How to Pack a Chevrolet Traverse for a Day at Centennial Waterfront Park

The 2026 Chevrolet Traverse gives you 22.9 cubic feet behind the third row with every seat full, enough to stage a properly loaded family day at Centennial Waterfront Park without a single trip back to the car once you’re down in the canyon. Pack by zone, not by pile.

The park sits at the bottom of Canyon Springs Road in the Snake River Canyon. Getting there is half the fun. Getting home without a sunburned, hungry, bored crew is a matter of loading the right stuff before you leave the driveway.

What’s the Plan at a Glance?

The Park Is More Than One Stop

Centennial Waterfront Park spans over 11 acres along the Snake River Canyon floor, and though it’s tempting to treat everything here as a single destination, the place really breaks into four separate zones, each with its own gear list, from the roadside cascade to the boat launch. There’s the waterfall cascade you pass on the way down Canyon Springs Grade (worth a five-minute stop), Mogensen Trail starting just before the park gate, the main pavilion and playground area, and the motorized and non-motorized boat launch for kayaks and SUPs. Four distinct zones, each with its own gear requirements.

The Traverse handles all four. With Chevrolet’s Smart Sense liftgate you can walk up hands-full and the tailgate opens on its own (a real thing when you’re juggling a cooler and a trail bag on a steep canyon road).

Browse our current Traverse inventory if you haven’t settled on a trim yet. The LT gives you the full cargo layout. If the switchback road gives you pause in other seasons, the Z71 adds AWD standard.

Mogensen Trail Earns Its Own Bag

Mogensen Trail is short but legitimate, starting from a small pull-out just before the park gate and winding through canyon greenery past small waterfalls, a shaded escape from the high-desert heat that Twin Falls can push into the 90s on an August afternoon. Keep a dedicated trail bag in the Traverse’s left cargo corner, loaded with water bottles, sunscreen, a light layer for the shaded stretches, and sturdy shoes for anyone getting out of sandals. That bag stays in the car when you’re at the pavilion and comes out only for the hike.

The Traverse’s tri-zone automatic climate control (standard on every 2026 trim, per Chevrolet) means the cabin stays cool while the gear sits in the car. Nobody comes back to a blast of hot air and a warm water bottle.

Talk to our finance team if you’re still weighing whether to buy or trade before the summer’s out.

Canyon Springs Grade and the Drive Down

The road into the park is an experience before the experience, since Canyon Springs Grade drops you into the Snake River Canyon with basalt walls rising on either side, smooth and well-maintained but steep and winding the whole way down. The Traverse’s 328-horsepower turbocharged engine makes the climb back out a non-event. We tell families who ask about this route that you won’t feel the load on the way up.

The paved lot at the canyon floor holds a modest number of vehicles. Arrive before 9 a.m. on a summer weekend and parking is easy. Arrive at noon and you’re competing for spots. Summer hours run 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., so an early start rewards you twice, with good parking and Mogensen Trail in the shade.

The Traverse Makes the Load Work

Our read on this vehicle for a day like this comes down to fit, and the Traverse is genuinely good at “lots of people and lots of gear,” though it isn’t the right call if you want a compact rig that threads tight campsite roads. For a day like Centennial Waterfront Park (a family of five or six, a cooler, trail bags, water toys, and a stroller parked under the pavilion), the cargo math works cleanly.

Chevrolet lists 22.9 cubic feet behind the third row with all eight seats in use. Fold the second row down and that opens to 56.6 cubic feet. You won’t need to fold anything for a day trip unless you’re bringing a full-size kayak (in which case the roof rails and a carrier are your friends). The six USB ports distributed across all three rows keep everyone charged for the drive home when the arguments about who’s crankiest start. And the 120-volt power outlet handles whatever portable speaker or device the group wants to run at the pavilion.

We’ll be straight about the tradeoff. The Traverse is a big vehicle. The park’s lot is not. If you’ve got the High Country with 22-inch wheels, take the turns on Canyon Springs Grade slowly. The vehicle handles it without complaint. Just don’t rush the switchback.

The Equinox works if your group is smaller and the gear list is lighter. But for a full family haul (cooler, trail bags, floats, three rows of kids), the Traverse is the right size.

Pack This, Leave That

A practical load for a full Centennial Waterfront Park day in the 2026 Traverse looks like this.

In the cargo area (behind row 3):

• Hard-sided cooler with ice, drinks, and lunch
• Waterproof bag with towels and a change of clothes per kid
• Folding camp chairs (two to three; the pavilion tables have benches but chairs beat gravel)

In a dedicated trail bag (left cargo corner, easy to grab):

• Water bottles per person
• Sunscreen and bug spray (useful especially in early-to-mid summer)
• Closed-toe shoes for Mogensen Trail
• A small first-aid kit

In the second-row seat pockets:

• Snacks for the drive
• Phone chargers (six USB ports standard; no hunting for an adapter)

Leave at home:

• A full-size kayak on a trailer unless you’ve confirmed the launch area has room. The ramp handles motorized and non-motorized craft, but summer weekends fill it.
• A packed third-row seat. If you’ve got five people, leave one second-row captain’s chair fully open and use it for gear. You’ll thank yourself when you’re loading wet towels at 5 p.m.

The best day at Centennial Waterfront Park starts about 90 seconds before you leave the driveway, with the liftgate up, gear in zones, and everybody knowing where their water is. The Traverse handles the rest of the day.

By the Twin Falls Chevrolet Team | August 2026