We will be driving back from Polson, Montana to Colorado early September. On the way there we will spend a few nights in Ennis, Montana for fishing and hiking. Thought we'd like to take a different route home. We have been to Yellowstone a couple of times, Targhee and Jackson, Wyoming. So, we were thinking of maybe eastern Idaho, we have been to Idaho years ago but not the eastern side. Any suggestions of pretty areas with hiking and maybe fishing. Any thing near Rigby?

My husband and his cousins go fishing for a week every year along the Snake River in Eastern Idaho. Basically, Hwy. 26 between the Palisades Reservoir outflow and Ririe. They stay at the Hanson Guest Ranch in Swan Valley.

https://www.hansenguestranch.com/index.html

Hi, Tidy, I’m not sure where you call home. But I thought I’d say that Montana/Idaho were not taking Covid seriously at all when I passed through in June. You might want to take that into account if you’re cautious—maybe pick less popular spots to stop/hike/fish. Bit worrisome. I’d planned to stop along the Snake today to swim but the boat areas and beaches were packed, so I’d assume the situation has just gotten worse.

While in eastern Idaho, a curiosity to be visited:

https://flic.kr/p/JyQ4f6
Johnny Sack Cabin, Big Springs, Island Park

My neighbor had planned a trip to Idaho with two other women friends. The friend who went to check out the location ahead of time, emailed the other two women and said No way, the Covid response here is not a good situation. We're cancelling. And they did. Cancelled flights and lodgings.

FWIW, my husband and his cousins also cancelled their annual fishing trip to Idaho, but they are all over 65 and one has underlying medical conditions so the decision was a no-brainer for them.

FWIW #2, top of the page at Idaho's Covid website is this: "One Idaho. Take the Pledge to Keep Idaho Open." I guess one can interpret that in different ways....

FWIW #3, you can see transmission numbers by county on the NYT website. Hover over the state map for individual county numbers.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...rus-cases.html

Take the transmission numbers with a grain of salt, though. If Covid is as contagious as people say, it must be spreading like wild fire in the Idaho communities down south. Boise is the only place I felt remotely comfortable, but even that had a lot of people not following any sort of guidelines. Low rural numbers could mean low transmission, but I’d bet it means very low testing.

The entire southwest corner of the state, Boise and suburbs, is the hot spot in the state. Yes, rural numbers may be misleading, but if hiking and fishing are the reasons for heading to eastern Idaho, I think it would be fairly easy to avoid contact with many people. The only way to eliminate all contact is to stay home.