Readers Digest had an article that intrigued me "15 Things That Can Actually Be Seen from Space" The majority of the 15 are not in the United States like The Great Pyramids of Giza, Palm Island Resort off the coast of Dubai, The Niepolomice Forest in Poland and more. In the United States there were only a few that made the list. The Rocky Mountain Trench, The Grand Canyon under snow, Lake Oahe in South Dakota, Lights from New York City at night, and then TWO things in Idaho. Yep out of all of the massive things around the world and country - Idaho is the only state that made it on the list twice.

The first we share with Utah. Bear Lake, according to the RD article, "Oceans aren’t the only large bodies of water to be captured by astronauts and satellites. One of the Rocky Mountains larger lakes, the 19-mile long Bear Lake, is on the border of Idaho and Utah. The lake caught the eye of an astronaut; this photo was taken with a Nikon digital camera on September 6, 2016."

Bear Lake from Space, from NASA Earth Observatory
Bear Lake from Space, from NASA Earth Observatory
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The second thing in Idaho that can be spotted from space is a bit puzzling until you know what is going on. The Checkerboard pattern in Northern Idaho is hard to ignore, even from space. According to NASA's Earth Observatory, "The land shown here is now managed for wildlife and for timber harvesting. The white patches reflect areas with younger, smaller trees, where winter snow cover shows up brightly to the astronauts. Dark green-brown squares are parcels of denser, intact forest. The checkerboard is used as a method of maintaining the sustainability of forested tracts while still enabling a harvest of trees."

Checkerboard in Northern Idaho from Space, From NASA Earth Observer.
Checkerboard in Northern Idaho from Space, From NASA Earth Observer.
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You can clearly see the Priest River that the forest service uses as a natural filtration system. This photograph was acquired on January 4, 2017, with a Nikon digital camera.

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