Idaho is mountains, rivers and very few people. The state runs from the Canadian border down the eastern edge of Oregon, with the Snake River cutting across the south and the jagged Sawtooth Range rising in the middle. It's one of the emptiest states in the Lower 48 — good for anyone who likes wilderness without fighting for parking.
The outdoor case is strong. Sun Valley has some of the best skiing in the American West and, in summer, world-class mountain biking. The Panhandle in the north has more than 2,000 lakes and heavy forest — Coeur d'Alene is the obvious base. The Salmon River drains the state's vast central wilderness, one of the largest roadless areas in the country and a classic multi-day river trip.
The towns are worth a stop rather than a destination. Boise, the capital, is leafy and surprisingly lively, with a Basque quarter left from 19th-century sheepherding immigration. Up in the Silver Valley, Wallace survives almost intact as a mining-era streetscape — it stood in for the doomed town in the 1997 film Dante's Peak. Further south, Pocatello and Twin Falls sit among the potato farms and lava fields of the high desert.
