Malad Gorge
Canyon · Hagerman, Idaho
A unit of Thousand Springs State Park where the Malad River drops down stairstep falls into a plunge pool called the Devils Washbowl and then cuts a gorge two hundred and fifty feet deep for two and a half miles to the Snake. It is a few hundred yards off Interstate 84 at Exit 147 and almost nobody driving between Boise and Twin Falls knows it is there - you park, walk a short path, and find yourself on a footbridge directly over a sixty-foot waterfall in the middle of what looks from the motorway like flat farmland.
East 2350 South, Hagerman, Idaho, 83332, United States
Open year round for day use, roughly dawn to dusk, with an Idaho state park vehicle entry fee as a unit of Thousand Springs State Park; the state annual passport is accepted. ⚠ IT IS A FEW HUNDRED YARDS OFF INTERSTATE 84 AT EXIT 147 and is not visible from the road. There is no visitor centre at this unit - the shared Thousand Springs Visitor Center is at 17970 Highway 30 near Hagerman, about fifteen minutes away, and it also serves Hagerman Fossil Beds. ⚠ THE MALAD IS SPRING-FED RATHER THAN SNOWMELT-FED, so unlike Shoshone Falls downstream it runs all year and does not disappear in the irrigation season. No shop, no concession and no shade on the rim - bring water. Overlooks sit above sheer basalt drops and fencing is not continuous.