Bart Visits the Snake River Canyon in Idaho on the way to Vegas

After spending a cold night in northeast Oregon I packed my stuff and continued towards Vegas. From Oregon I continued to Idaho on Interstate 84 (I-84). Around late afternoon I turned onto highway 93 going south, and arrived in Twin Falls, ID crossing another impressive bridge, the Perrine Bridge, which crosses the Snake River Canyon. I turned off onto a viewpoint as I drove south, and I’m glad I did. This is where the first part of the short video below was taken. I took the second part of the video a few hundred meters past the bridge by turning into the information center, which is on the west side of the bridge. This is where I noticed a bunch of guys with helmets and helmet cams, packing their parachutes. I was curious about what they were doing, so I followed them to see. Again, take a look at the short video below.

The Snake River Canyon valley floor has mostly tourist attractions, several parks, and golf courses. Originally it was agricultural land, because the surrounding area above the valley floor was very dry prior to installation of irrigation projects.

The Snake River Canyon was made popular in 1974 by Evel Knievel, who attempted to jump it on a rocket cycle, from the south rim to the north, but was unsuccessful. Here’s what Wikipedia says, in part:

“Upon take-off, the drogue parachute deployed because the force of the take-off caused him to release the emergency hand trigger for the parachute. He probably lost consciousness, resulting in him releasing the parachute prematurely. The deployed chute caused enough drag that even though the skycycle made it all the way across the canyon to the north rim, the prevailing winds caused it to drift back south, into the canyon. By the time it hit the bottom of the canyon, it landed only a few feet from the water on the same side of the canyon it had been launched from. If he had landed in the water, Knievel would have drowned due to a jumpsuit/harness malfunction which kept him strapped in the vehicle. Knievel survived the jump with only minor injuries.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evel_Knievel