Idaho Doesn’t Make the Latest List on Remote America

Did you know the place considered the most isolated community in the lower 48 states is on the edge of Idaho?  So close that if you plan to go, you usually need to drive from Idaho to get there.

I like where I live because I can buy groceries 24/7, and I can also be in a remote mountain setting in an hour.   It takes a bit longer to get to Jarbidge, Nevada, and the main road in is through southern Idaho.  Another road passing through Nevada is closed for much of the year.

There are Isolated Places a Stone's Throw

The thing is, you can get to Jarbidge on wheels.  It’s the most isolated community, not the most isolated place.

An Idahoan with a YouTube channel is exploring isolated places that often require hiking into.  In other words, be healthy.  Even better if you’re young and healthy.  To appease an eastern audience as well, he’s looked at some places in the northeast and southeast.

Much of the world looks at North America only through the United States, because that’s where the films and TV programs come from.  The same prism gives them the impression that the country is New York and Dallas skyscrapers, or backyard pools in Hollywood.  They’re shocked when they get here.

They Can't Fathom the Variety of America

Back in 2010, I met a Danish news reporter based in Washington.  He had made the drive to the Delmarva Peninsula and was shocked by the scenery, which is mostly rolling farmland.  He had adopted the lifestyle of a lot of domestic media, who remain wholly ignorant of flyover country.

I’ll mention another example.  A friend was born in New Orleans to immigrant parents.  One Turkish, the other Pakistani.  When he was a boy, the family moved to Ontario, where his dad joined a scientific research team.  His grandparents came for a visit and were caught off guard by a drive across the province.  Not the country.  Ottawa to Toronto.

No Human has Trod There

A few years ago, I watched a documentary about Idaho’s outback.  A fellow quipped that he believes there are places in the state that have never seen a human footprint.  Think about that.  We’re told the first people arrived between 10,000 to 20,000 years ago, and much of Idaho remains untouched.

The video I referenced is below.

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