Idaho offers high-quality recreation trips in secluded alpine mountain and high desert settings. We have 3,200 miles of whitewater rivers - the most in the lower 48 states. Celebrities and tourists flock to the whitewater rapids of the Salmon, Selway, and Snake rivers every summer for a fun-filled wilderness vacation. Idaho has some of the best blue-ribbon trout fishing in the nation, not to mention the chance to catch ocean-going steelhead and chinook salmon. Hunters can pursue all of the most prized wildlife species in the West, including Rocky Mountain elk, mule deer and white-tailed deer, moose, mountain lion, black bear, antelope, wild turkey, chukar partridge, and forest grouse. The best kept secret about Idaho is that we offer all of the great mountain adventures without the crowds. A few other tidbits that you may not know about Idaho:
•We have the deepest canyon in North America - over 7,000 feet in Hells Canyon of the Snake River in western Idaho
•We have the longest free-flowing river in the lower 48, the Salmon River, 475 miles of free-flowing fun.
•We have a ton of public land - 20 million acres of national forest land, and 12.5 million acres of BLM land - where public access is guaranteed.
•We have the largest federally protected forest wilderness in the lower 48 states, the 2.4-million-acre Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. Now there's a place where you can find peace and quiet at a high mountain lake or a secret camp. The Frank Church Wilderness is part of an even larger wilderness ecosystem, considering that the 1.2-million-acre Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness lies directly to the north, and the 200,464-acre Gospel Hump Wilderness lies directly to the west. All told, it adds up to 3.8 million acres of official wilderness in central Idaho. About IOGA:
An outfitter is someone who offers guided trips for compensation. To operate legally in Idaho, outfitters must be licensed with the state Outfitters and Guides Licensing Board. A guide is an outfitter’s employee. Guides must be certified in first aid. They must train with a licensed outfitter, and they must be licensed with the state board. Idaho was one of the first states in the West to license and bond outfitters and guides. The state established requirements in 1954, a decade before the Forest Service began similar regulation. Not until the 1980s did Montana, Wyoming and Colorado follow Idaho’s example. IOGA members continue to be standard-setters for the industry. They are licensed and bonded and must meet high standards of safety and professionalism. They are committed to serving their clients while also conserving Idaho’s land, water, and wildlife.
