Syringa, Idaho — Highway Community in the Clearwater Canyon

Syringa sits beside the Middle Fork Clearwater River along U.S. 12, on the route toward the Lochsa, Lolo Pass and Montana.

The mountains leave transportation few options. Highway, homes and river share a narrow corridor beneath steep forested slopes.

Timber once supplied much of the economic activity. Today anglers, rafters and travelers use the same valley because the river and highway remain the practical route through the mountains.

The community shares its name with Idaho's state flower—the syringa, or mock orange.

There is something fitting about that. Syringa is not a large destination town; it is a small Idaho name growing in one of the narrow places where the landscape allows people to stop.