Lower Mesa Falls (Caribou-Targhee National Forest, Idaho, USA)

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Lower Mesa Falls

Closeup of Lower Mesa Falls

Lower Mesa Falls is an interesting (i.e. gushing when we saw it) 65ft waterfall on the Henry's Fork that is easily seen as a side excursion if you're going into Yellowstone National Park via its West Entrance by way of Idaho from Utah. Although the falls does look powerful, you only get a distant top-down view of the falls from the lookout point near the car park.

We didn't thoroughly check this, but from what we could tell during our visit, we couldn't find any official trail or pathway that took us closer to the waterfall for a better view. All that we found was a short paved walking path taking us to that distant top down view. Although the top down view from the lookout allowed you to see the falls in its entirety, I did wish we got to see the falls from closer to its base to at least get a better sense of the power that the Henry's Fork can produce when the geology wedges the river right over this waterfall with force.

Directions: You can find the well-signposted Lower Mesa Falls along the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway (Hwy 47; a detour off Hwy 20) between Ashton, Idaho and West Yellowstone, Montana. It's a worthwhile side trip especially if you're going into Yellowstone National Park from its west entrance (about some 40 miles to the north of the falls and not too far south of the turnoff for Upper Mesa Falls).

As you drive on the recently (at least when we were there) paved Hwy 47, look for a well-signed turnoff and car park for this waterfall about 14 miles east of Ashton or 40 miles south of West Yellowstone (which involves driving on both Hwy 20 and then Hwy 47).

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Contextual view of Lower Mesa Falls Contextual view of the impressive waterfall on the Henry's Fork

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