Huge sand dunes and breathtaking canyons are rarely packaged together, but this small town boasts Bruneau Dunes State Park, and Bruneau Canyon, all within a few miles of each other. And, as long as you're in the area, you can see the stars at the Bruneau Dunes Observatory.

Bruneau Canyon and the Bruneau River
The canyon is magnificent, and surprising. "You'd never expect to see this huge canyon in the middle of the desert," says Barbara Whiteside who visited her family in Bruneau and saw some of the sights. "You look at it and you see all the different geological layers and the colors of rock. We were there when the river was at its lowest point and you could look down and see deer grazing at the bottom of the canyon."

Simply getting to the canyon takes determination. "You have to go down to the end of this rough, one-car dirt road. And suddenly, there it is," says Barbara.

Although it may be difficult to reach, the relative isolation is what makes Bruneau Canyon special. "It's very pristine because so few people go there. It's so quiet that in the evenings you can hear wolves and coyotes off in the distance. It's unspoiled and ruggedly magnificent."

More than stillness and beauty, "it provides a sense of what the western high desert territory looked like 100 years ago," says Barbara. "It still looks the same." No houses. No fast food restaurants. "My dad, who is almost 85, says the area looks the same now as it did when he grew up there."

Bruneau Dunes State Park
Most people probably think of Idaho as having vast mountains and tall pine trees, but southern Idaho is actually a desert. Like any good desert, there are sand dunes, incredible dunes that are unique in the Western hemisphere.

According to Idaho State Parks and Recreation, the dunes at Bruneau Dunes State Park have formed in the middle of a natural basin, rather than at the edges. The basin acts has acted as a natural trap for over 12,000 years. But no one is worried about the dunes shifting, the winds blowing from the southeast and the northwest balance each other and keep the dunes fairly stable.

But the real treat for visitors is that the Bruneau dunes contain the largest single sand dune in North America, with a peak 470 feet above the lakes. The two most prominent dunes cover about 600 acres. And they are open to walkers.

"You can walk up the dunes and along the ridge carved by the wind. You can see all the colors, but they are all the colors of sand," says Frank Greco. "It's stark, and it's beautiful in its starkness."

Bruneau Dunes Observatory
Although you'll come for the dunes, you can stay for the stars. After a short orientation program the Observatory opens the telescopes up for visitors. The isolated location means less light pollution to interfere with viewers' appreciation of the heavens.