Malad gorge offers hidden Splendor

By Karma Metzler Fitzgerald
Hidden just under the freeway on I-84 is one of southern Idaho's hidden treasures.

Malad Gorge State Park is nestled just off the Interstate between Bliss and Hagerman. Its key feature is "Devil's Washbowl," in which water drops 60 feet into a basalt basin where the canyon is only 140 feet wide and then pushes through a 2.5-mile long, 250-foot deep canyon to the Snake River. If visitors look closely into the carved shadows of the basalt, the nose and eye of the "devil's" face can be seen hovering over the bowl.

The park is a treasury of geologic and historic features. This area was created by a combination of volcanic activity and erosion. Gooding Butte, about 10 miles away, supplied the lava for the walls of the canyon millions of years ago. Glacier runoff sent water into the cracks and crevices, eroding them to reveal not only the canyon, but breathtaking scenery and geologic artistry. This was possibly done on a massive scale during the Missoula glacial floods several thousand years ago. Today Malad Gorge provides a home to a variety of birds and wildlife.

Across the Interstate is a little-known section of the park that hasn’t yet been fully developed. Wagon wheel ruts are still visible both from the Oregon Trail and the more recent Kelton Stage Line. Several hiking paths cross the area, though park ranger Tom Coester says they are best enjoyed in the cool of the morning during the summer, as it tends to get brutally hot amid the lava flows.

The park also has a large picnic area and playground near the entrance. A 3.5-mile loop presents a self-guided driving tour through the bulk of the park. It's well marked and features everything from historic landmarks to examples of the rare moss-like cow-pie buckwheat, a pretty plant that dots the canyon's rim. Beyond the roar of the waterfall, fresh water flows from numerous springs into the channel to create stripes of blue in the green river water. Along the walls, visitors can see clear examples of block faulting, which illustrate how much of the canyon was formed over the last few million years.

Coester said about 3000 people visit the park each month. Many more, he believes, drive past without realizing what lies just off the freeway.

"A lot of people drive through Idaho and never see anything but sagebrush," he says. "There's a lot more out here beyond the sagebrush."

The Gorge is easily accessible from I-84, exit 147 (the Tuttle exit). It's a daylight-only park with a $4 fee. Guided tours can be arranged by calling the park. Malad Gorge is a unit of Thousand Springs State Park (208-837-4505; www.idahoparks.org).

Northwest Travel Magazine September/October 2007