Idaho exuberance

Tough and full of adventure, the Gem State shines with the essence of the West

It's way out in the misty West, an earthy place on the map, where nature rules with the irresistible lure of lakes, streams and challenging wild rivers that slice through a sprawling domain of steep-sided mountains and expansive forests.

An RV journey to Idaho brings out a sense of the Western frontier and reveals a land that seems to be free of tension, with a small-town vitality of smiles, handshakes and back-fence gossip. The state has long inspired intrepid, free-spirited adventurers such as Lewis and Clark, rag-tag mountain men, settlers in search of a new life and anxious prospectors digging for elusive gold nuggets.

My great-grandmother Casey, then a little girl, traveled across the prairies on wagons during the Civil War, along the old Oregon Trail, and settled in Mountain Home, a farm town 40 miles southeast of Boise. She was tough and full of adventure, the essence of an Idahoan. She served steamy biscuits and gravy seven days a week, breakfast, lunch and dinner, preceded by a five-minute prayer.

Dee Corbus, my 89year-old aunt, also a Mountain Home resident, recently retired after routinely farming 60 acres of potatoes and other crops most of her adult life. Idaho is that kind of place.

Today, Idaho remains pristine and strong and wonderfully innocent while propelling beyond the new millennium on the swirling drapery of a diverse landscape that will flip your camera into action and gobble up film like it was popcorn. Idaho has three acres of protected wilderness for every resident and is like a great outback. After all, it didn't join the union until 1890 and 30 years later was still thought of as the home of fur trappers and marauding Indians.

RVers can explore a whopping 16 national forests and 22 state parks, most with RV hookups. Bring a mountain bike or strap on your hiking shoes and experience 17,000 miles of single-track trails that wind through a maze of mind-boggling ecosystems.

A famed Idaho icon is 3,250 miles of white water, more than any other state. Rivers have exotic names, such as the Snake and The River of No Return. Not to be outdone, the celebrated Salmon River system is the longest free-flowing river system in North America and where the river toys with wide-eyed rafters, who hang on to their hats with one hand, and their hearts with the other.

Those who fish can spend a lifetime casting lines into 2,000 lakes, of which more than 300 are alpine beauties tucked away in the high country. With all this water, including 82,000 miles of rivers, it's not hard to understand why 90 percent of the country's store and restaurant trout are Idaho-grown.

IMPROVISING IN SOUTHWESTERN IDAHO

RVers can pop into Boise in southwestern Idaho, one of North America's most charming capital cities, and enjoy the pretty Boise River. Clean and snow-chilled, the river winds through the heart of the city, is the showplace of the community and the centerpiece of a splendid 10-mile, tree-lined greenbelt designed for strollers, bicycles and joggers. The greenbelt, a thoughtful wooden preserve of cottonwoods, elms and maple trees, connects to eight major parks, a golf course, art galleries, campgrounds, picnic areas, the zoo and downtown.

Located on the edge of town at the end of Warm Springs Avenue, an unlikely attraction is the Old Idaho Penitentiary. Known in these parts as the "Old Pen," the sandstone buildings and walls, ominous watchtower and a strangely out-ofplace rose garden, is like stepping into a Civil War bunker or the days of Billy the Kid.

A fitting cap to Boise is a visit to the remote Snake River Canyon and the Snake River Birds of Prey Area, off State Highway 69. Here in the 482,640 acres, along 80 miles of riverfront, live one of the world's largest concentrations of nesting hawks, falcons, eagles and owls. Outfitters, guides and naturalists offer float trips from Hammett to Melba. Individual field glasses for everyone in your party is a must, as is a long lens for your camera.

Interstate 84 spans southern Idaho, but driving north from Boise, pull off I-84, and experience the essence of Idaho and an Americana flavor that is rapidly vanishing. Drive scenic State Routes 16 and 30, to Eagle, Emmett, New Plymouth, Fruitland, Payette and Weiser, past fields of fruit trees and farm spreads with barns begging to be photographed. Farmers harvest the famed and indefatigable potato and the sweetest corn on the cob in the West. Homey roadside cafes serve chicken-fried steak and chilled rhubarb pie, tart and tasty. A treat for the kids is the Idaho Spud Bar. The candy bar is shaped like a spud, melts in your mouth and seems to be found only in Idaho. You have to try at least one Spud Bar before departing Idaho.

In Emmett, you'll discover the Gem County Historical Museum; New Plymouth has some of the oldest waterwheels in the country and Payette is proud of its city museum that recognizes World War II veterans and displays many rare and unusual aviation and wartime artifacts.

Weiser, my hometown, 70 miles north of Boise, on the banks of the Weiser and Snake rivers, population 5,200, hosts one of the nation's most prestigious musical happenings, June 19th through the 24th. Park your rig at the High School Football Field Campground, the Pioneer School Campground (fresh water and dumpsites), or one of the three other RV parks in the area, and swing into the 48th Annual National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest and Festival.

Fiddlers will rock your rig with spontaneous sessions in the RV parks. A fiddler will pull out a camp chair, plop it down in front of his RV and begin showing off his chops. Soon others join in, and this is the place you want to be, in Idaho, parked on the Weiser Wolverines football field, listening to wonderful talent that is as Americana as it gets.

Fiddlers come from all parts of the United States; 350 talented contestants, ranging from children to seniors, all competing for top honors, play with enough zest to keep you happy all the way to the Canadian border. The trouble-free festival is complete with shuttle buses to carry you around town to the arts and crafts booths, food stalls and musical happenings.

North three hours, on U.S. 95 and State Route 71, on a narrow but suitable road for RVs and trailers, is the Payette National Forest and the south entrance of Hells Canyon and the 70-mile-long Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. Book in at the Copperfield and Hells Canyon Park, a state-of the-art RV park in a setting you won't forget.

Hells Canyon, 9,300 feet deep in some places, is the deepest gorge in North America, framed by the Seven Devils mountain range that towers more than one and a half miles high. You can hop on a jet boat or raft and see 3,000-year-old petroglyphs, remote beaches, bird life and humbling scenery.

Retracing to Cambridge, you can drive a glorious loop north to New Meadows and along the Payette Lakes to McCall and south on State Route 55 and the Payette River Scenic Byway to Boise and the Sawtooth Wilderness Area.

Before leaving Boise, I eagerly searched out my old family home in a tree-lined neighborhood near downtown.

Thomas Wolfe wrote, "You can't go home again," but I did. After 40 years, I drove my rig to my late aunt's home, where she had lived for 45 years and I had spent summers as a boy My heart pounded as I stared at the turn-of the-century, three-story frame house with the little gate and classic front porch. Feisty squirrels scampered up and down the trees, distant relatives of old buddies who once nibbled breadcrumbs from my hand.

The owner, who had never heard of my aunt, invited me in. Though it is a large house, everything seemed smaller, even the kitchen and windows. Memories of fragrant chicken dinners, a crystal bowl always brimming with shiny apples and a staircase bannister, perfectly designed for a two-story slide when heads where turned, buzzed in my memory.

The house, which had been meticulously restored, was for sale and waiting for a lucky family. But echoes of bygone voices and footsteps remained. You can go home again.

WHEN YOU Go

For information, contact the Idaho Travel Council at (800) 714-3246, or stop at any visifor information center or chamber of commerce; Web site: www.visitid.org. CIRCLE 210 ON READER SERVICE CARD.

Mountain Home Chamber of Commerce, (208) 587-4334; Weiser Chamber of Commerce, (208) 5490452. Call (800) 437-1280 for The National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest and Festival; Web site: www.fiddlecontest.com.

For RV parks information in the Hells Canyon National Recreational Area, call the Idaho Power Company at (800) 422-3143; Web site: www.idahopower.com.

Rocky Mountain River Tours offers wilderness rafting trips on the River of No Return, (208) 345-2400; Web site: www.rafttrips.com.

Copyright T L Enterprises, Inc. Apr 2000
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