No matter which way you enter Salmon, you are following a national scenic byway!

Check out the new video about the 3 amazing byways that intersect in the Center of the State of Idaho!

Sacajawea Legacy: A Family Journey in Idaho
Play Video about Idaho's 31 Scenic Byways

Sacajawea, an “Agaidika” Shoshone woman born around 1788, was a valuable member of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery. Born and raised in Idaho’s Lemhi Valley until the age of twelve, she was captured by the Arikira Indians and forced to live in the Mandan Villages of North Dakota. Carrying her infant son and acting as an interpreter for Lewis and Clark, Sacajawea, would help the Corps find the Salmon River and in doing so would revisit her people.

Scenic Byways and Ghost Towns
Found here are fossils of the extinct Pleistocene lion, Native American rock art, and stories of the Lemhi-Shoshone people. Follow the stage routes and rail lines that served the mining boom of the late 1800’s. Learn more of the flight of the Nez Perce, Fort Lemhi, and Chief Tendoy.

Lewis & Clark Back Country Byway – Begins 20 miles south of Salmon then east from Highway 28 at the Tendoy Store. View country that looks much the same as when Lewis and Clark first discovered it. Things to see include: Back Country Interpretive Kiosk; Sharkey Hot Springs; Lemhi Pass (first crossing by Lewis and Clark of the Continental Divide); 1st Flag Unfurling Site; Continental Divide National Scenic Trail; Headwaters of the Missouri River. Trail is open summer and early fall. Groomed trails open to snowmobile enthusiast.

Camping: BLM Agency Creek recreation site at Milepost 33. Tent and trailer campsites, toilets, no potable water available.

The “Salmon River Road” – West from North Fork to Corn Creek (the end of the road) offers a great drive along Salmon River through the historic township of Shoup. Almost fifty miles of outstanding wildlife viewing, rugged scenery, historic mines, Native American pictographs, and depending on the time of year, great entertainment watching rafters navigate the whitewater stretches or fishermen pulling steelhead trout from the water.

Salmon River Scenic Byway – Highway 93 runs from Challis to Lost Trail Pass.

Sacajawea Historic Byway – Follow the trail of Sacajawea and the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery. Begin at the junction of Interstate 15 and state Highway 33 to Highway 28 and on to Salmon.

image: Sunset over Leader, Idaho
Highway 28 goes through Leadore, Idaho

On Highway 28, the Sacajawa Historic Byway runs through the little City of Leadore, Idaho.  Historic, beautiful, and at the intersection of Highway 28 and 29 you can see where pioneers took a rugged mountain pass over the mountain border of Idaho and Montan to Dillon (make sure the weather forecast is clear before you go over the pass to Dillon). Or, you can go North to Salmon, Idaho from here.  Leadore is a pretty cool little town with a few places to eat, stay, or gas up. There are also some amazing mountain drives in this area as well as camping and fishing spots.  Don’t forget to ask the Leadore locals to point out the 2-hearts that tell the farmers when it’s time to plan in the spring.