Try hiking or riding Avimor trails ... moderate, twisting, fun singletracks for all abilities

Lots of trails, blue sky and open space at Avimor 

Mike Edwards, President of SWIMBA, operates the ST-240 trail-cutting machine at Avimor.
Photo courtesy Idaho Statesman

Volunteers buff out the trails at Avimor

Big bridge project turns out very nice! 

Hey all,

It's been fun to watch the new hiking, biking and horseback trails evolve, improve and expand at Avimor, a budding housing development with lots of open space located a few minutes north of Boise on Idaho 55. I went out there last Sunday with John Wheaton, Amy Haak, and Scott Perryman from the Southwest Idaho Mountain Biking Association (SWIMBA) and got a personal tour of some of John's favorite trails and some of Scott's recent handiwork on the ST-240.


When I was updating the latest edition of Mountain Biking in Boise several years ago, I rode a cool short loop featuring a super-fun downhill along Spring Valley Creek, and I also featured the Coyote Classic sport and expert loops at Avimor, and a challenging long loop to Sheep Rock, located several thousand vertical feet above the valley floor. Both of those rides ended up in my book.

Since that time, SWIMBA has been working to expand Avimor's trail system through hundreds of hours of sweat equity, and they have their new ST-240 trail-cutting machine that they've been putting to use as well! Here's an overview map of their trail system with details about each trail.

What I enjoyed about our ride on Sunday was that we stayed in the lower to mid-range foothills the whole time, exploring all kinds of different singletrack trails. The trails we climbed were moderate, not that steep. It seems that the Boise Foothills don't have very many moderate trails except in Military Reserve and Polecat Gulch ... I feel for the beginning and intermediate riders when they complain that all the trails in the foothills "go straight up!"

Last Sunday, we started at the Avimor trailhead by the tennis courts and rode the following circuit:

• Up Broken Horn Road to Baun's Eye Trail #15 and then Broken Horn Trail #12 and climbed to the saddle above Spring Valley Creek. 
• Dropped down to the Spring Valley Creek Trail #9 junction (be sure to cross the creek first, and then the trail peels off to the left), and zoomed down Spring Valley Creek Trail. Tons of fun. Be sure to watch for other trail users coming up the trail. 
• Took Shooting Range Trail over to Bovine Nirvana, rode a new trail yet to be named that Scott had put in recently with the ST-240 and then came back on Shooting Range and Twisted Spring Trail. 

All told, we rode about 12.5 miles over three hours at a leisurely pace. Exploring the trails at Avimor is much easier now because they have trail maps at the clubhouse, and many of the trail junctions are marked with trail signs. I recommend exploring the area if you like to hike or ride horseback, too.

Pack some food, water and sun screen and enjoy the beautiful May weather!

BTW, if you'd like to help SWIMBA enhance the trail system at Avimor, there is a work day planned on Saturday with Broken Spoke Cycling. People are meeting at 8:30 a.m. at the park. Turn left at the T-junction as you come into the community, and park by the tennis courts.

Have fun!
- SS