Waterfalls in Idaho

Idaho waterfalls, from the Snake River canyon to Sawtooth wilderness

Two landscapes produce most of Idaho's 249 named waterfalls. In the south, the Snake River crosses a volcanic plain and drops through a canyon the Bonneville Flood cut into rhyolite roughly 14,500 years ago; nearly every fall on the river itself has since been dammed, diverted for irrigation or turned into a hydroelectric spillway. To the north, ancient Belt Group rock near the Canadian border holds falls in wet, roadless mountain country, and the Sawtooth Wilderness adds a remote, foot-only cluster farther south.

Where the waterfalls are

The Snake River Plain carries the best-known falls through Twin Falls County, Jerome County, Power County and Bonneville County, where dams and canals have reshaped nearly every drop. East of there, the Fremont County falls on the Henrys Fork sit on the edge of the Yellowstone Plateau.

Idaho's mountain falls are harder to reach. Custer County holds the Sawtooth Wilderness and the upper Salmon River country, mostly on foot-only trails. In the north, Idaho County — the state's largest waterfall county, with 52 listings — and Clearwater County cover most of the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest, while Boundary County, Bonner County, Kootenai County and Shoshone County cut falls into ancient rock near the Canadian border. Southwest Idaho is different again: Owyhee County, Boise County and Elmore County hold spring-fed drops in high-desert basalt canyons on Bureau of Land Management ground.

Waterfalls worth the trip

• Shoshone Falls, 212 feet over a 925-foot horseshoe rim on the Snake River, is 45 feet taller than Niagara and long called the "Niagara of the West." A drive-up city park puts the main platform about 75 feet from the nearest parking.
• Perrine Coulee Falls, about 200 feet, falls into the Snake River Canyon in the city of Twin Falls. A short walk from roadside parking passes behind the sheet of falling water.
• Upper Mesa Falls, 100 feet, and Lower Mesa Falls, 60 feet, drop on the Henrys Fork and are each reached by a short walk from their own parking area.
• Goat Falls, Idaho's tallest at 615 feet, drops out of Goat Lake in the Sawtooth Wilderness on a 7.6-mile round trip with about 1,700 feet of climbing, on a free, self-issued wilderness permit.
• Copper Falls, 155 feet, is a single horsetail on Copper Creek in the Idaho Panhandle National Forests, about half a mile from the trailhead on Forest Road 2517.
• Moyie Falls, 91 feet in two tiers on the Moyie River, is a short roadside walk to a fenced overlook.
• Elk Creek Falls, 115 feet, and Lower Elk Creek Falls, 70 feet, drop through a columnar-basalt canyon reached by a day hike on Trail 740 from the trailhead near Elk River.
• Jump Creek Falls, 55 feet, is a spring-fed plunge with a swimming pool at the base, a short walk across Bureau of Land Management land bordered by private property.

When to go

Spring-fed desert falls and Snake River falls run on opposite clocks. Jump Creek Falls peaks between March and June, then shrinks to almost nothing by summer. On the Snake River, flow is managed rather than seasonal: Idaho Power holds Shoshone Falls to a minimum scenic flow from April through Labor Day; spring releases raise it well above that before late-summer irrigation draws it back down. Perrine Coulee runs stronger in summer, when irrigation water reaches it, but its winter icicles are a real hazard. The unplowed Mesa Falls Scenic Byway limits winter access to Upper and Lower Mesa Falls to snow travel.

Fees, permits and closures

Shoshone Falls Park charges $5 per vehicle in season, or a $25 season pass; in 2026 its ticket booth reopened April 1. The adjoining Dierkes Lake park charges $5 from March through September. Mesa Falls carries a $7 motor-vehicle entrance fee, covered by an Idaho State Parks Passport or Annual Pass; the separate Lower Mesa Falls observation site, run by the Forest Service, has no fee. Entering the Sawtooth Wilderness for Goat Falls needs a free, self-issued permit at the trailhead, and dogs must be leashed there from July 1 through Labor Day. At Jump Creek Falls, the Bureau of Land Management charges $5 for the day or $25 for an annual pass; the access road crosses private land, so stay on the signed public path.

Safety

A 16-year-old hiker died at Elk Creek Falls in September 2019 after slipping over the middle falls, and a 20-year-old man died at Jump Creek Falls in March 2017 after falling more than 70 feet near a section called Devil's Ladder. At Upper Mesa Falls, a woman survived a reported 114-foot fall while fishing in 1991. Wet basalt and granite ledges above Idaho's falls turn slick with little warning, and canyon rims are mostly unfenced outside the paved city parks; stay back from edges and out of fast current.