Arrived by 11 am at Twin Falls 93 RV Park, as it was a very short drive from Three Island Crossing SP. (Less than 2 hours) Apparently this park has upgraded in the last couple of years to what we see today. A great spot with large pull-throughs and quite spacious between rigs. They have the biggest dog run I have seen over their septic field. Freya sure enjoyed all of the nice green grass.
Ray spent a couple of hours driving around to scope out the pictures he wants to take while I spent my time on the phone and doing the laundry. Since Shaw can't provide a LNB for our satellite and after many phone calls to different places, we've determined what our satellite system is after talking with Southern Utah TV and Satellite Services in St, George Utah. We now have and appointment to get this fixed. He had a direct contact with a Shaw person that does work down here.
Shaw Direct upgraded it's system this past July to mostly HD channels with very few standard channels ... stopped using 2 other satellites. Our dish will need a new transponder to work in Canada with the Winegard Traveller remote tracker we currently have. This piece is backordered for who knows how long.
This new LNB is only receiving standard channels from Shaw Direct in Yuma currently. None of the HD channels are receiving that far south we have been told.
October 2017, all the satellite services, Shaw Direct, Bell, DirectV, Dish, etc all upgraded their gps tracking systems so the old Winegard and other company trackers are not working well anymore.
Shaw Direct refuses to help us with any of this ... won't even send us a new LNB.
So ....
We cancelled our shaw direct account today,
We are changing out our whole system to Dish with 2 new DVR's, new tracking system (they all now have 12 wires instead of 9), new satellite dish and moveable tracking base.
Decided on Dish as it is compatible with Bell in Canada, just need to swap out a card in tracking receiver, and it's pay as you go monthly, so stopping it when we are back in Canada is no problem and no more fees. The only difference apparently between Dish and Directv is that you don't get all the Sunday Football package or HBO so it's a no brainer to go to the more inexpensive Dish. Also the DVR's are 2 for $400 instead of 1 for $600! Now that we have the house it is unlikely we will need "TV" in the MH during the spring/summer, but we do have the option for Bell if we change our mind.
We have an appointment in a week at St. George's Utah to get this all fixed. $$$$
I also booked an RV Park in St. George's near the Satellite place for 2 nights and our next spot in Wells, NV.
Once Ray was back, we spent an hour or so sitting outside enjoying the sunshine. Ray found a restaurant "Elevation 486" right on the rim of the Snake River Canyon to have dinner. Date night was fabulous. This is the first dinner I have felt like eating in 3 weeks with having this flu/cold. The view was spectacular as was the Prime Rib Dinner we both had. These pics are by cell phone so definitely not "Ray's" standard. lol
Elevation 486 Restaurant
View from the patio, me taking a picture of Ray taking a picture. lol
View from my table.
View from the patio.
Friday morning Ray was out the door by 7:10 am heading out to see the sunrise at the bridge. The clouds and the sunrise did not cooperate for lighting in the end though. Looks pretty good to me. lol
Snake River Gorge
Ray came back home for an hour or so and we both headed back out at 10 am. The lookout at the Visitor's Centre is awesome. There were even two base jumpers (which is legal here) jump from the bridge into the canyon. They actually have a marked spot halfway across the bridge for them to jump from and flags set out down below for their landing pad.. I took a video of one of them jumping while Ray snapped a few of his own. Their flight lasts under a minute .... seems like a lot of work, as once they land they have to gather up their chute and hike back up the trail to the bridge. Apparently once a year they close the bridge and have a "jump off" competition with lots of boats below to pick those up that land in the water. Definitely not a sport for the "faint of heart".
The two guys walked to the centre of the bridge where it is marked to safely jump.
Getting ready to push off backwards and go head first.
Safely landing at the drop zone.
+They have a whole container sitting here for all the people to store their gear. The lower two pictures were from the Visitor's Centre.
After taking a short walk for more pictures we went into the Visitor's Centre to have a look around. A local citizen found an original wagon frame (from the Oregon Trail days) and after lovingly restoring it, then donating it to the Centre.
From the bridge, you can see the hill of dirt from Evil Knievel's attempt to jump over the Snake River. Apparently the trail actually goes to it now, but for years you were unable to access that spot. Rumour has it Evil's son asked for permission to try the jump but the town said no unless he could come up with the $2,000,000 for liability insurance. He of course said $X$##S and that was that. They have a monument for a record of history for Evil Knievel failed jump,but someone stole his picture. ???
That lump in the distance on top of the gorge at the centre, is the jump site. Not much to look at. lol
Next up was to tour the Waterfront Park. Everything here is close to each other, a very short drive. It was quite the windy road down to the base of the canyon. We had been tipped off by a local while at the viewpoint at the Visitor's Centre, that there is a waterfall on the way down the road that you can park and walk the trail and actually walk under the waterfall. This waterfall was not publicized very much but is called the Perrine Coulee Waterfall. It was spectacular. What an unexpected treat. The road down was very skinny and windy but there were dump trucks going down it so I think Steve you could make it.
The white dot on the path is me.... that is how big it is.
Took this with my cell phone standing behind the falls.
Down at the bottom is a wonderful park with a walk along the river. There are quite a few launching points for boats.
After we wandered around for a bit it was back in the car and head over to Shoshone Falls. Again only about a 15 minute drive. There is a $5 entrance fee to go down the road to the falls. Well worth it. These falls are apparently 14 feet higher than Niagara Falls in Ontario and are called the Niagara Falls of the West. It is quite a windy short road but there really is only one corner where large rigs would have to be careful of oncoming traffic. There are about 6 or 7 RV parking spots. I took a picture of this RV coming down.
Road coming down.
History of Shoshone Falls:
"Shoshone Falls and the fantastically eroded basalt cliffs surround it are relics of the Bonneville Flood, a catastrophic torrent that ripped through the canyon about 15,000 years ago. Now, Shoshoe Falls tumbles 212 feet to the canyon floor. The water falls' terraced 1,000 ft span is one of Idaho's most magnificent sights. Certain sections of the Falls have names: Bridal Veil and Brides Maid (or Train are on the upper left, below those two is Bridal Falls, the Two Graces are in the center , and the Sentinel is on the right.
In 1932, Frederick J. Adams and Martha Stone Adams donated the Shoshone Falls Park to the City of Twin Falls with the stipulation that the land be maintained as a public park for purposes only and for the beneficial use and enjoyment of all people. The year after the Adams family donated the land, the State of Idaho donated land on the west side of the park to the City of Twin Falls."
I counted 22 different falls that go down the rocks, some small and some quite large. Spectacular. When they really flow it is just one big hunk of water. lol
Here is a google picture of full flow.
(Picture from Google)
Here is what it looked like today.
Here is the video I took.
After we had our fill of gazing and Ray taking pictures we headed back up the road and saw another cute waterfall with rock climbers. There 2 Pyrenees Dogs were keeping watch.
Rock Climbers
Continuation of the stream from the road down.
Heading back up the road we noticed a road off to the left above the falls so we took a look. It turned out to be a picnic and boat launch area above the falls.
Infinity Edge ... where the falls begin.
Boat dock above the falls.
A short ways up the road is the turnoff to Dierkes Lake. We only briefly took a short walk down the trail to view this lake as we had been out walking quite a bit already. Definitely a place to come back to as there are several lakes to see along the trails. There is a loop trail that takes about an hour to walk.
Both of us were hungry and thirsty, so next up was Kono's Brew Pub, downtown Twin Falls on Main Avenue. Fabulous beer and the food was none too shabby, although they had a limited menu.
Back home it was time for a tows up in the sunshine after walking Freya. A great day. Definitely we would stop here again to see more things, like Balance Rock and Pillar Falls.
Tuesday on the road by 8 am for the short drive to Pendleton for a little shopping and then less than an hour more for our destination today of Hilgard Junction State Park. A very small rustic park that we stayed at 3 years ago. A great place for Freya with lots of grass. It is below the highway so a little noisy, but fairly quiet overnight. Only drawback is no cell coverage but for one night, no problem. We are now in the land of flies ... they are everywhere. Fortunately with the breeze they were not too bothersome sitting outside. The fly swatter inside is getting lots of use. lol
No one here but us at the end. 2 other campers plus camp host.
Freya enjoying splashing in the river.
A lovely little river called the Grand Ronde the Oregon Trail had to navigate over.
We enjoyed a lovely afternoon in the sunshine and went for a nice walk through the park. The thermostat says 80 F. Actually had to sit in the shade. Ray had a toes up for a while to ease his back while I started a campfire. They have wood here for $5 a cart full. Once the sun started setting it got quite cool so in we went for dinner.
This morning we woke to temps outside of 38 F as we are over 4,000' in altitude.
On the road by 8 am to the Three Island Crossing State Park. I have wanted to see this park since reading about it on Wheeling It's blog. A beautiful park with lots of gorgeous trees. They have an interpretive centre regarding the Oregon Trail but it closed a few minutes before we went to check it out. Another time ...
Site 77
Look who's driving! lol
Three Island Crossing was the most important and difficult river crossing in Idaho. Crossing the Snake River was always dangerous, but when the water was low enough to negotiate, everyone crossed who could, to take advantage of the more favorable northern route to Fort Boise. During high water, most emigrants were forced to travel along the South Alternate route into Oregon - a dry, sandy, dusty, and hot trail that wore out man and beast.
On September 11, 1843, William T. Newby ". . . crossed Snake Rive[r]. First we drove over a part of the river one hundred yards wide on to a island, the[n] over a northern branch 75 yards wide on a second island; then we tide a string of wagons together by a chane in the ring of the lead cattles yoak & made fast to the wagon of all a horse & before & him led. We carried as many a[s] fifteen wagons at one time. . . . The water was ten inches up the waggeo[n] beds in the deepe places."
Walk along the Snake River's edge, there's this old ferry for the crossing left to rot.
Looking back at the Interpretive Centre
The ferry crossing with the trail going up the left side of the hill.
You can see the old Oregon trail up from the flats up the mountain.
Showing 1 of the 3 islands mentioned.
Ray and I are on Mountain Time now so an hour ahead. We actually made until 9pm to go to sleep. lol Both of us getting over this damn flu/cold. It was considerably quieter to stay here than our last few stops.
Thursday morning we were up at 7 am and on the road by 9. Temps were chilly overnight at 42F. It wasn't long before it started to climb with sunny skies. Short run today into Twin Falls to the Twin Falls 93 RV Park. It used to be good sam but not now unfortunately ,,, did not find out until we checked in. Oh well, need to get the laundry done and get our TV system working.
