Ed Winterall
Picnic in the shadow of Balanced Rock
Balanced Rock is a unique natural phenomenon in southern Idaho and the surrounding park is one of the most fun and well set-up places to spend a summer day with the family. The park (called Balanced Rock Park) is located in the stunning Salmon Falls Creek Canyon which appears unexpectedly from the grassy farmlands surrounding Castelford, Idaho. Make sure to bring a GPS with you as if can be tricky to find the first time.
When you enter the canyon, you'll see spectacular cliff walls, a gently river, and plenty of playful little critters like marmots and squirrels. The welcome area of the park has barbecue grill set up and plenty of manicured lawns for a riverside picnic.
If you walk a little ways down, you'll see the famous Balanced Rock. The rock is a massive boulder shaped (somewhat) like a boomerang that's perched precariously on its end on top of another massive boulder. It seems like it's only attached my a very, very small thread. In the end, it's just a rock...very similar to others like it throughout the Southwest. What's nice, though, is the park itself. There are plenty of fun rock formations and little hidden nooks and caves that you can explore to your hearts content. The kids will love playing mountain man and explorer in that kind of environment (to be honest, some adults might feel that way too!). If you're passing through southern Idaho, a day at Balanced Rock should definitely be on your to-do list.
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