Fall Creek Falls on the South Fork of the Snake River

Nick and I have decided that the float through the canyon stretch of the South Fork of The Snake River is our favorite trip.  This year we changed it up a bit. 

Nick invited his son, my grandson, little Nick to skip school for a week and join us.  They drove from Cincinnati to Yellowstone.  On the way they got hit by a tornado in Iowa.  Then they stayed the night in Yellowstone and got snowed on.  On their way to Swan Valley they had to take a detour because of a forest fire. 

We met up at the South Fork Lodge at 5:30, plenty of time to get the invasive species stickers for the kayaks.  

Since it was already starting to get late, we decided not to start the float until the next day.  We camped at the Falls Campground across the river and just down the road from South Fork Lodge.  There is a small tributary that enters the river near the campground which forms the Fall Creek Falls waterfall. 

This waterfall is easy to miss, both from the road and from the river unless you know it is there. 

I missed it the first time we camped at the Falls Campground and I missed it when we floated that upper stretch of the South Fork of the Snake, just up from Conant Valley.

The first time Nick and I camped at the Fall’s campground a bull moose came right into our campground.  This time, as it was getting dark, we heard an animal slowly working its way towards us.  All excited, we grabbed our cameras and kept a look out.

Finally the animal got to our camp.  It was an animal alright, a cow.

I tried out my new tent on this trip, a Bear Grilse tent.  It is a small tent, 8 ft. by 8 ft. just small enough for taking on a pontoon for a float to camp along the river.  It withstood the rain well and fit the three of us just fine…but not big enough for cots, a table and wood burning stove.  The important thing is it is easy to setup.  It’s advertised as being able to setup in a minute.  Kind of like an umbrella, the main tent can indeed be setup in a minute.  Once you add the rainfly, guy ropes and stakes it may take a couple of minutes. I was impressed and very pleased with the tent selection.

The next morning we checked out Fall Creek Falls that until now had evaded us.  They were beautiful and worth investigating.  They also overlook the most gorgeous, picture perfect valley.