April 29 Valley Life Column

April 29 Valley Life Column in AG Weekly

Spring runoff is spectacular at Shoshone Falls

With a promise of breakfast in Twin, I coerced my husband into taking me to Shoshone Falls Sunday. I had followed the reports of record water flow and wanted to see for myself what early settlers saw when they viewed Shoshone Falls more than a hundred years ago.

When we arrived at the park a little after 8 a.m., people were already gathering, snapping pictures of the falls before they headed off to church or other destinations.

The reports of high water proved to be true. From a horseshoe rim spanning almost a thousand feet, the water tumbled to a churning caldron below while birds darted in and out of the rainbows bridging the canyon walls.

"Now I know why they call it the Niagara of the West," I said to my husband. "It's so amazing, it's simply surreal."

From my perch at one of the lookouts, I felt like I was watching one of those Imax movies, the ones that have you soaring over mountains and lakes, where you have to hang on to the railing to keep from falling. But this wasn't a 3-D movie; this was the real thing. The ground beneath us shook as if to prove it.

After snapping a few more pictures, we hiked up the centennial trail for a panoramic look at the falls. We stopped to take more pictures at one of the lookouts and came away laughing, our hair and jackets wet from the mist drifting down the canyon.

"Absolutely amazing," I said, lifting my arms to the sky.

The Snake River was flowing at an estimated 18,000 cubic feet of water per second, and even though it wasn't as impressive as it must have been a hundred years ago, before the river was harnessed for irrigation, I was mesmerized by the tumbling water.

It isn't every day you can step back in time, but this weekend I did as I pretended to be an early settler seeing Shoshone Falls for the very first time.