Perrine Bridge BASE Jump Viewing Area
US-93 over the Snake River Canyon
Twin Falls, ID
A quarter-mile of steel arching nearly 500 feet over the Snake River Canyon, and the one bridge in America you can legally leap off of, year round, no permit required.
The Perrine Bridge is Twin Falls' great leap of engineering and, for a certain kind of visitor, of nerve. Its steel arch carries the highway a quarter mile across the Snake River Canyon, with the deck poised nearly 500 feet above the river, and pedestrian walkways let anyone stroll out to look straight down into the gorge.
What makes it famous, though, is that it is the only bridge in the United States open to BASE jumping year round, without a permit. On almost any decent-weather day you can watch parachutists step off the edge and drop toward the canyon floor, an ongoing free show above one of the most dramatic canyons in the Northwest.
What Guests Love
- Standing on the bridge walkway peering nearly 500 feet straight down into the Snake River Canyon
- Watching BASE jumpers step off the deck and parachute to the canyon floor, often several a day
- Seeing the dirt ramp where Evel Knievel launched his failed 1974 canyon jump, still visible to the east
- The canyon-rim trail with its long views up and down the gorge
Worth Knowing
- BASE jumping here is for trained, experienced jumpers only, not a casual activity, so most visitors come to watch
- The bridge has pedestrian walkways, but it is high and can be windy, so hold onto hats and children
- The visitor center at the south rim is the best place to park, get views, and pick up the rim trail
- There is no fee to walk the bridge or the rim, and it is open year round
Details
Twin Falls, ID
Learn about Perrine Bridge BASE Jump Viewing Area
The canyon and the bridge
The Snake River Canyon here is a deep gash cut into the volcanic Snake River Plain by the river and, long ago, by the catastrophic Ice Age Bonneville Flood, which tore through this country and scoured the canyon walls. Springs still pour from the basalt cliffs downstream.
The bridge that spans it is a truss arch, its roadway held high above the river, replacing an earlier crossing and giving Twin Falls its signature view. The walkways along its sides put the full depth of the canyon right under your feet.
BASE jumping and Evel Knievel
For BASE jumpers, the Perrine is legendary precisely because it is legal and always open, no permit or lottery required, which draws jumpers from around the world to train and film here. From the rim you can watch them commit to the drop and open their canopies against the canyon walls.
Just east of the bridge, along the south rim, sits the earthen ramp from which the daredevil Evel Knievel attempted to rocket across the canyon on a steam-powered skycycle in 1974. The jump failed, but the ramp remains, a monument to one of the era's boldest stunts.
The rim and its wildlife
The paved canyon-rim trail from the visitor center offers long views over the gorge and the river far below, where you may spot waterfowl, herons, and raptors riding the updrafts along the cliffs.
The Snake River Canyon corridor is a green ribbon through otherwise dry farm country, and golf courses, springs, and trails string along its edges near town.
When to visit
The bridge and rim are open all year, and there is always something to see, but spring through fall brings the most BASE-jumping activity and the most comfortable weather on the exposed rim.
Come on a clear, calm day for the best views and the most jumpers, and pair it with nearby Shoshone Falls when the river is running high.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Twin Falls
Shoshone Falls
About 5 miles east
The Niagara of the West, a Snake River waterfall taller than Niagara, thundering in spring and early summer.
Perrine Coulee Waterfall
About 1 mile west
A tall canyon-rim waterfall you can walk directly behind, on a short trail below the rim.
Twin Falls
Just south
The hub city of the Magic Valley, with the canyon-rim trail, restaurants, and the springs and falls of the Snake River nearby.