Idaho is a mountainous state known for its beautiful and rugged peaks. From the Sawtooth Range to the Bitterroot Range, Idaho’s mountains offer stunning vistas and great opportunities for outdoor recreation. Mount Borah is the highest point in the state, soaring to 12,662 feet.
Inhabiting these mountains are strange beasts like the jackalope, pieces of mining history like abandoned ghost towns, and of course spectacular wildlife and wilderness. The mountains hold many mysteries and stories to uncover. So let’s explore 51 riddles about the mountains of Idaho and reveal their answers!
Riddles
Nature and Wildlife Riddles
1) I am Idaho’s state raptor, with golden feathers and sharp talons. I nest among the crags and hunt the meadows. What am I?
Answer: The peregrine falcon
2) We roam Idaho’s mountains in large herds, grazing on grasses and lichens. Both male and female members of our species grow horns that we use to battle each other in fall rituals. What are we?
Answer: Bighorn sheep
3) My fur turns white in winter to match the snowy mountains where I prowl. I feast on deer, elk, and other small mammals I hunt across Idaho’s peaks and valleys. What am I?
Answer: The snowshoe hare
4) I’m Idaho’s state mammal, the largest member of the deer family. The male members of my species grow huge antlers each year. Brave humans hunt me in the Bitterroot and Sawtooth Ranges. What am I?
Answer: The elk
5) I soar over Idaho’s mountains and valleys hunting for fish, small mammals, and carrion. My wingspan stretches over 6 feet across and my head is white while the rest of me is dark. What raptor am I?
Answer: The bald eagle
Plant Life Riddles
6) My sap was used as a sweetener by Native Americans before white settlers arrived. I have distinctive maple-shaped leaves and my sap flows in the springtime. What deciduous mountain tree am I?
Answer: The Rocky Mountain maple
7) I’m a small flowering plant that grows among the rocks of Idaho’s mountain peaks. My namesake features resemble brilliant purple beards. What alpine wildflower am I?
Answer: Bearded pentstemon
8) My huge white flowers with bright yellow centers can reach 8 inches across when I bloom in Idaho’s mountain meadows. Early settlers used to fry and eat my roots like potatoes. What beautiful wildflower am I?
Answer: Sego lily
9) I’m a common small herb with fern-like leaves and tiny white flowers that produce hooks to cling to passing animals for seed dispersal. Early Idaho miners would dry and smoke my leaves instead of tobacco. What hardy plant am I?
Answer: Sweet coltsfoot
10) My sweet red berries were a food source for Native Americans. My large shrub or small tree form produces bell-shaped flowers before my berries ripen in late summer. What mountain plant am I?
Answer: The serviceberry
Geology Riddles
11) Twin jagged rocky peaks located in the Sawtooth Wilderness with a saddle crossing between them. We share the same name but one of us has an additional title referring to age. What are we?
Answer: The Grand Mogul and the Young Grand Mogul
12) I’m an isolated mountain peak in Blaine County, the tallest in a small range that bears my name. Hardy hikers can summit my 10,750 foot granite summit in summer months. What lonely mountain am I?
Answer: Hyndman Peak
13) We are the tallest peaks in Idaho and lie within a single rugged central Idaho mountain range named after sharp pointed summits. Our individual names refer to a native tribe and a type ofSwiss cheese. What peaks are we?
Answer: Mount Cramer and Mount Shoshone
14) At over 8,000 feet I’m Idaho’s tallest year-round waterfall, spilling down multiple tiers cut into huge cliffs near the state’s tallest peak. What am I?
Answer: Shoshone Falls
15) I’m a forked granite spire that juts sharply into the Idaho sky very near Mount Borah. Rock climbers love scaling my sheer vertical cliffs. What am I?
Answer: The Hyndman Peak
Ghost Town Riddles
16) I began as a mining town called Queen City in the 1880s during a gold rush. Later copper mining kept me going under my current name before I was abandoned in the 1950s. My remains lie below a high mountain trailhead. What ghost town am I?
Answer: Deer Creek
17) Miners seeking gold, silver, lead, and zinc founded me in 1888. By 1902 I had a peak population around 250 hardy souls, but I was deserted by 1910 after the mines closed. My empty buildings still stand high in the remote Boulder Mountains. What ghost town am I?
Answer: Bonanza
18) Gold was first discovered near me in 1879 and soon I became a booming center of mining and commerce frequented by over 3,000 miners, merchants, railroad men, outlaws, and ladies of the night. Rich strikes played out quickly and by 1884 I was mostly abandoned, left to become an authentic ghost town. What am I?
Answer: Custer
19) Six miles west of Yellow Pine I was founded after a miner discovered gold there in 1902. I grew rapidly to support area mines before fizzling out in 1938 after the gold, and residents, were mostly gone. What remains of me sits at 5,300 foot elevation among pine forested mountains with over 20 vacant buildings. What former mining town am I?
Answer: Stibnite
20) This railroad town was founded in 1880 during construction of the Oregon Short Line. Rich mineral strikes fueled rapid early growth but when the mines played out things went downhill by 1915. Numerous vacant buildings remain at my windswept location surrounded by mountains. What semi-ghostly Idaho hamlet am I?
Answer: Mineral
Folklore and Oddities Riddles
21) I’m a mythical horned jackrabbit occasionally sighted in Idaho’s mountains. Descriptions of me vary but I’m often said to be jackrabbit sized with antelope horns. What folklore creature am I?
Answer: The jackalope
22) Local Native American legends tell of my enormous golden body slithering through mountain caverns below the Sawtooths. Miners sometimes described me attacking them when they disturbed my jewel encrusted underground lair. What mythical creature am I in these tales?
Answer: The Sawtooth Serpent
23) Nineteenth century European immigrants to Idaho brought tales from the old world of my fearsome breed of canine stalking remote mountain valleys. Sometimes legends describe me as a spirit beast instead of flesh and blood. What monster am I?
Answer: The werewolf
24) Miners digging underground tunnels tell of encountering my frightening entity lurking in the darkness far below Idaho’s mountains. Descriptions vary, some claiming me over fifteen feet tall with huge wings and horns. Others describe me as half reptile, half humanoid. What am I in these chilling accounts?
Answer: The Tommyknocker
25) This legendary creature was first reported in Idaho newspapers in 1889, described as a wild mountain man covered in white fur roaming the Boise National Forest. Sightings continued for decades, dubbing me the Idaho version of a famous man-beast from the Himalayas. What snow- coated crytpid am I in these accounts?
Answer: The Idaho snowman (Idaho version of a yeti)
26) Tales spread of my presence when immigrants noticed wildlife vanishing without a trace from the mountains surrounding mining camps. Vague sightings at night described my feline form up to four feet long stalking prospectors near Silver City. What did they dub me?
Answer: The Silver Cat (mountain lion folklore)
History Riddles
27) We were the two hire trappers partners that established Fort Hall in 1834 on a Native American trade route through Idaho’s mountains. Our surnames lend themselves to a popular eastern Idaho town and major river. What are our last names?
Answer: Wyeth and Bridger
28) Prospectors discovered my lode in 1863 as the first big gold strike in Idaho. Soon thousands flocked to my rich mining region high in the mountains. Boom towns like Idaho City and Placerville sprung up around my namesake creek. What gold-bearing waterway am I?
Answer: Boise River
29) Twin mining towns established around 1880 deep in remote Idaho mountains on either side of this creek. Despite harsh winters, these settlements boomed for decades extracting lead and silver from local mines. What is the shared name of these legendary Old West towns?
Answer: Vienna
30) We were wagon trails used heavily starting in the 1860s to supply and connect various mining camps and towns spread across central Idaho’s mountains. Parts of us later became scenic highways still used by sightseers today. What were these important routes called?
Answer: The Sawtooth Pack Trail and Thunder Mountain Road
31) This early fort was built at Horseshoe Bend on the Boise River in 1865 during conflicts with Native Americans over an influx of gold miners. Troops stationed here protected prospectors in the mountains for the next fourteen years. What was it called?
Answer: Fort Boise
32) After prospecting Montana’s Grasshopper Creek in 1862, we crossed the Bitterroots into Idaho and established rich mining camps in the Boise Basin and Owyhee Mountains. Our surnames identify us as discoverers of major Idaho strikes. Who are we?
Answer: George Grimes and Moses Splawn
33) A former buffalo hunter turned prospector, I struck it rich near Silver City in 1863. My name graces the tallest peak in the range where I made my big find. Who am I?
Answer: Jim McClure (McClure Peak)
Route and Pass Riddles
34) I’m the highest maintained road pass in Idaho, reaching 7,858 feet atop the Sawtooths. My namesake creek tumbles down a breathtaking valley visible from my breathtaking heights. What pass am I?
Answer: Galena Pass
35) This iconic highway snakes 52 miles through the mountains between Lowman and Stanley, following the Salmon River and passed numerous alpine lakes. Engineering marvels along my path include the Bell Rapid Tunnel. What famously scenic byway am I?
Answer: Idaho State Highway 21
36) I’m an important mountain pass used by Oregon Trail immigrants and still popular for recreationalists today. Lemhi Pass is the southern route but my lower elevation was favored by wagons near the current hamlet of Monida. What’s my name?
Answer: Bannock Pass
37) This early toll road was built starting in 1865 to connect mining towns Idaho City and Placerville over 40 hazardous miles of rugged mountains. Mule trains packed supplies over my high elevation path for hefty fares from early entrepreneurs. What was my oft perilous trail called?
Answer: Ruckles Toll Road
38) Adaptations of these Native American foot trails through the Bitterroots linked Elk City and Florence early Idaho mountain mining camps. Travelers had to carefully ascend me using rocky, nearly vertical zig-zag switchbacks cut into the mountainside. What is this intimidating route called?
Answer: Skookumchuck Trail
39) Earlier called Galena Trail, I’m a 90-mile scenic byway over the Sawtooths between Ketchum and Stanley. An elevation gain of over 5,400 feet will leave drivers breathless. Adventurous bicyclists travel over two mountain passes along my winding route every summer. What route am I?
Answer: State Highway 75 aka Sawtooth Scenic Byway
Mountain Town Riddles
40) These dual mining hamlets share the same name situated at either end of the rugged Boulder Mountains. West version had happier mining fortunes and remains inhabited today as a scenic mountain getaway of just 25 residents. East sibling is an off-the-grid ghost town accessible only via serious high clearance 4WD travel. What identical name do they share?
Answer: Atlanta
41) Named after the Sierra Nevada range, this remote Idaho mountain hamlet lies 50 miles from the nearest highway at nearly 7,000 feet elevation. Around 100 residents tough out the harsh winters and short growing season to live surrounded by national forest gorgeousness. What is this isolated town called?
Answer: Sawtooth City
42) Meaning “gem of the mountains” this Idaho Victorian mining town sprung up on a mountainside in the 1880s around rich gold and silver finds. Nearly deserted today, history lovers enjoy my remaining rustic charms surrounded by stunning alpine scenery. What’s my notable name that echoes my origins?
Answer: Silver City
43) This central Idaho wilderness hamlet amidst the Salmon River Mountains claims a population of exactly one according to the 2010 census. Originally called Deweyville, what solitary resident gave it my location appropriate current name when he became the only occupant?
Answer: Monumental
44) Ponderosa pines and aspens surround the grass airstrip serving me, Idaho’s highest elevation year-round settlement at 6,470 feet. A destination for outdoor recreation, my wintertime population hovers under 30 while summer swells with nearly ten times that many souls. What remote mountain town am I?
Answer: Yellow Pine
River Riddles
45) My headwaters begin near Galena Pass then I rush 100 miles through the Sawtooths and White Cloud Peaks. Hardy adventurers love whitewater rafting challenges like Yankee Fork’s “Big Drops”. I merge with the Payette in the Snake River Basin. What major central Idaho waterway am I?
Answer: The Salmon River — The River of No Return
46) This major river begins from the union of two smaller ones appropriately named Blackfoot and Big Lost at an elevation of around 5,000 feet in the Sawtooth and Salmon River mountain ranges. Part of my overall length forms Idaho’s western border. What important riverway am I?
Answer: The Snake River
47) My name comes from French Canadian trappers meaning “twisted” or “winding” for my circuitous course. Rising from Montana’s Bitterroots, I traverse 150 miles of Idaho before joining Clark Fork to form the Columbia. What appropriately winding river am I?
Answer: Pend Oreille River
48) My waters tumble 492 feet at Shoshone Falls, sometimes called the “Niagara of the West.” I was named after indigenous peoples by explorer Wilson Price Hunt in 1811 on a journey that took me from my headwaters in Yellowstone down through Idaho to the Snake River. What cascading waterway am I?
Answer: The Shoshone River
49) This Wood River tributary springs from glaciers of the Sawtooth Mountains near Galena Summit. My name represents the Native American word for female deer. Fly fishing my sparkling cold waters is popular as I rush 44 miles through Idaho before meeting the Big Wood River. What am I?
Answer: The doe creek (Silver Creek)
50) Sourced from Sawtooth lakes, my waters plunge 1,800 feet over numerous cascades as I pass through the old mining towns of Vienna and Ketchum. Beaver dams along my path provide excellent trout habitat. I merge with the Boise River in south central Idaho. What scenic waterway am I?
Answer: The Big Wood River
51) My waters once powered lumber mills for the mining industry as I tumbled from mountain peaks down through Idaho City and Boise. In the 1880s, bonds funded construction of a road up 17 miles of my canyon. Now the route accesses hot springs while whitewaters below challenge adventurous rafters. What rapid river am I?
Answer: The Payette River
Conclusion
So how did you fare with these Idaho mountain mysteries? Some secrets the Gem State’s peaks and valleys hide come wrapped in legend, history, and folklore while others reflect the diversity of beautiful flora and fauna, roaring rivers, towering summits, and abandoned places lost in time. The soaring heights harbor countless tales just waiting to be uncovered in those high elevations where the views stretch to the edge of imagination. Keep these images in mind during your next Idaho mountain adventure and see what other exciting tales, or mountain goat trails, come to light!
