is drawn to Shoshone Falls on the Snake River, right outside the city. During the Spring, the snowmelt swells the volume of the river and the plunging falls are a thrill.

There are underground rivers throughout the area, tributaries running toward the Snake River. In some instances, they form steep gorges. One is the Malad Gorge, site of the charming Devil's Washbowl. While much smaller than the Snake River’s gorge, it is still quite impressive.

Parenthetically. The power lines are a great hazard to drones ('Returning from Malad Dam'), but I managed to catch sight of these before hitting them.

Perrine Coulee Falls is right in town, less than a mile from the main bridge across the Snake River.

Deep in the Snake River Gorge, the drone has to fly some 350 feet below the launch point to take video of Pillar Falls, a group of upturned stone pillars. More a rapids than a falls, these formations lie downstream from Shoshone Falls.

Another site along the huge river is Ritter Island, where I flew over the power plant and an area named Thousand Falls.

Idaho Falls and West Yellowstone Spring 2019

After visiting Twin Falls, I continued on to Idaho Falls with side trips to Swan Valley and West Yellowstone.

Off the beaten track, I flew over the Ririe Dam and Reservoir. Ririe is a good-sized earthen dam. The dam backs up Willow Creek in its river canyon to form a long, skinny reservoir surrounded by farm land.

From Ririe Dam, we can drive South on Rt. 26 and stop at charming Fall Creek Falls. It is small, but neat, and flows pretty strongly during the Spring.

If we continue down that highway, we next come to a large dam. It is called Palisades Dam and holds the huge Paradise Reservoir behind it.

If we drive another highway from Idaho Falls toward West Yellowstone, a side road takes us to the two most challenging flights of the trip. Lower Mesa Falls is 1150 feet out from the overlook where I launched, and 450 feet down in a deep gorge. Scary stuff, because the drone has to make the long climb back when the battery is running down.

Upper Mesa Falls, by contrast, must be approached vertically from far above after flying high to clear hundreds of tall fir trees. Any mistake with those trees is, of course, fatal for the drone.

Driving North from the two spectacular falls will bring us to scenic Henry's Lake.

Along the southern boundary of Yellowstone National Park, the Snake River meanders between mountains which provide graphic imagery as the snow melts. One thing for sure —Idaho has a lot of water!

A hundred miles northwest of Idaho Falls lies Mackay Reservoir with its earthen dam. The lake is in a rather spectacular setting. I even made a high flight (miraculously missing some power lines by mere inches!) to get an overview. What a finale!