Yesterday we drove past a local feature called Thousand Springs where precipitation, creeks and rivers northwest of here disappear into the porous lava formations only to pour out of the edge of the formation where the Snake River has cut down through the lava. There are waterfalls evident for miles along the east bank of the river. Yesterday’s exploration took us across the river from all this wonderful stuff and we wanted to get a closer look. Today we drove down the east bank of the Snake and got to see these cascades up close. There is a lot of water squirting out of the lava around here.
Navigation by map in this part of the world is not very productive because roads plainly shown on our DeLorme Gazetteer either don’t exist or they are invisible. Also, the roads here do not have proper names like Elm Avenue or Main Street instead having names like N 600 E and S 4200 E. We took many routes that initially seemed like the shortest route to somewhere only to find the way we selected was bogus so we covered a lot of miles but very little actual distance. Surprisingly, we ultimately made it to where we wanted to go despite my poor navigation.
One of the places we wanted to see is called Balanced Rock and after only 3 or 4 wrong turns, we actually made it to our destination. Balanced Rock is located down in a 400 or 500 feet deep depression in the lava formation and the area is quite scenic. I cheated on the way back home by using the Garmin so I would not be obliged to demonstrate my navigational prowess further.
Regardless of the wacky road names and phantom boulevards, this area, called the Hagerman Valley, is absolutely gorgeous with fantastic scenery everywhere you look. There are lots of birds and little scurrying critters to see and the trails we have taken have been great. We will reluctantly leave this area tomorrow headed further up the Snake River.
There are a few pix of our excursion today which you can see if you click here