I return to the main path and walk another three-tenths of a mile. There was no easy route into the canyon from the first viewpoint, but here, a metal cable handrail plainly shows the way down. I follow the boulder-strewn path to the edge of the stream, which has been gaining momentum. Now I have no doubt this formerly well-hidden spot is the 11 th largest spring in North America, churning out 180,000 gallons per minute. And then I see the falls.
Disorientation sets in.
The froth and foam from the cascade has created a small piece of rainforest deep in the canyon, with gurgling streams playing harmony to the falls crashing melody. A patch of blue the color of the Gulf of Mexico glimmers at the falls base. I look from several angles and decide it is not. For with Box Canyon, the state and the Nature Conservancy have not only set aside one of the most pristine places in the West. They ve also assured that Box Canyon spring once destined for wholesale diversion into fish farms will continue to flow clean and mostly unfettered into the Snake River.