25. Riggins, ID

There is no small town on this list that deserves a spot more than Riggins. It is a small town that you will come across while driving down the chimney of Idaho. Resting on the Snake River, it's a great place for fishers and a hot-spot for whitewater rafters.On my cross-country trip with Neil and Dickey, we stopped in Riggins on our way to Boise from Montana. The drive through northern Idaho was worth the trip alone, but Riggins proved to be a worthwhile stop. As Dickey searched a local store for some tylenol, Neil and I crossed the one street in town to talk to one of the local girls. She was unloading a truckload of ice bags for one of the town stores, so we helped. After shooting the shit for a while and learning that she was a teenage monster-truck driver, she told us what to see and where to stay in town. She also gave us two free bags of ice for our cooler (see, nice gestures do come with rewards). We then headed up to Hell's Canyon. The drive up the dirt roads of the mountain lasts a while, but isn't too bad. You may have to wait for a cow or horse crossing, and you should keep your eyes peeled for bears, deer, and wolves. Once you get to the parking area most of the way up the mountain, you should take the short hike up to the mountains peak and lookout area. From that point, you can see the surrounding mountains and canyon, and can see four states at once: Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Montana. Talk to the person living in the tower at the time, and he'll tell you as much as you would like to know. His job is basically to keep the area clean and to watch for forest fires (which we also saw in the form of a billowing smoke-cloud in the distance). It really is an amazing view.That night, we found free camping on the Snake River (you can camp for up to 10 days at a time for free)... just cross the bridge at the end of town and then turn off along the river banks. There are fire pits and enough private beaches to get your own for the night. The river is clean enough to swim in, and Neil even swam across to visit with some mountain sheep, but the current is pretty strong so be careful.The three bars in town are pretty nice, but the American Bar is by far the best. The owner, an older man and Yankees fan, is extremely friendly and extremely welcoming. After chatting with him and a couple other locals for a while over a few drinks, we were sent of with free visors from the bar. We wore them for the rest of the trip and afterwards until they started falling apart and got dirtier than Dickey's teeth (he didn't brush them once on the trip... although he has since made leaps and bounds in his dental hygiene) only because we loved the place so much.