Mesa Falls - Island Park, ID {take a scenic byway}

Hey friends.  I've got more goods from our Idaho/Montana/Wyoming adventure today.  I was wondering, how many times have you passed a Scenic Byway sign and just flown right by it?  I think most of us do this honestly, in our haste, we tend to want to get where we're going, thus missing some pretty cool stuff.

If you're on vacay, I suggest you might spend sometime to investigate one of these signs....you never know what you might find......

.....like an incredibly beautiful set of waterfalls.

This is Upper Mesa Falls; farther down the river you will find Lower Mesa Falls.  Upper Mesa Falls has a paid entrance (I believe $5 per car) and well maintained paved paths as well as several overlooks.  The views are spectacular.

According to local legend, some kids actually decided it would be a good idea to go over the upper falls in a kayak years ago.....they survived.....and it looks like people still go down the lower falls....



The gift shop/museum used to have a news article posted about the kids on the upper falls, but they took it down as to not encourage any other potential Darwin Award winners.

Via

Speaking of the gift/shop museum, it's worth taking a peek.  Especially the back room which has a ton of different animal hides and skeletons that you can actually touch.  Be careful though, per the sign, certain things are not to be touched - if you do you will be "shot at dawn".  Levi touched one of these untouchable items - after I read him the sign I think he was terrified to get up to early the next morning.





On our way in we met this guy on the path and he quickly attached himself to Levi's shoe.  Those guys are sticky!!  We had trouble getting him off.

So next time you are out and about, don't pass the scenic byway, you are probably missing something good.

Here is how our adventure went for this mini trip:

From Island Park heading South on Hwy 20, we actually passed (I know) the Scenic Byway sign and first headed into St. Anthony to grocery shop at Broulim's.*

We waved to the Teton's...

....and after grocery shopping and eating the best deli sandwich of our lives, we headed back East on Highway 20 and this time did not pass the Scenic Byway sign.

Then we turned off on ID-47 N toward Mesa Falls.

Here is a map of Mesa Falls:

Via

*Side nugget of info, if you are going to stay in the area, Broulim's is a great little store - more selection than Dave's in Ashton and cheaper than the stores in West Yellowstone and they made the best deli sandwich of our lives.

So, enjoy your Scenic Byway adventures, you never know what you might find!

♥TCW