A travel website named this sandy spot Idaho’s best state park. Do you agree?
Last week, travel website Lonely Planet published a list of “the best state parks in each state,” featuring everything from a ghost town in Montana to a lava rock canyon in Hawaii and a diamond mine in Arkansas.
So which of the Gem State’s 30 Idaho State Parks and Recreation-operated sites earned Lonely Planet’s accolades?
Bruneau Dunes State Park, about an hour’s drive from Boise, took the website’s title for best Idaho state park.
“Climb and dune-sled in Bruneau at this 470ft phenomenon, the tallest single-standing sandhill in North America,” Lonely Planet’s article says. “Camp or stay in a cabin overnight and take advantage of the observatory’s telescope collection and the pristine night sky.”
It’s not clear what criteria, if any, Lonely Planet used to create the list. The article simply states the parks are “our favorite 50 state parks in the USA.”
To be sure, Bruneau has plenty to offer — though the observatory Lonely Planet referenced is currently closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has also put a halt to the park’s sandboard rentals. Bruneau Dunes is still a great spot for stargazing (and a hopeful candidate to become a Dark Sky Park), camping, fishing or climbing the dunes.
But is it Idaho’s best? That’s hard to say. Idaho State Parks and Recreation manages 30 properties across the state, 24 of them state parks. (It also co-manages City of Rocks National Reserve in conjunction with the National Park Service.)
Those parks range from sandy Bruneau to beautiful blue Bear Lake on the Utah border, the former World War II-era naval training station at North Idaho’s Farragut State Park, forested Lake Cascade and Ponderosa parks and the Treasure Valley’s Lucky Peak and Eagle Island state parks.
We want to know which state park you think is the best. Share your opinion by voting in the poll below. To vote on more great Idaho parks, hiking trails, city parks and more, check out Idaho Statesman’s Best of Treasure Valley.
This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
