With its large tracts of timberland and wilderness areas, its not hard to believe that Idaho holds the largest stand of white pines in the nation. The pine forest lends its name to the White Pine Scenic Byway, found just to the south of Interstate 90. Following State Routes 3 and 6, the byway passes by the lower Coeur d'Alene, St. Joe and St. Maries rivers. In Cataloo, the Old Mission of the Sacred Heart, dating to the 1840s, is Idaho's oldest historic building. Route 6 cuts through St. Joes Forest, and the rolling hills on the Palouse.
This Picture of the Day, looking toward the Hoodoo Mountains along Route 6, shows off the western larch in a blaze of golden needles. The Tamaracks, as the local residents call them, are a deciduous conifer, putting on its showy color late in the fall. The deep rooted western larch, native to the northwest, can sometimes reach to 150 feet in length, living as long as 900 years. As the needles give way to gravity, the forest floor becomes covered in a carpet of gold.
The 80 mile byway is a great way to take in northern Idaho, with its immense forestlands, historic buildings and towns, picturesque farmlands, sparkling rivers and magnificent mountains.