Fall is near in the East Central section of Idaho. Leaves are turning color, giving the forest a more vibrant appearance, golden fields of wheat and hay are being harvested, and digging for Idaho’s famous potatoes has begun. Driving the Teton Scenic Byway and Mesa Falls Scenic Byway leads right into the heart of some of this spectacular scenery.
The 69-mile-long Teton Scenic Byway begins in Swan Valley on the Snake River and runs through the Targhee National Forest, where wildlife can be spotted around every corner and the forest shows off the beauty of the coming fall season. As the highway leaves the National Forest, it passes through the historic towns of Victor and Driggs, where mountaineers and fur trappers used to hold their annual gathering. As the highway winds through the rolling foothills of the range, to the east you can see the towering peaks of the Teton Mountains reaching as high as 13,000 feet.
The connection at the north end of the Teton Scenic Byway in Ashton is the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway. For 28 miles, the highway runs northeast through the vivid colors of the Targhee National Forest before ending just south of Island Park. Along the way are Lower and Upper Mesa Falls, two of the most impressive waterfalls in the West. These two falls are the only intact falls in Idaho for hydroelectric or irrigation projects. The lower falls are best viewed from the lookout point at Grand View Campground, where the Snake River squeezes into a narrow gorge that drops 65 feet. A few miles down the road is the Upper Falls, with a visitor center that has information on the history of the surrounding area. A developed path with a wooden boardwalk leads to the falls where the view shows the Snake River before the 114-foot drop, just a few feet from the drop itself which stretches some 200 feet wide. As the walkway climbs up the cliff, the view of all the falls is beyond spectacular.
There are times when driving to your desired destination can be just as rewarding as the destination itself. Driving US 26 along the southern end of the Snake River Mountain Range offers breathtaking beauty where the highway winds around cliff walls that run parallel to the Palisades Reservoir with the towering peaks of the Caribou Mountain Range as a backdrop. . As the highway crosses into Wyoming, it takes a more northerly route along the eastern cliff faces of the mountains that run parallel to the Snake River, creating a beautiful setting where wildlife thrives in abundance before reaching to the valley just east of the Teton Range. Coming back to Idaho from the Tetons is the Teton Pass, which is at the southern end of the Teton Range. The highway reaches an elevation of 8,431 feet from where you will have an excellent view of Jackson Hole and the surrounding valley.
A park with more than 300,000 acres located in a large valley with meadows and virgin forests, where there are no hills to obstruct the view of the mountains. A mountain range towering over pristine lakes, alpine terrain, the Snake River and home to extraordinary wildlife. A park where the John D Rockefeller Parkway runs through the eastern side of the park and ends at the southern section of Yellowstone National Park, making both parks easily accessible. This is Teton National Park, a wonder in itself.
Getting around Teton National Parks is fairly simple, where the Grand Loop Road is part of the Rockefeller Parkway, which runs past a large portion of Jackson Lake, and Teton Road, which crosses the Jackson Lake Dam and winds closer to the Teton Range. . with two other scenic highways branching off. Signal Mountain Road is a narrow, two-lane highway that winds up the mountain at 7,727 feet, where the view of Jackson Lake with the Teton Mountains as a backdrop provides a view to last a lifetime. Last but not least is the Jenny Lake Loop, this one-way road winds through lush dense forest past several lakes with hiking trails before running parallel to Jenny Lake.
For the kids in all of us, the Idaho Falls Zoo is a great side trip. The zoo’s selection of animals for our enjoyment is unique, with animals from Africa, Asia, Australia and North America. There is an area designated for a children’s zoo with a petting area and next to it is a breed of penguins that have adapted to hot and cold weather. Yellowstone Bear World, just south of Rexburg, not only has a petting area for children where black bear cubs can be bottle-fed, the park has a trail where wildlife roams free in its natural habitat. Actually, this is the only place that is guaranteed to see black bears, grizzly bears, moose, elk, and deer.