Always blessed to float the Owyhee River!

Floating by Pruitt's Castle and Chalk Basin with Liz and Wendy in the bow. 

Hi all, 

We managed to escape for 4-day trip on the Lower Owyhee River two weeks ago under mostly sunny skies. Felt lucky to be out there in one of my favorite spots with my partner Wendy, my son Quinn rowing his own raft, and several other friends, Liz Paul and Norm Nelson. 

We launched on a Thursday morning, so it wasn't too busy at the boat ramp in Rome. There must have been at least 200 vehicles in the parking lot, though, so clearly, the Owyhee River has been popular this spring season! 

Because of deep snow in the Owyhee and Jarbidge-Bruneau river basins last winter (285% of normal snowpack in the Owyhee and 268% in the Bruneau watershed as of April 20), this spring offered a rare chance to float those rivers for a longer window of time than normal when the water is high enough to go (March - June). If you don't have your own raft and whitewater gear, consider going with an outfitter. 

I'd recommend Far & Away Adventures, Wilderness River Outfitters, Barker River Expeditions, and ROW Adventures. Please see a press release and blogpost that I wrote for the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association.

Wendy enjoys the Owyhee River canyon at our campsite below Montgomery Rapids. 

Closing in on Memorial Day weekend, the Owyhee River has dropped to 1,600 cfs and it's continuing to slowly decline, so the window for rafting the river is closing over the next few weeks. Once it drops below 1,000 cfs, it's very rock and slow. The Bruneau River, however, is still running high at more than 2,000 cfs, so the window of time to run that river will extend well into June.  

One of the big advantages of floating the Lower Owyhee is that you follow a paved road (U.S. 95) to the boat-launch site in Rome, Oregon. To float the upper forks of the Owyhee, you have to drive for many miles on unimproved 4WD dirt roads that turn into major quicksand-like gumbo after lots of rain. So we had no worries about being able to reach the river last week, even though it had been wet. 

We took four days to float 48 miles to the Birch Creek takeout, upstream of Owyhee Reservoir. At a flow of 3,000 cubic feet per second (cfs), with hardly any wind, it was not too hard to make our river miles. 

The weather turned a bit on Day 4 with clouds and cooler temps in the morning.

I watch the weather closely for our trips on the Owyhee because when it's nasty out there, it's not fun. I've encountered driving rain, headwinds, thunder and lightning in previous trips. But we nailed the nice weather window this time around. Grateful for that!  

At 3,000 cfs, many of the rocks were covered with cushy flows. From a whitewater perspective, it's a pretty easy and mellow level with good current and fun waves.

The Lower Owyhee has mostly Class 2 rapids, with a few Class 3's and one Class 4, called Montgomery. I would rate that Class 3+ personally. Montgomery is not that hard. You have to pull away from a left-side wall as the current races around a left-hand bend. It's a pretty straight-forward maneuver, compared to Class 4 rapids that require multiple maneuvers around rocks or holes.

Quinn cooked up a feast of eggs, sausage and blueberry pancakes on the morning of Day 2. 

We had four major highlights on our trip:

1. Birds of Prey were everywhere! Golden eagles, kestrels, northern harriers, prairie falcons and red-tailed hawks were flying around the cliffs, diving toward the water and nesting in the cliffs. Plus, we saw pairs of geese on virtually every corner, some with goslings, a few pairs of mergansers and some mallards.

2. Volcanic rock formations on the Lower Owyhee are spectacular. The types of rock spans from black basalt lava similar to the Jordan Craters, to rhyolite red cliffs, basalt cliffs and many spires, hoodoos and other formations. It's fun to just stare in awe at these features and feel small.

3. Deep snow and April rains made the desert landscape the deepest shade of green imaginable. We must have caught the green-up at its peak. But the flowers were just starting to pop. Arrowleaf balsamroot was blooming everywhere.  

4. Camping out, campfires, S'mores, great meals and great people. I love camping out in general. Hanging out and relaxing in camp is one of my favorite things. My son Quinn cooked up a feast for a dinner and breakfast; that was nice to have him pitch in like that. He's put a lot of effort into learning new recipes. 

If you go, make sure you have enough time to do some side-hiking. The area around Pruitt's Castle is a great place to hike, Hike-out camp is another sweet hiking spot early in the trip, and below Whistling Bird Rapids, there's a sweet campsite with a way to hike to the top of the rim and enjoy big views of the canyon. From that viewpoint, it's amazing how small you can feel, being a tiny little speck amid the giant Owyhee River Plateau.

All I can say is getting away on an Owyhee or Jarbidge-Bruneau trip is good medicine for the soul. And you know, right at that moment, that you're extremely fortunate to experience it.

Side hiking around Pruitt's Castle

- SS

Early February means raptor courtship flights begin in SW Idaho - 5 places to see them!

Golden eagles engaged in courtship flight (courtesy JoyofAnimals.com)

Hi all, 

I was out on a walk the other day near the Boise Foothills, and I looked up to see two red-tailed hawks engaged in courtship flight while a crow was trying to hassle them at the same time. 

And I thought about that for a moment, and it's like OK, we've turned the page into February, and courtship flight for birds of prey typically begins on Feb. 1 and thereafter. 

So when you're out on a walk in the foothills or the Snake River canyon, be sure to look up in the sky for hawks and eagles ... and watch for this spectacular phenomenon at this time of year. Essentially the male and the female are trying to impress each other during the acrobatics involved in courtship flight. They might be getting together to mate for the first time. 

Golden eagles typically mate for life, and they often use the same nest year after year where they have had nesting success -- raising chicks for the next generation. Red-tailed hawks -- a frequent site in SW Idaho -- are thought to be monogamous and may mate for life, according to National Geographic. 

But the highlight is to see these magnificent birds in action ... and lot of people miss that by not looking around them when they're out on a walk ... a spectacular show could be going on right above you! 

First, let's talk about the birds of prey that you might see in SW Idaho, and then I'll suggest a few places where you might see golden eagles or hawks engaging in courtship flight.

Almost all of these raptor species can be see in SW Idaho. (Courtesy Audubon.org)

The birds above include the American Kestrel (#1 and #3), Bald Eagle (#2), Broad-winged Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk (#19), Merlin (#12), Northern Harrier (#11), Osprey (#14), Peregrine Falcon (#17), Red-shouldered Hawk (#13), Red-tailed Hawk (#10), Sharp-shinned Hawk (#7), Turkey Vulture (#6). Did I get that right?

See this web link from Audubon for more information on identifying species.  

Often times when you see hawks soaring in SW Idaho, it's likely a red-tailed hawk or a Swainson's hawk. Ferruginous hawks and rough-legged hawks are less frequently seen. Kestrels are common and they're quite small ... my friend the late Morley Nelson called them "sparrow hawks." 

Prairie falcons are another common bird in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area. More than 200 pairs nest in the cliffs. They feed off the ground squirrels on the sagebrush flats above the canyon, and then raise their off-spring in the protective environment inside the basalt cliffs. 

Here's a neat guide to the raptors in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area from the Bureau of Land Management. More than 800 pairs of raptors nest in the birds of prey area - it's an area that's unique in the world. And it's definitely one of the destinations where you can look for eagles and hawks and courtship flight. 

Grab your binoculars and go! More destinations include: 

• Celebration Park south of Nampa by the Snake River. There are hiking trails and petroglyphs on rocks by the visitor center. Also interpretive signs about the Bonneville Flood. Take a walk upstream and look for birds of prey flying overhead or by the cliffs.
  
• Swan Falls - Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area. 20 miles south of Kuna. Nice park provided by Idaho Power by the dam provides a good place to have a picnic or hang out. Or you can take a dirt road along the river to access a trailhead farther downstream and look for birds.
  
• Discovery Point - On the way to Swan Falls, pull over to the interpretive area on the right and look for birds of prey with your binoculars from the top of the rim.  
• Grand View - Owyhee Scenic Backcountry Byway (Mud Flat Road) - Take the Owyhee Backcountry Byway into the Owyhees from Grand View, and you'll drive up a gravel road into a canyon. Watch for hawks as you ascend the canyon or look for them on top of the grade. 
• Succor Creek State Natural Area - This natural canyon is a good place for seeing birds of prey. There's hiking and sight-seeing nearby, caves for the kids to explore, and rest rooms. 
  

Writing Morley Nelson's biography Cool NorthWind and spending time with Morley made me more aware of watching what birds of prey do when they're flying in the sky. Besides the courtship flight, you also may see birds of prey protecting their nesting territory. 

Morley with a prairie falcon

I was up by the top of the Boise Ridge one time on my mountain bike, and I watched this huge majestic golden eagle flying down the spine of the ridge, cruising along, minding its own business. And then I see a prairie falcon emerge out of now where and start dive-bombing the eagle. It would fly up above the eagle, and then get into a vertical dive, aiming for the eagle. 

Right before the falcon was about to strike,margin-block: 0px; margin-inline: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25.5px; orphans: 2; padding-inline-start: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align the eagle turned over on its back and barred its talons, ready to take on that pesky bird and defend itself. That falcon made several attempts at attacking the eagle, but eventually it left the eagle alone.

And I thought, wow, that was a pretty great  moment, watching nature in action. Morley would mimmick the eagle's thinking, thinking back to fighting the Germans in World War II, "It's either me or you boy, it's  going to be a fight to the end." 

His eyes were so intense when he made the point. He'd had the eagle's talons drive through his skin before; he knew how powerful they were. 

BTW, I saw that the Peregrine Fund is reopening the World Center for Birds of Prey on Feb. 4. If they start doing their live bird presentations, those are a real treat!
- SS

Hike Celebration Park and see birds of prey artwork, plus Sweet Connie and Boise trails

Norm Nelson, son of Morley Nelson, has some beautiful oil paintings on display
at the Celebration Park Visitor Center. 

We did a group hike to Halverson Lake last spring for the 25th anniversary of the final protection of the
Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area. 

The golden eagle eyes piece is one of my favorites. The other two are quite something, too! 

Hi all,

Well, the weather forecast this weekend is pretty darn stellar for October! Nothing but clear skies and temperatures in the high 60s or 70 Friday-Sunday in the Boise area. How can you go wrong?

The weather should be great for just about anything outdoors! I'm sure some families will be taking their kids to corn and hay mazes for Halloween. But I'm going to recommend four destinations close to home for a fun adventure.

1. Go hiking at Celebration Park next to the Snake River, and while you're there, check out the birds of prey artwork in the Visitor Center. My friend Norm Nelson has some of his oil paintings on display, and there are other works there as well. You can enjoy a very moderate 6-mile round-trip hike to Halverson Lake and enjoy some fall colors next to the Snake. Driving directions: From downtown Boise, take I-84 west to Nampa. Take the Franklin Road exit (City Center) in Nampa. Go left. Follow Franklin to the intersection with 11^th Street. Turn right and take 11^th into downtown Nampa. Follow signs for ID 45 south. Proceed several miles south to Walters Ferry at the Snake River. Just before the river crossing, turn left on Ferry Road. Follow Ferry to Hill Road. Go right on Hill. Follow Hill to Sinker Road; turn right on Sinker and proceed to Celebration Park. You can see petroglyphs on boulders next to the parking lot, and learn about the Bonneville Flood. The artwork on display can be seen between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. daily. 

2. Head to Bogus Basin to go hiking or biking. The conditions are perfect for fall hiking and biking right now! You can do my Bogus Basin Contour Special (6 miles round-trip, rated moderate to strenuous for hiking), or ride Around the Mountain, a 10-mile ride that IMBA rated as the best in Idaho. Both rides start at the base of Bogus Basin by the lower lodge.

3. Do a super-cool grand descent bike ride. Go up to the Eastside Trailhead (Mile 12 on Bogus Basin Roads), and ride Eastside over to Stack Rock, and at the junction, keep going straight and do a grand descent on Sweet Connie and then turn onto Chukar Butte to gravity ride all the way to Hidden Springs. Leave a shuttle rig at Hidden Springs and shuttle your way to the Eastside Trailhead (or be a stud and do it all by bike). I'm not sure how many miles that is, but somewhere in the 20-mile range. Advanced riding skills required. Here's a cool video of the Chukar Butte trail.

4. Hike or ride a trail in the Boise Foothills to enjoy the fall colors. Hulls Gulch, Military Reserve, Corrals Trail, Cottonwood Creek, Dry Creek and Watchman are all good bets!

Watchman Trail as the colors are beginning to turn ... 

Want to learn more about the Idaho Centennial Trail? Go to an ICT discussion at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Foothills Learning Center on 8th Street.

Have fun!
- SS

Winter birding is a fun activity; Hagerman Bird Festival offers opportunities to learn

Great blue heron along the Boise River (courtesy Ken Miracle)

Juvenile bald eagle on the Boise River (courtesy Ken Miracle)

Merganser on the Boise River (Courtesy Ken Miracle)

Kingfisher (Courtesy Ken Miracle)

Hi all,

To me, it's always a treat to see birds and wildlife as part of an outdoor recreation outing. But every once in a while, I like to make seeing birds or wildlife the central focus of an outdoor adventure. One of my favorite winter bird walks in Boise is along the Boise River, particularly when it's colder outside, with temperatures below freezing. My main objective is to see bald eagles perching on the top of cottonwood trees. But you'll also see a variety of ducks, geese, kingfishers, herons and songbirds. The variety of ducks can be pretty darn cool. I especially like to see the colorful wood ducks.  

About 15-20 bald eagles typically winter along the Boise River urban corridor, between Lucky Peak and Eagle. If you're lucky, you'll see an eagle swoop down to the river to catch a trout or whitefish breakfast with its talons. And that's a beautiful thing to behold. Nature in action.

This week, my outdoor tip is to take a moment to look for birds and learn about them. Consider starting a bird list! According to an article in Audubon, all you need is a pair of binoculars and a basic field guide to birds to get started in birding. I've recently learned about another way you could get into birding -- attend the Hagerman Bird Festival, Feb. 12-14. The Festival provides guided outings to see particular types of birds, such as night walks to see owls and boat tours to see waterfowl on the Snake River. I wrote about the festival for Southern Idaho Tourism, and I thought my readers on Stueby's Outdoor Journal would want to know about it, too.

Mallard ducks on the Snake River (Courtesy SITA)

Here's my blog post:

Maybe you've been wanting to become a "birder" -- a person who goes out to look at birds, learns how to identify them and keeps a list -- or perhaps participate in a bird-watching outing and see if you like it.

The upcoming Hagerman Birding Festival, scheduled for Feb. 12-14, is a perfect event to learn how to get started. Pre-registration is open for the event, which is limited to the first 150 people who sign up. There are classroom sessions where you learn how to identify different kinds of birds and field trips with birding experts. That's where the rubber hits the road. The multiday event costs $80 for adults and $25 for children 16 and younger,  including food and field trips.

Inspiration. Usually, a person's interest in birding is started by an inspirational moment. For me, it was watching bald eagles swoop down and catch crimson kokanee in West Glacier, Montana. Even since then, I've always been interested in birds of prey in particular. I must have taken 300 photos of eagles catching fish on that snowy day in December.

We learn in the Twin Falls Times-News  that Burley High School senior Joseph DeTemple is a budding birder after earning a Boy Scout merit badge through identifying eight species of birds. He's working with veteran birder Wallace Keck, superintendent of City of Rocks National Reserve and Castle Rocks State Park, to learn about birding. DeTemple already has identified more than 130 species. He's off and running!

Sharp-shinned hawk at the City of Rocks
(Courtesy Wallace Keck)

Keck, whose life list hovers near 460 species, was inspired by taking an ornithology class in college at Arkansas State University. Campus was near a number of mountains and rivers that made birding fun and exciting for Keck, who frequently blogs about his birding adventures. Keck recently blogged about "The Big Year" in which he hopes to add more species to his life list and surpass 500 species.

So how about making 2016 a year in which you start birding? The greater Southern Idaho region is a wonderful place to see birds -- from lots of waterfowl, bald eagles, and great blue herons in the Hagerman area along the Snake River, to more waterfowl at Lake Walcott State Park and Minidoka National Wildlife Refuge, songbirds at City of Rocks National Reserve and a variety of species at The Nature Conservancy's Silver Creek Preserve near Picabo. With every stop, you'll pick up more species. 

At City of Rocks, you can see a variety of songbirds such as pinyon jays and scrub jays and a variety of other birds surrounding the feeders they have at the Visitor Center, plus Keck photographed a beautiful Cooper's hawk perched in a tree nearby, looking for a morning meal.

Christine Gertschen, the organizer of the Hagerman Bird Festival this year, lives in Hagerman and enjoys seeing all the birds in that area. "The birds come here because of the open water on the Snake River," she says. "Last night, I was watching a pair of great-horned owls. Birding is just crazy around here in the winter ... it's definitely a hot spot."

How to get started? According to an article in Audubon, all you need is a pair of binoculars and a basic field guide to birds. Perhaps a small pocket notebook would be handy for noting species. My partner Wendy Wilson is an expert birder, and she likes to use the Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America for identifying birds. That guide is very well-done and very detailed. But there are quite a few available.

Audubon suggests thinking about a particular species that you'd like to identify, and then go out and find it. The Hagerman Birding Festival would be a perfect way to learn how to get started birding from the experts and go out in the field and start your own bird list.

To sign up for the festival, visit http://www.hagermanbirdfestival.com. For more information, call 208-352-3175 or email hagermanbirdfestival@gmail.com. See you at the festival!

    

If you plan to be visiting from out of town, look for lodging deals here at the Southern Idaho Tourism web site.

Another resource for learning about birds is to join the Idaho Birding Facebook page. You'll see a lot of birders and photographers posting close up and spectacular bird pics on the page. And you can learn tips about identifying a particular species.

Enjoy the birds!
- SS

Birds of Prey Festival in Kuna a great opportunity to see raptors up close and personal

Sunrise in Snake River Birds of Prey Area

Morley (with hat standing up) and Steve Guinn lead a tour

Steve with Slim, a golden eagle, in Stanley

Morley Nelson w/falcon on fist

Hey all,

For this week's Tip of the Week, I recommend the Snake River Birds of Prey Festival in Kuna this weekend, Friday, May 15 - Sunday, May 17.

On Friday night, you can enjoy a program about world-renowned birds of prey champion Morley Nelson, beginning at 6 p.m. at Reed Elementary School in Kuna. Morley brought the cause of raptor conservation into everyone's living room in multiple Walt Disney pictures and ABC-TV Wild Kingdom features, among many other movies that he participated in.

On Saturday or Sunday, you can sign up for an easy-going stillwater float trip on the Snake River above Swan Falls Dam with Birds of Prey Expeditions owner Steve Guinn. Bring your binos -- you'll see golden eagles on the nest, prairie falcons zooming amid the rock cliffs in flight, and enjoy many other hawks and owls on the trip. The yawning Snake River canyon is beautiful in this reach -- brilliant orange-mocha sheer walls form the bookends of the canyon.

The program on Morley Nelson is free. The boat trips are $70 for adults and $35 for children. Call 658-9980 or email birdsofprey@cableone.net for more information or to book a trip. I've done it several times, and it's a great way to spend a sunny weekend day.

As you might recall, I have a special affinity for the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area because I knew Morley. I knew how he had personally discovered that the Snake River canyon was unique in the world as a nesting refuge for a wide variety of birds of prey, particularly golden eagles and prairie falcons. I spent two years of my life writing Morley's biography, Cool North Wind: Morley Nelson's Life with Birds of Prey (Caxton Press, 2002).

Morley's sons, Tyler and Norman, will give a presentation on Morley's life and play a 30-minute highlight reel, featuring some awesome footage of birds of prey in flight and tail-chasing prey.

Morley was truly one of a kind. It was a privilege to know him and spend time with him.

No matter if you catch the program on Morley Friday night or if you go on a boat trip, you'll understand why the Snake River canyon has a special place in the world, and it's right here in our own backyard.

- SS

Sweet getaway to Birds of Prey Area via Swan Falls Road

It's been a while since I went out to the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, and I needed to ground-proof travel time and mileage from Kuna to Swan Falls Dam and back on my road bike, so I went for it last Sunday. It's 21 miles each way.

There was a brisk NW wind -- it blew me out to the Snake River canyon in about an hour. I dreaded the headwind on the way back, but I figured if I could average over 20 mph on the way out, maybe I could average 10 mph on the way back. It wasn't that bad, actually, more like 13-16 mph, until the wind kind of dissapated in the late afternoon.

The ride from Kuna to the Birds of Prey area is cool. You'll see hawks soaring along the way, maybe eagles, falcons and hawks along the cliff's edge. From a road riding perspective, the road is nearly empty, so it's a great place to get away from traffic.

The 2-mile descent to the dam is quite steep, so you zoom down, knowing you'll have to climb back out of there on the way back. But it's doable in low gear. Seemed to be a 10 percent grade in places.

Travel time was 3 hours, including a stop at the BLM interpretive site at the canyon rim, a great place for lunch or a snack.

I must admit that during the ride, I thought about my friend Morley Nelson, who was most instrumental in protecting that canyon for birds of prey forever. Congress has been working on changing the name of the raptor sanctuary after Morley, and there is a grade school in Boise that's been named after Morley. I wrote a biography on the man, Cool North Wind, and he left a lifelong impression on me. I feel fortunate to have known him.

I saw a golden eagle flying low near the canyon rim, hunting at the sagebrush level, and I thought of Morley, knowing that his spirit will soar in the wind above the canyon forever.