The Gem Hunt
America decides what makes the map.
Every state has a spot the algorithms miss — the one locals send strangers to. Name it. Vote on the finalists. The winners get built into Roamward, the scenic road-trip app that proves you actually went. No download required to play.
Nominate
What does Idaho do better than anywhere?
One hidden gem — a place a chatbot would never know. The most-named spots become finalists, and the crowd votes the winner into Roamward.
Vote
Idaho gems, most-loved first
- 1Silver CityA near-intact 1860s mining boomtown at 6,200 feet in the Owyhee Mountains of southwest Idaho, with around 70 weathered original buildings and the dirt road in open roughly May to October.
- 2City of Rocks National ReserveA surreal field of billion-year-old granite spires near Almo in south-central Idaho, where climbers share trails with California Trail ruts and pioneer names written in axle grease.
- 3Mesa Falls Scenic BywayTwo of the last undammed major waterfalls in the West thunder past an ancient super-eruption near Ashton in eastern Idaho, with a boardwalk right up to Upper Mesa Falls' 110-foot drop.
- 4Lava Hot SpringsA laid-back southeast Idaho town built around mineral pools that bubble up around 102 to 112 degrees, just 11 miles off I-15 — soak year-round and tube the Portneuf River in summer.
- 5Idaho Potato MuseumA cheerfully self-aware shrine to the spud in Blackfoot, with the world's largest potato crisp and a gift shop that leans all the way into the joke — a quick, fun pull-off near I-15.
- 6Little City of RocksNorth of Gooding off Highway 46, a hidden BLM canyon of volcanic-ash hoodoos, mushroom rocks, arches, and ancient petroglyphs along a quiet 4-mile loop — far less crowded than its famous namesake.
- 7Box Canyon Springs Nature PreserveNear Wendell, the country's 11th-largest spring gushes 118,000 gallons a minute into a turquoise pool at the bottom of a hidden canyon fed by an emerald waterfall, off the Thousand Springs stretch.
- 8Goldbug Hot SpringsEast of Stanley near Salmon, a roughly two-mile uphill trail rewards you with terraced natural pools of sparkling blue water cascading down a mountainside — a soak-with-a-view that keeps crowds thin.
- 9Route of the HiawathaThis rails-to-trails ride near the Montana border sends bikes through ten train tunnels and over seven sky-high trestles through the Bitterroots — rent a bike, grab a headlamp, and coast.
- 10Three Island Crossing State ParkAt Glenns Ferry, stand where Oregon Trail pioneers made one of the most dangerous Snake River fordings, with an interpretive center, riverside campground, and an annual crossing reenactment.
Not your state’s turn yet?
Want Roamward to map Idaho next?
Add your vote — the loudest state gets mapped first.
How it works
Nominate
Drop the most underrated spot in your state — the gem an itinerary generator would never surface.
The crowd ranks it
Name a place someone already nominated and it rises. The most-loved gems become the state’s finalists.
Vote the winner in
Finalists go to a public vote. Winners get built into Roamward — credited to the people who found them.
Go verify it
Drive it, GPS-verify the stop, earn the badge, and share the map that proves you were first.
Don’t miss the winners
Be the first to find what the crowd picks.
Join early access and we’ll tell you when your state’s gem wins — and when Roamward opens for iOS testing.
Get early access