Black Magic Canyon
Black Magic Canyon is a natural canal in the Shoshone area of Idaho, which is a few miles due north of Twin Falls. The entire canyon is 10 miles (16.09 km) long and is a lot of scrambling over rocks and through narrow canal areas. This can be very difficult. You can hike along the rim of the canyon as well, but you really miss the beautiful carvings the water flows have created in the lava rock canyon.
CAUTION: During spring, summer, and fall the water does flow through this canyon and is very dangerous. You can call ahead to the canal company and see if the water will be flowing when you plan to visit.
Big Wood Canal Company
Office Hours: M-F 8am – 4:30pm
Office Phone: (208)886-2331
Challenges:
To enjoy the carved rock formations, you need to be down in the actual canyon. This means climbing over boulders, navigating narrow spots, sandy areas, look rock, and vegetation covered rocks. It can be easy to lose footing, and balance is important. Wear good shoes/boots and loosen up your ankles before you start.
The water can run from April 15th on into September. Be sure and call if you are planning to try to go during this time period. During the winter months, you can still call, but they post a sign stating the water will not be running during the winter months. You DO NOT want to get caught in the canyon if the water is released.
There are several areas you can enter the Black Magic Canyon. We elected the closest one. The further in you go, the rougher the road gets and the most off-road ready your vehicle will need to be. Right off highway 75, just past the Ice Caves entrance, you will be able to find the first access area. It is easy to get to in any vehicle, and it has parking and an information station where you can read all about the canyon.
A paved trail leads you most of the way to the canyon, but once you walk down into the initial sand bed of the canal/canyon, you can go right or left. We went right since it was only a short distance to the road and would be easy to know when to turn back.
Honestly, there isn’t a lot to look at if you go right. The more impressive rock formations are to the left, but it is still a fun little area to walk through and if you have a spare 15 minutes there’s no harm in checking it out.
After visiting the area to the right, we made our way back and then continued down the left corridor of the canyon. This way is much more like a canyon in places and provides views of incredible formations of rocks. Several areas are filled with smoothed stones of various shapes and sizes that are also fun to examine.
In a few areas you’ll even find bowls carved out of the stone which are filled with these smaller smooth stones. My wife aptly commented, “real stone soup.”
The hiking in this area is fun, but can be a little challenging. At one point there was a log placed to allow you to scale up over a large depression carved out of the area by the water flows. If you are not used to bouldering or rock climbing, then you’ll probably find you are using new muscles through these areas. Fair warning for the next day, when you might be a little sore, depending on how far you hike.
If you are taking a DSLR camera down into the canyon, I’d recommend taking a good and simple way to store your camera during some of these spots that are a little more difficult and/or narrow.
Also, I’d recommend a wide angle lens for the rock formations.
However, there are also a lot of birds of prey throughout the canyon and there are some great opportunities to get some great wildlife shots if you also pack a lens that can get good shots from a distance. My 70-200 was okay for this, but it would have been nice to have been able to get a little more zoom when I was trying to get shots of this very elusive owl.
I had several shots, but this was the best and is cropped. So many were a little blurry from handshake since I was usually awkwardly standing on uneven ground and was a little winded from navigating the canyon. This magnificent creature flew off 3 times before I was able to finally see him before he escaped and was able to get some shots.
There was also a falcon, which might have been a peregrine, but I’m not sure. It flew over head and even took a second to glare at me for being in its area before flying on to hunt.
The area is gorgeous and a blast to explore. Our next visit we’ll cover another section and see what we can find.
