Last Chance Is First Choice For Outdoor Sports In Idaho

A magazine with a nationwide circulation is touting eastern Idaho’s outdoor credentials, the third time in three years a prominent publication has highlighted the area.

“Sports Afield” picked each state’s premier “outdoor sports town” for its February issue, and came up with the Last Chance section of Island Park, some 70 miles northeast of Idaho Falls. The recognition follows Idaho Falls’ designation as a hidden gem in the midst of outdoor activities by both “Outside” and “Outdoor Life” magazines in 1995.

Listed at population 40, Last Chance is far different from the Sun Valleys and Jackson Holes that grab most of the national press. That’s the whole idea; to pinpoint places that offer the best in outdoor adventure but retain a small-town feel, senior editor Tim Bogardus said.

“The idea was to keep the size of the town down,” he said. “We wanted these friendly, kind of out-of-the-way places.”

The magazine’s selections in other states, where better-known hangouts were shunned in favor of Port Angeles, Wash., Green River, Utah; Thermopolis, Wyo.; Wisdom, Mont. and Elko, Nev. And if you thought Nebraska was all corn, now you’ll know about the ponderosa pines and turkey hunting around Chadron.

The 50-town listing is a grid that reports each town’s “lay of the land,” “claim to fame,” real estate prices and other details.

Last Chance was chosen for its summertime fishing on the Henry’s Fork and wintertime snowmobiling on the Targhee National Forest.

“Anywhere in the United States, people can tell you all about it,” said LaMoyne Hyde, an Idaho Falls driftboat manufacturer whose guide service and Last Chance Lodge were mentioned in the article. “It’s kind of the Super Bowl of fly fishing.”

He appreciates the advertising, but said he hopes it doesn’t attract too much attention.

“It’s going to do what everything else in the West has done. Whenever you get attention, people go there. I’m sure it would have a lot more impact on a little area like Last Chance than it did on Idaho Falls.”

The Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce noted a marked increase in vacation and relocation inquiries after the “Outside” article in 1995, executive director Fred Sica said. And the chamber still sends copies of the article to families and companies looking for a new home.