Malad Gorge - Hagerman, Idaho

Canyons in the area around Twin Falls are sneaky things. One minute you are driving past what looks like boring, flat farmland. And the next minute you are driving on a bridge spanning deep caverns carved from lava rocks. Malad Gorge is one of the most unexpected canyons in the area. It is worth a stop to take a walk over the 250 foot deep chasm.

Location: Malad Gorge is located within a stone's throw of Exit 147 from I-84. The interstate actually runs right over the gorge.

Cost: $5 per car or free with the Idaho State Parks Pass

Operating Seasons and Hours: Dawn to dusk. I do not recommend visiting in the dark or when the ground is slippery.

Official Website: https://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/parks/thousand-springs

Date of Visit: Saturday May 5, 2018

Malad Gorge was the seventh stop of the first day of the Idaho Road Trip my family went on in May of 2018. We left the Visitor Center for Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument and traveled north to Malad Gorge.




By this point in our day the kids were getting a little tired of hopping in an out of the car. My youngest was pretty mad that we weren't camping yet. She and my son had been talking all day about camping in the tent that night. There were mixed reactions when I told everyone that we still had one more stop. I wanted to see the Malad Gorge at Thousand Springs State Park.

Thousand Springs State Park is made up of six different units (Malad Gorge, Kelton Trail, Earl M. Hardy Box Canyon Springs Nature Preserve, Billingsley Creek, Ritter Island, Niagara Springs/Crystal Springs). These units are not connected, but they are all within a short drive of each other. Park Headquarters are at the Malad Gorge unit, but it is not necessary to visit that unit before visiting the other units.

We'd visited the Niagara/Crystal Springs unit earlier in the day and had seen Ritter Island from across the river while driving on Highway 30. We didn't have time to stop at three of the other units, but Malad Gorge wasn't too far out of our way so I'd put it on my list of things to see.

We drove north on Highway 30. We were looking for a road called Justice Grade" but missed the small sign that marked where we should turn. Soon we passed Malad Canyon.

I told Brandon, "Sorry, I think we just missed it, I thought there would be a better sign."

He said, "I don't know, that canyon looked pretty boring, should we just skip it?"

But from what I'd read about Malad Gorge, I was certain that it would be worth our time. We turned around and found Justice Grade which the map said would take us to the park. The grade took us out of the Snake River canyon and back to the flat plain. Again I wondered if there was anything interesting up there.

Soon we found the park and drove to the area known as "Devil's Washbowl." A small trail led to a bridge over what looked like a gorge.

When we walked out on the bridge and looked down the gorge I couldn't believe my eyes. Sure, I'd read that this canyon was 250 feet deep, but until I saw it I didn't realize what that meant. This was like looking down from the top of a 25 story office building. The craziest part about the canyon is that I-84 runs right over the gorge. That's the bridge at the top of this picture. From the interstate you have no idea what is under there.

Several months later my husband and I drove on I-84 to Boise. I took this picture of what you can see from the interstate. It honestly doesn't look like much from on top of the bridge.

It's a whole other story on the pedestrian bridge over the gorge.  You can really appreciate how deep the gorge is when you are standing right above it.

Here's the view down the canyon from the top of the bridge. That's the Malad River down there. Within a few miles the river will meet up with the Snake River.

Make sure you walk along the short trail on the opposite end of the bridge.

This will take you to a lookout where you can see the Malad River spill over a waterfall right under the interstate. This gives you an even better understanding of how deep this gorge is.

My kids appreciated the gorge and we happy we stopped, however they were anxious to get going.  So we did not follow the main park road to the park headquarters or any of the other overlooks into the gorge.

Recommendation: If you are travelling between Twin Falls and Boise then you will want to plan a quick stop at Malad Gorge. It's an easy way to see quite a memorable and breath taking sight.

Directions: When you are travelling on the Interstate it's very easy to find the state park. Just take Exit 147 and follow Ritchie Road to the entrance. Entering the park costs $5 per car.



Places Nearby: Earl M Hardy Box Canyon Spring is near Malad Gorge. We easily could have visited that section of Thousand Springs State Park next.

Next Stop: Bruneau Dunes State Park (where the kids finally got to set up the tent and camp that night.)