The Highs and Lows

Wheeler Peak

We have traveled highway 50 through Utah a few times.  We avoid pulling the Biff through Salt Lake City on interstate 15 if at all possible.  This is a long lonesome road once you head west past Interstate 15.   A flat dried lake bed from past millenniums.  Still there is beauty in this harsh land and late spring was good time to visit before the summer sun bakes the land and the days too hot to travel.   This time we decided to stop at the Great Basin National Park instead of driving through to Ely, Nevada.  I have seen the turn off for the park and wondered what the area had to offer.   It was time to find out!

Lehman Caves

Turns out there are some beautiful caves to visit in the park.  The Lehman Caves are worth the stop and some of the prettier caves we have seen in our travels.   We did not do any hiking in the park but I have been told the hike to Wheeler Peak is challenging and beautiful.  We took the drive to the top and admired the view from a distance.

We opted to stay at one of the two little RV parks in the area as opposed to attempting to stay in the National Park.  We find that we usually are too big for most national parks. We chose the one closer to the park entrance as opposed to the one just across the Nevada border on highway 50 with the casino/restaurant/bar/motel/grocery/gas station all rolled into one. It had it all!

Shoshone Falls

We headed out and turned north at Ely onto highway 93 and stayed on it up to Twin Falls, Idaho.  The road stays in the basin and is known for being part of the Pony Express route.   We watched the storms move in around the bordering mountain ranges and stopped in Wells for lunch just in time as one of the storms hit.   It was chasing us the rest of the drive until we passed into Idaho.  

We stayed a few nights in Twin Falls taking the time to get caught up on a few necessary chores.  We did do some exploring checking out both the Twin Falls which the town is named and the more spectacular Shoshone Falls.  Both have dams on them which had the effect of making the Twin Falls only half what it once was – I wonder why they don’t change the name to “Only One Fall Now”.

Perrine Bridge - it's a long way down! 

Are you sure you really want to jump?

This area is infamous for the failed attempt by Evil Knievel to jump the Snake River.  It is one steep drop!  There are still a few daredevils in the area as this is the only place in the country that allows base jumping from the mighty Perrine Bridge.  Yikes!  We happened to time it just right for two brave souls to make the jump and safely parasailing down to the  river banks.  All in all, a nice area but time for us to snake along down the road.

Safely to the ground !