Idaho is one of the most sparsely populated states in the union, with fewer than 1.8 million residents living on about 83,500 square miles, or about 21 people per square mile. Much of the land is protected wilderness area, or held by the U.S. Forest Service. Here are a few glimpses of the landscape of Idaho and some of the wildlife and people calling it home.
This photo story is part of Fifty, a collection of images from each of the United States.
A man hikes with his dog in Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains. #
A winter scene in downtown Wallace, an old silver-mining town in the Idaho Panhandle. #
A farmer works in his field near Rexburg, Idaho, on April 17, 2015. #
A distant view of the capitol building in downtown Boise. The capital city is Idaho's most populous by far, with about 230,000 residents. #
Hagann Gittins, 11, of Idaho Falls kisses her horse as she attends a Rodeo Queen Clinic in Rigby, Idaho, on September 29, 2018. The aspiring rodeo queens spent the day learning tips about makeup, fashion, public speaking, horsemanship, and other lessons to help them achieve success. #
A night view of the Winter Wonderland celebration in Caldwell, Idaho #
A moose nibbles on branches in a residential neighborhood in Rathdrum, Idaho. #
A tent and hammock (lower right) sit among trees and islands in a lake in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area near Sun Valley. #
Surrounded by sheer and terraced canyon walls, Big Jacks Creek runs through Big Jacks Creek Wilderness in Owyhee County. #
The amateur botanist David Benscoter, of the Lost Apple Project, works in an orchard at an abandoned homestead near Genesee, Idaho, on October 23, 2019. Benscoter and fellow amateur botanist EJ Brandt recently learned that their work in the fall of 2019 has led to the rediscovery of 10 apple varieties in the Pacific Northwest that were planted by long-ago pioneers and thought extinct. #
A view of the Coeur d'Alene resort and marina, as seen from Lake Coeur d'Alene on August 12, 2016 #
Crowds of people enjoy the Coeur d'Alene street fair on August 1, 2015. #
A young man jumps into Lake Coeur d'Alene. #
An osprey flies with his catch above Idaho's Hayden Lake. #
A view of the Sawtooth Mountain area near Stanley, Idaho #
A farmer cuts hay in an alfalfa field near Blackfoot, Idaho, on July 1, 2013. #
Shoshone Falls, a 212-foot-high waterfall on the Snake River, near the city of Twin Falls, Idaho #
Racers make a final run to the finish at the Dirty Dash, a 5k mud run in Boise, Idaho, on August 11, 2013. #
Tom VandeWater stands at the railing of the Coolwater Fire Lookout and looks through his binoculars in the Nez Perce–Clearwater National Forests near Lowell, Idaho, on July 18, 2018. VandeWater, from Canton, New York, has staffed the lookout each summer for many years for the U.S. Forest Service. At left is the previous lookout structure, which dates to the 1930s. #
Wildflowers bloom on a hillside along Fourth of July Lake. #
Perrine Bridge spans the Snake River Canyon in Twin Falls, Idaho. #
A view of the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple, belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, seen across the Snake River in the city of Idaho Falls #
A winter view of Sun Valley #
A small group of wild horses in Idaho's Challis Herd Management Area, one of six wild-horse herd-management areas in Idaho, which encompass approximately 418,000 acres. #
A portrait of Patti Schwind, the recreation special uses permit administrator for the Salmon-Challis National Forest, taken at the 2016 Capitol Christmas Tree Tour event in Salmon, Idaho #
An early-morning view of the Spatter Cones Trail in Idaho's Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. The preserve, in central Idaho, was the site of several massive lava flows and eruptive events that took place thousands of years ago. #
Athletes swim during the first leg of Ironman Coeur d'Alene on June 28, 2015, in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. #
Spectators attend the Rod Benders Car Club annual June show, the Borders 3 Jamboree, in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, on June 4, 2016. #
A deer in velvet, photographed in Idaho's Payette National Forest #
A view of the small town of Stanley, beside the Salmon River, surrounded by the Sawtooth National Recreation Area #
The Bruneau River cuts deeply through dramatic Bruneau Canyon in southwestern Idaho. #
A view of stalls and visitors along the street in the downtown area during the Boise farmers' market weekend on May 5, 2018. #
A view of Idaho's Lake Pend Oreille, seen from Schweitzer Mountain Resort, near Sandpoint #
A dog jumps into a clear mountain lake in the Sawtooth mountains while smoke from a distant wildfire billows in the background. #
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