Snake River defines Idaho

I have spent a lot of good times along the Snake River, from its source to where it empties into the Pacific Ocean.

It’s one of the longest rivers in the country and flows from one end of Idaho to the other.

Its major source is at the south end of Jackson Lake.  Actually, it’s said that the original source is from two small streams near Yellowstone Park.

I have white-watered a good stretch of the Snake. The first time was out of Jackson, Wyoming during the high spring runoff. We entered the float trip out of Jackson and exited well into eastern Idaho.

The water was very high, and it was the scariest float trip I’ve ever taken.

At one point, we went over a drop-off that nearly capsized our raft.

Another time we rafted just outside Jackson Lake where it was more like a drift trip. The backdrop was the Teton Mountain Range, probably the favorite spot for my wife and me on the planet.  

The third float trip started on the Salmon River, then emptied into the Snake River. That was a two-day trip and the river wound its way through a canyon nearly a mile deep. This was one of the more scenic trips I’ve taken.

The Snake River was a natural for my wife and later myself. The northern edge of the land her family farmed overlooked the Snake.

Just beyond the city of Twin Falls, lay the two biggest falls on the river. One is Twin Falls, and the other is Shone Falls, both favorite picnic spots for my wife’s family. The picnic grounds offer great views just above the two falls.

Farther on, towards Boise, the Oregon Trail crossed the Snake at a place that was apparently fordable for the wagons.

One year, while visiting in Buhl, we followed and enjoyed an evening where a re-enactment of a number of wagons slowly made its way west.

Overlooking the river at Hagerman is where I spent a couple of days digging for prehistoric animals; that of course when it was permissible to do so.

I’ve spent a number of times digging for Native artifacts; that too was before I got educated enough to know not to do so.

I had made friends with a man who lived just a little distance from Dorothy’s parents’ farm, and we scoured the sagebrush to find arrowheads and scrapers and knife parts.

Years ago, there was a big fight in Idaho about building a dam in Hell’s Canyon. I had left the state about then and didn’t keep up on the plan until years later when we visited the dam and took another river trip. This was on a power boat that took us on a 22-mile run to the rapids, another very scenic experience.

I have been to where the Snake runs into the Columbia many times.

I can’t think of Idaho without thinking of the Snake River.  

Every time we returned to Buhl, where Dorothy’s family farmed, we ended up at either Shoshone Falls and Twin Falls, both just a few miles from downtown Twin Falls. That was the setting for Evel Kneival’s famous try to jump the canyon on his motorcycle. He jumped all right, almost to his death.

Not far out of Boise is where the Indian Map Rock is located, a story told in an earlier column.

A few miles down river and you would come to The Snake River Pottery place where we often bought a few pots and articles. Right next to this pottery studio is the lone house in Idaho designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, unoccupied for a number of years, and overlooking the Snake.

I can’t think of anything that defines Idaho better than the Snake River.