Some flights are easier than others. This morning’s flight was pretty straight forward, 123 miles, 44 minutes, clear skies and good visibility. Start up was routine but it was still 50 degrees out so we sat and idled a bit while the engines warmed. Then it was off to the runway with a clearance to climb to 8000 and on course. On departure I leaned the mixtures as Idaho falls sits at 4,700' and lift off took a few hundred feet more than sea level but we were soon climbing a bit better than 1000 fpm.
Today the scenery was great, mountains, to each side and open skies ahead. After a short cruise segment we descended and made a soft touchdown. Our car was ready and we swung by our hotel, this time our room was ready early, some more of that luck. After cleaning up it was time to sightsee. The first stop was the Perrine Bridge. They have a great overlook of the bridge and the Snake river as well as a nice visitor center.
We had a pleasant surprise, there was a 9/11 memorial group which had strung a humongous flag over the river and it was very cool to watch 400 pounds of red, white and blue flap in the breeze. We also saw some base jumpers repacking their chutes. We missed their jumps but apparently the city allows people to jump from the bridge. This seems counter to what you would expect but cool. After the bridge we headed up the river to see a classic location.
Evil Knievel once tried to rocket over the river but a malfunction caused the rocket bike’s parachute to open early and he didn’t make it. All that’s left is a ramp and a plaque but it’s still a pretty cool place. Continuing up the river we visited Shoshone Falls. They are quite impressive and there were great views. On the way in as we descended towards the river we saw a goat on a near vertical canyon wall. On the way back up he was still standing there, pretty impressive climbing, or maybe he was stuck, who knows.
Our final stop was the Minidoka Japanese Internment Site, this is now a national historic sight. There is not much left, just 2 buildings, a root cellar and a baseball field and the memories. They have markers that tell the story but the visitor center is only open on Saturdays so we missed some of the info. It was interesting to see but I had already read about the site so not a lot of new information. Not sure I would detour much for it but it was only about 20 minutes out of the way.
On the way back to the Hotel we picked up some truly excellent Mexican food. While our first Tacos were adequate in North Dakota, these were exceptional.
The next morning we headed off to Craters of the Moon National Monument. When I say Idaho, most people say potatoes, not Volcanos. Well maybe you should say both. The area has recently been active. When I say recent I mean about 2,000 years ago. Scientists say the area is due for an eruption in the next 1,000 years so before we arrived, we agreed if there was any rumbling we would high tail it out of there.
We liked this park. It is small in comparison to the others we visited. It all centers on a 7 mile ring road. You would think that a pile of rock would be pretty sturdy but this type of rock is easy to damage so to preserve the site, they keep you in limited areas. Arriving it was still cool and we enjoyed the breeze. We made a series of stops along the road to observe the various types of lava and rock formations.
Most of the hikes were easy but Inferno Cone is a .2 mile walk up a 14% grade to gain 164 feet. It is deceptive in that when you start climbing, it looks like the top is close but then you clear a crest and see you have a lot more to go. We eventually reached the summit and enjoyed the views and watched a small snake slither by. After a few more short walks we headed off to the mountains.
These mountains are about 40 miles North of Twin falls and technically part of the Rockies. That said, they generally are balder with less trees than the ones we saw in Colorado. The road follows a wide valley between the peaks. Our destination was the Sawtooth Botanic Garden. It is small but quite nice with a wide variety of plants, flowers and sculptures. We met a nice chipmunk here and enjoyed strolling through the gardens. They were not as big as the ones we found in Iowa but they were very nice and we enjoyed them.
On the way up we had seen signs for a Hispanic Heritage festival in Hailey, ID. It was much more of a town than I thought we would find and it was a fun little festival. We arrived just as they were showcasing some dances. We walked around a bit and I think this got us back in the mood for Mexican food as we decided to pick up round two of Tacos when we returned from the mountains.
Sunday we got a late start, this is a vacation. We headed West to Bruneau Dunes State Park. For some reason Idaho has Sand Dunes near Boise. There is one huge one that is around 460 tall feet and another smaller one that is only 90 feet. We parked at the foot of the small one and hiked up. The sand makes it much harder to climb than most trails but soon we were on the crest looking at the big dune. At this point we made an important decision and I believe excellent decision, we would skip climbing the tall one.
The park rents sand boards for those that want to surf the dunes. Also another excellent decision, we decided to watch others. We enjoyed hanging out and watching the kids and adults give it a go. It was not as simple as it seems. Steering was an issue and we enjoyed seeing some nice wipe outs.
Our next destination was the Old Idaho State Penitentiary. We continued West on I-84 to Boise. The speed limit out here is 80 which makes the miles fly by and we soon arrived at our destination. Built in 1870, it operated until 1973. This is our third prison tour, not sure it reflects well on us but it was interesting. The site is very well preserved except for a few buildings destroyed in the 1971 and 1973 riots.
One thing you learn is that they had periodic riots. The root cause seemed to be subhuman living conditions, terrible food and exploitation. They had bios on prisoners that had been held there across the life of the prison. It was interesting to see the evolving standards on sentencing. For example a late 1800s inmate who shot and seriously injured a man received a 2 year sentence. In the 1920s a man was given 2 years for having alcohol when Idaho had gone dry.
We explored the prison for a bit more and then started the drive back to Twin Falls. We had been given a pretty clean rental car but looking at it after all our driving we had covered the front with bugs. We had to stop at a gas station to clean the windshield and buy some candy. By the time we arrived at the hotel, it was covered again. It was time to start studying the weather and do some flight planning. We had some potential weather monday. The route was pretty simple but the Minimum Enroute Altitudes were high and the freezing level would be close to our altitude.
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