Idaho

The state

Get to know Idaho

Idaho is in the northwest of the United States, between Oregon and the Rocky Mountains, and stretches from the southern lava desert to lakes and forests on the Canadian border. It is land of whitewater rivers, hot springs, roadless mountains and the potato, the state's best-known product. A narrow strip of Yellowstone Park lies within Idaho, on the border with Wyoming and Montana.

In the south, the Snake River cuts a canyon into the plain. Near Twin Falls, Shoshone Falls drops 65 meters—higher than Niagara—and Craters of the Moon is a national monument of lava fields, ash cones and lava-tube caves. On the border with Oregon, the same river carved Hells Canyon, considered the deepest river canyon in North America.

In the central region, Sun Valley, beside Ketchum, is one of the country's oldest ski resorts, where Ernest Hemingway spent his final years; in summer the area offers hiking and fishing. To the north, the Sawtooth Mountains form a wall of peaks above alpine lakes, with the village of Stanley at their base.

Boise, the capital, has a lively downtown, a park trail along the Boise River and one of the largest Basque communities in the United States, with a museum and the Basque quarter. In the north, Coeur d'Alene sits on the shore of a blue lake with boat excursions, and Lake Pend Oreille, near Sandpoint, is one of the deepest in the country.