Over labor day weekend, Yury and I decided to do a fun day trip and owning a little dog child means countless google searches of dog friendly trails, areas, and parks. After a little bit of searching and much to our surprise, just three hours north of Salt Lake lies a beautiful, tiny oasis tucked away in a canyon surrounded by dry farmlands that just screams adventure for you and your pup! At first glance, you would never guess a place like this existed in southern Idaho but the more we explored, the more we realized that Idaho is a goldmine of hidden treasures.
The hike into the canyon is just under three miles and for the first half mile, you feel as though you are walking in someone's backyard because... you kind of are. In between small hills and subtle twists and turns, the sand trail transforms into rock beneath your feet almost instantly. Look up - or better yet, look down. Two beautiful turquoise-emerald pools welcome you to the edge of the canyon just 200 ft below. The still pools flood into a rushing river that carves deep into the canyon, almost as if the water was saying "follow me, there's more!"
You drop down into the canyon about a mile in. It's a rapid descend into the canyon but the trail is well marked and there are railings the entire way. A huge waterfall is your next landmark sighting - this canyon is full of surprises.
When we reached the end of the canyon, we cut off into the tall grasses and found a small, more private area away from the main pools to swim in. After 5 minutes of trying to convince ourselves to jump in, we finally did. We hastily swam to a rock sitting just barely 50 ft from shore and climbed onto the top. On the other side of the water, Autumn, basking in the sunlight with absolutely zero interest in jumping in. The clear waters made distinguishing the bottom of the pools somewhat of a difficult illusion. The pool was freezing and we could barely stay in it for more than a couple minutes without losing feeling in our toes. But even the short amount of time we were immersed in the cold water was worth the goosebumps.
After a few hours in the canyon, we packed up our things and began our hike upwards. We dried off and warmed up quickly in the sun, almost to a point where I would consider jumping back in that cold water... almost. Once we reached the car, we scraped the mud off our shoes, wrapped our bathing suits up in a towel, and drove towards Shoshone Falls.
At the falls, we sat on a bench overlooking the rushing water while we munched on our Little Cesar's pizza (very adult, I know). They call Shoshone the "Niagara Falls of the West". The water is pounding down into the pools below and it's such a unique view, you almost forget that you're in the middle of town.
We wrapped our day up and headed back towards Salt Lake and was home by 9:30pm. To some, we may not have taken advantage of the full three day offs but if there's one things I've learned in my history of day outings and spontaneous road trips, it's that paradises and great adventures don't have to be far.
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