Chevrolet Trailblazer ACTIV vs. Equinox ACTIV for Southern Idaho Adventures
Before we map the route, we’ll settle the pick. If you’re hauling four people and a cooler through Craters of the Moon and back, you want the Equinox ACTIV. If you’re two people with day packs who want to park at the canyon rim and poke around a rough lava-rock pull-off, the Trailblazer ACTIV is lighter, higher off the ground, and has the skid plate to prove it. Both are excellent on the pavement linking these stops. The difference shows up at the edges.
Our route covers three places most Twin Falls weekends are built around anyway: the Snake River Canyon rim, Shoshone Falls, and (if you’ve got the drive in you) Craters of the Moon. We’ll map the full day, tell you where each crossover earns its keep, and give you a gear checklist to take with you.
What’s the Route?
The loop runs roughly northwest out of Twin Falls, hits the canyon and the falls first (both close to town), then pushes northeast on US-93 and picks up Highway 26 toward Arco. Total driving comes to 230-plus miles round trip if you go all the way to Craters. If the monument is a bridge too far for one day, the first two stops alone make a solid half-day.
| Stop | Drive Time from Previous Stop | What to Do | Key Gear |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snake River Canyon Rim (Perrine Bridge area) | Starting point, Twin Falls | Walk the rim trail, watch BASE jumpers, canyon views | Water, sunscreen, camera |
| Shoshone Falls Park | 10 min from canyon rim | Waterfall viewpoint, picnic, short trail to lower platform | Day-use fee (paid at gate), sturdy shoes |
| Craters of the Moon National Monument | ~2 hrs northeast on Hwy 26 | 7-mile loop drive, lava tube caves, cinder cone hike | Closed-toe shoes, headlamp for caves, extra water |
The Stops (And Which Crossover Belongs There)
Stop 1: Snake River Canyon Rim and Perrine Bridge
The Trailblazer ACTIV lands at the canyon rim without a second thought. Its rim parking lots are paved and level, flat urban-adjacent terrain where both crossovers are completely at home. The difference here is how you feel stepping out. The Trailblazer is narrower and shorter overall, so it slips into the gravel pull-offs along the rim trail with room to spare on both sides. Small detail. It’s real next to a lifted pickup.
The 1.3-liter turbo three-cylinder puts out 155 horsepower and 174 lb-ft of torque. Those numbers sound modest, but the 9-speed automatic keeps the engine in its band on the canyon road descent from the plateau, where a CVT can hunt a bit under engine braking. We notice that on Twin Falls terrain, where the drop from the rim to Addison Avenue is steep and quick.
Stop 2: Shoshone Falls Park
A paved road leads straight to the parking area, so either vehicle parks here without drama, and the Equinox ACTIV starts to make sense at this stop if you’re feeding a family. Chevrolet lists the Equinox ACTIV at 29.8 cubic feet of cargo behind the rear seats and 63.5 cubic feet with them folded. A family-sized cooler, a stroller, and four people’s gear fits without stacking bags on laps. The Trailblazer ACTIV gives you 25.3 cubic feet seats-up and 54.4 seats-folded. The gap is about 9 cubic feet behind the rear row, the difference between “comfortable” and “we’ll figure it out.”
The Equinox also pulls its weight on the return leg from Shoshone Falls back into town. Its 1.5-liter turbo four-cylinder makes 175 horsepower and, with AWD, 203 lb-ft of torque through an 8-speed automatic. It hauls a real load without feeling strained on the grade back up US-93.
One tradeoff is worth naming plainly. The Equinox ACTIV’s adventure look is partly cosmetic. It rides on all-terrain tires, but Chevrolet did not give it a skid plate or add ground clearance over the standard LT. The ACTIV sits at 8.05 inches of clearance. Enough for the rutted dirt bypass near the falls viewpoint, not enough for the boulder-strewn two-track you might eyeball on the way out. Know the difference before you push it.
Stop 3: Craters of the Moon National Monument
Craters is where the Trailblazer ACTIV earns the “ACTIV” badge. The seven-mile loop road inside the monument is paved, but the pull-offs at the lava tube cave entrances are rough volcanic gravel, and some of the spur routes to trailheads are rutted hardpack. Chevrolet built the Trailblazer ACTIV with off-road suspension tuning, a functional skid plate, and 8 inches of ground clearance with AWD (versus 8.05 for the Equinox ACTIV, essentially the same number), but the skid plate is the part that matters. If you scrape the approach to Indian Tunnel’s parking pull-off, you want aluminum protection underneath, not bare plastic.
The Trailblazer ACTIV AWD returns an EPA-rated 26 city / 29 highway on the 1.3-liter turbo, and the roughly 100-mile each-way push on US-93 and Highway 26 is almost entirely highway. Meaningful range for a tank that runs regular unleaded. Both will make the Craters run without an extra stop for fuel if you top off in Twin Falls, and the Equinox ACTIV AWD is rated 25 city / 29 highway by the EPA. The highway numbers are a wash.
A flat-folding front passenger seat in the Trailblazer also opens up to 8.5 feet of interior load length, which is useful if you’re hauling photography gear, long poles, or folding camp chairs for stargazing. Craters of the Moon is designated an International Dark Sky Park, and the monument’s lava fields are worth staying through sunset for.
- [ ] Water (at least two liters per person; no water at Craters trailheads)
- [ ] Headlamp with fresh batteries (for lava tube caves)
- [ ] Closed-toe shoes (sharp lava rock on every trail)
- [ ] Sunscreen and a hat (zero shade on the lava at midday)
- [ ] Day-use fee for Shoshone Falls (small fee, paid at gate, cash or card)
- [ ] Full tank of gas before leaving Twin Falls
- [ ] Snacks and lunch (no food service at Craters; limited options near the monument)
- [ ] A light jacket (cave interiors stay cold year-round)
Tweak It to Your Crew
For a solo trip or a couple with day packs, the Trailblazer ACTIV is the practical call, smaller and more nimble on the rim pull-offs and lava-field spur roads, with hardware under it (skid plate, suspension tuning, all-terrain tires) that does real work. Three adults or a family with gear? The Equinox ACTIV‘s extra cargo room and extra torque tip the balance. It’s genuinely more comfortable on a long haul, and 63.5 cubic feet of cargo space is hard to argue with on a day where everyone’s bringing a bag.
If your crew runs larger and you want a third row for longer Magic Valley road trips, browse our current new vehicle inventory to see what else we have on the lot. Both ACTIV crossovers live in a specific sweet spot, serious enough for the unpaved edges of a southern Idaho adventure, comfortable enough that nobody’s counting down the miles home.
Come talk to us. We’ll put you in the right one for your actual Saturday.
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