Traverse 25 carefully crafted backpacking trips to some of the most magnificent landscapes in Idaho.
A virtually undiscovered backpacking paradise, Idaho has numerous wilderness areas of vast size. Backpackers can find complete solitude, glimpse wildlife, and explore some of North America’s most amazing scenery. The state’s mountains boast great weather: fewer thunderstorms than the central Rockies, less rain than Oregon and Washington, and cooler summer temperatures than California.
Backpacking Idaho guides you to what author Doug Lorain calls a “Shangri-la” for backpackers. In the craggy Selkirk Mountains you’ll find lush forests, small cirque lakes, and jagged granite peaks. Watch for ospreys, river otters, and belted kingfishers near the swift Selway River. Explore hundreds of miles of trails in the gently rolling, forested hills of north-central Idaho, and head to Hell’s Canyon—the deepest gorge in North America—to find both alpine tundra and cactus-studded desert.
Inside you’ll find:
- 25 top backpacking trips throughout the state
- Comparative ratings for scenery, solitude, and difficulty
- Trail mileage, elevation gain, days on the trail, and shuttle distances
- Highlights, trip itineraries, and more
- 12 additional recommendations for backpacking trips
“As an Idaho native I’ve hiked and camped here all my life, but I took away from this book some great hikes that I want to do…. This is a really fine book.”
—Craig Gehrke, Regional Director, Idaho Office of the Wilderness Society
Circa l’autore
Douglas Lorain’s family moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1969 and he has been obsessively hitting the trails of his home region ever since. Over the years he calculates that he has logged well over 31, 000 trail miles in this corner of the country. Despite a history that includes being shot at by a hunter, bitten by a rattlesnake, trapped in quicksand, charged by grizzly bears (twice!), and donating countless gallons of blood to ‘invertebrate vampires, ‘ he happily sees no end in sight.
Lorain is a photographer and recipient of the National Outdoor Book Award. His books cover only the best from the thousands of hikes and backpacking trips he has taken throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, and elsewhere. His other guidebook titles include
Top Trails Olympic National Park, 100 Classic Hikes in Oregon, Backpacking Oregon, Backpacking Washington, Backpacking Wyoming, One Night Wilderness: Portland, One Best Hike: Mount Rainier’s Wonderland Trail, and
Afoot & Afield Portland/Vancouver.
Although he considers his real home to be on the trail, those days he is forced to stay indoors, he spends with his wife, Becky Lovejoy, and their Labrador retriever, Seabrook