I will be in Coeur D'Alene for work so I thought I would arrive a few days early to explore the state as much as possible since I've never been to that part of the country before. We will have 4 days. One of those days we would like to do a white water trip.

I need help planning a realistic itinerary that would allow us to see as much as possible. We will be starting this trip in Spokane on a Wed and will have till Sun late morning to return back to Spokane.

Also, any recommendations for a good company to raft with would be very helpful.

Thank you! It is so hard to find good travel info on Idaho. I used this board extensively for a trip to Maui and found it so helpful.

Hi Sid, I hope some Idaho experts will answer you. My husband and I travelled to Coeur d'Alene, Boise (which is a very cool town), and then over to Sun Valley, Salmon and Stanley. If you only have four days you might not be able to get to Stanley but it had several good rafting and hiking options. We are going back in 2006 to stay at the Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch. I have to say, Idaho is gorgeous and you can still find real wilderness. Oh, and the Coeur D'Alene Resort is very nice with excellent restaurants! Enjoy your visit.

We drove last summer from Coeur d'Alene down through the Salmon River valley to Ketchum. It was one of the most beautiful drives we've taken in the US and we were sorry we didn't have more time.

With 4 days, I think you could explore this area well. Can't help with white water trips, but seems like you might be able to fit it in.

We used the Idaho tourist agency for lodging assistance (since we hadn't booked anything in advance) and found them very helpful. You can look here:
http://www.visitidaho.org

or google for more info. I think you'll find plenty of info.

Thank you both for your replies. If I may ask.... How long did it take you on your respective drives? What I'd love to do is to drive to Boise, then over to Idaho Falls, yellowstone, up to Missoula. We can raft west of Missoula on our last day "on the road" and then had back to Coeur d'Alene Sunday am. But I just don't think we can do all that. Is it insane to try?

Therefore, what I am thinking is this:

Wed: Spokane to Boise, exploring West ID on the way.

Thurs: Leave Boise, drive a bit south and then start to work our way up through the center of the state. Through Hailey, Ketchum, Stanley, Salmon. Hopefully get as far as Missoula that night.

Friday: Explore some of the parks in that area and return to Missoula or Superior (where our one day raft trip on Sat departs).

Sat: White water raft, return to Coeur D'Alene to spend night. Sunday, explore CDA.

We are pretty much road warriors and don't mind spending time in the car, but also like to get out and explore/hike. Is this 4 day trip feasible, in your opinion?

I don't really feel qualified to answer, Sid, but I can tell you what we did, and that we did not have enough time.

We drove from Coeur d'Alene to Missoula and then down to Ketchum in one long day. We stopped to photograph, but not to hike, and were very regretful that the prettiest part of the drive was so late in the day into evening. So maybe Boise to Missoula will be an ok day.

I haven't seen much of the rest of Idaho, so I can only tell you that the area from Ketchum up through Stanley, the Sawtooth Mountains, the Salmon River Valley, are just gorgeous. Maybe you can plan an itinerary, then sort of play it by ear and stay longer somewhere if you want to.

Sid, we did Missoula and the area around it last year. Separate trip and glad of it. It would have been way too much to try to do Missoula and Idaho. I think your plans will leave you far too little time to enjoy the area. If I were in your shoes I would narrow my targets a bit and allow yourself time to explore.

Our Idaho trip: We started in Coeur D'Alene. Flew to Boise. Drove from Boise to Salmon in one day. Stayed there two nights in a cool little bed and breakfast right on the main road before you get into town. I cannot recall the name but it is a grey Victorian with a separate cottage rented as the b and b. You cannot miss it. From there we drove to Big Hole, MT, which is spectacular, and Bannock, MT, some Lewis and Clark sites. Then we drove back to Stanley and stayed one night on the river. Fabulous...which is why we are going back to spend a week there in 2006. From there we drove to Sun Valley for one night and then to Boise for one night before our flight. I am sorry I just don't remember our driving times, but one thing we both decided was we wanted to be out of the car alot more than we wanted to be in it. This is gorgeous country and I think there is enough to do around Salmon and Stanley(including several rafting options) that you don't need to try and fit Yellowstone and Missoula into this same trip. Frankly each of them deserves their own trip.

I know nothing about Idaho. But here's a website I like for scenic byways throughout the country.

www.byways.org

Thank you for your posts. They have been extrememly helpful. cmcfong, I appreciate your recap of your trip. Very helpful. When planning trips, I always seemed to be faced with this dilemma. Do I try to go to as many places as possible and not spend a lot of time at each (knowing I may be cheating myself out of some interesting experiences) or do I take my time at each place and fully experience it(knowing that I'm cheating myself out of seeing other places I may never get back to)?

I'm not sure there is a good answer for that. It's a lose, lose. But thank you for your ideas. I think we are going to play it by ear w/o a strict agenda. Just see how it goes and see what pace we feel like moving at.

And Dusty! Thank you so much for the byways website. That has been so helpful and has helped me figure out exactly how we want to map out these drives.

I'm very excited and appreciate all the suggestions you all have given! Keep them coming.

Sid, here is the free service we used for booking hotels last minute. (We were there in the summer and it was pretty crowded.) If you know about where you want to spend the night, you can call InIdaho at 800-844-3246. They were very helpful, told us what was available in the area, had firsthand knowledge of what the properties were like, and made the res for us. You can also check their website www.InIdaho.com.