Six all-weather trails in the Boise Foothills when the weather gets wet

Mountain Cove Trail in Military Reserve Park has a new all-weather surface.
Good place to go when things get wet! 

Hi all,

We've been getting some pretty dicy weather lately as we make the transition from fall to winter.

For those in-between days, or times when the trails can get soaked from storms in the Boise Foothills, it's good to know about the all-weather trails available so you can get out on a walk and not worry about causing damage on a muddy trail. You can enjoy yourself GUILT-FREE!

All-weather trails have extra sand and gravel on the surface to absorb moisture and provide a pretty bomb-proof compacted surface. They're all pretty short in distance, and mostly suited to walking, running or a small bike ride.

I noticed the Ridge to Rivers trail crew putting in a new all-weather surface on the Mountain Cove Trail in Military Reserve Park last week. The trail runs for a little less than a mile parallel to Mountain Cove Road, next to Freestone Creek. The trail also connects to Central Ridge, Bucktail, Shanes and more in the Military Reserve complex.   

Mountain Cove Trail is the newest edition to Ridge to Rivers' quiver of all-weather trails. There are five others to consider:

1. Red Fox - Owl's Roost - a 2.2-mile loop from Camelsback to the Foothills Learning Center, suitable for all abilities. Hulls Grove Trail next to Owl's Roost is another all-weather alternative in that area.

Hulls Ponds from Red Fox Trail near Camelsback Park 

2. Harrison Hollow - Slightly less than a mile (one-way), all-weather trail in the hollow behind Highland's Hollow Brew Pub and Healthwise. Super easy trail, very gentle incline.

3. Neighborhood all-weather trails in the Foothills East subdivision off of Shenandoah and Shaw Mountain Road. Beautiful colors in that area right now!

Fall colors are pretty nice in Military Reserve Park right now. 

4. Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Trail #19A  (Table Rock/Castle Rock area) Flat and easy trail for all abilities. 

5. Red-Winged Blackbird #35A (Camelsback Park area) - Flat and easy trail for all abilities. It runs from the Hulls ponds to Chickadee Ridge through a wetlands environment. 

All of the all-weather trails are mostly flat because they're most suitable for the sand-and-gravel compacted treatment, explains David Gordon, manager of the Ridge to Rivers trail system. Steeper trails wouldn't work - they'd be too subject to erosion. 

So keep this list in your hip pocket when needed! 

In the meantime, you might have noticed that Ridge to Rivers has put out some signs related to Happy Trails! The signs are symbolic of a recent campaign by the R2R to encourage trail users to smile and be friendly out on the trails, Gordon says. 

"Realize that you're out on a shared-use trail system, so smile at your fellow trail users and be nice!"

From the etiquette section of Steve's early
mountain bike guides. 

I'm all for it, personally. I think if you're trying to be a good trail ambassador anywhere, you show good trail etiquette and say hi to folks and be friendly when you pass by. For mountain bikers, it helps to slow down and show the walkers and runners respect as you pass by. They appreciate it! 

Here's the R2R web page on Happy Trails for more information and etiquette tips. You can actually take the Happy Trails Pledge! I did it! It took about 15 seconds.  

In the early editions of my Boise Foothills mountain bike guides, I paid an artist to create a drawing (right) to encourage folks to be friendly and courteous on the trails ... Some things are timeless even if they're a little dorky! :) (circa 1992)

- SS 

Brrrrrrr! Feels like Fall! 5 rock-solid Fall Hikes Part 2

Three Fingers Rock (courtesy Summit Post) 

Hi all,

Whoa baby, the Cool North Wind was blowing like a son of a gun today, and it's got me thinking about fall hiking for the weekend.

Pulling a few of my recommendations from a program I gave tonight at Boise REI, I'm recommending five sure-fire fall hikes for my outdoor tip of the week. Consider this Fall Hikes Part 2, following the fall hiking post I did recently. In addition, there are oodles of options to choose from in my guides, the Owyhee Canyonlands - an Outdoor Adventure Guide, and Boise Trail Guide: 95 Hiking and Running Routes Close to Home.

This afternoon, Wendy, Elena and I took a walk on Red Fox and Chickadee Ridge, and hiking on the elevated ridge was quite brisk! The rabbit brush was still popping bright yellow, and Huck flushed quail everywhere! Sometimes a quick outing in the super accessible Boise Foothills is a great option when you only have an hour or so.

To that end, we start with:

1. Castle Rock - Table Rock "Foothills on the Rocks" - Distance: 4.3 miles; Difficulty: moderate to strenuous; Vertical gain: 952 feet; Hiking time: 1.5 hours. Start from behind the Bishop's House by the Old State Pen, where there is public parking. Hike Trail #15 to Castle Rock Trail #19 and loop around to the top of Castle Rock. Take a moment to enjoy the view. Continue to the east on Trail #15 and climb to the top of Table Rock. Look out into the city and take a breather. Then descend on Trail #16 and #17, which wrap around the cone of Table Rock, and retrace your tracks back to the start.

2. Marianne Williams - Barber Park Loop - Distance: 3.6 miles; Difficulty: easy to moderate; Travel time: 2 hours; Start either in Bown Crossing or Barber Park. Cap off your trip with some coffee or a beer in Bown Crossing.

Mountain biking on the old Oregon Trail in east Boise 

3. Oregon Trail going out toward Bonneville Point from BLM trailhead on Idaho 21. The trailhead for this hike is just to the east of Surprise Valley off of the Idaho 21 connector to Gowen Road. It's a nice walk to take the trail to the east, climb to the top of the bluff overlooking Diversion Dam and the Boise River, and if you're super ambitious, you could hike all the way to Bonneville Point. But often, I'm just walking the dog and getting some fresh air and an easier out-and-back experience is all I do. I reserve the trip out to Bonneville Point for my mountain bike.

4. Huckleberry Trail, Ponderosa State Park - The colors are turning on "the Huck" and it's a relatively easy walk around the peninsula of Ponderosa State Park. Distance: 5 miles; Difficulty: moderate; Travel time: 2-3 hours. Trailhead is a Ponderosa State Park. If you've got a state trails pass, you can enter for free.

Bear Basin Trails would be another good choice when the snow melts in McCall this weekend, if it melts!

Photo courtesy Carolyn Dickinson of McCall

Norm Nelson takes a breather at the top of Three Fingers. 

5. Climb Three Fingers in the Owyhees - Distance: 2.4 miles; Difficulty: easy to moderate; Travel time: 1.5 hours; Vertical gain: 833 feet. The hardest part about the hike to Three Fingers is to find the trailhead, and that's not that hard. Follow directions in a previous detailed post about hiking to Three Fingers. You should allow 1.5-2 hours to get to the trailhead on the McIntyre Springs Road from Boise. Once you're there, the hike to the top is pretty quick, very kid-friendly, and you'll be amazed at the big views of the Owyhee Canyonlands from the top. You might even see some bighorn sheep.

Be aware that rifle deer hunting season has begins statewide in Idaho on Thursday, Oct. 10, so wear bright colors in your outdoor outings, and put bright colors on your pups.
- SS

Sign up for the Boise Trails Challenge! Ride all of the Boise R2R trails in 30 days!

Nick Smith riding near the Boise Ridge - He's ridden all the R2R Trails in a month 3 years in a row ...

Nick Smith and a friend out riding the trails. 

Hi all,

Have you heard about the Boise Trails Challenge? 

I heard about it off-hand in a few casual conversations, and then I saw it on Facebook the other day. The idea is to ride 158 miles, covering 83 trails and 193 trail segments, including nearly all of the Ridge to Rivers trails, in one month. It's a friendly race against the clock. Hook up your Strava device to the Boise Trails Challenge, pay a modest registration fee, and join the fun, all brought to you by BoiseTrails.com.

This year the event is being held from June 21-July 21, so you have a little time to get plugged in! Three-hundred mountain bikers are signed up already! I think the event is open to runners and hikers, too.

Boise realtor Nick Smith, 40, has done it three years in a row, two of them before it became a real event. "My brother and I thought it'd be cool to ride all of the trails as fast as possible in a month," Smith says.

Last year, he did all of the trails in 18 days over 16 rides, covering 281 miles and more than 50,000 vertical feet. Wow! Who needs to go to Moab when you can absolutely work your body riding the rich variety of trails and landscapes right here at home! Smith hit all the trails while balancing his work life and raising three kids.

Apparently, some absolute hard-core competitive racers knocked out the course in several days. Can you imagine?

"I love mountain biking -- it's my favorite thing to do," he says. "I think we're spoiled with the quality of trails that we have in Boise."

What kind of rides have you been doing, lately? Riding Sidewinder-Fat Tire every time you ride? Corrals Loop? Watchman? Let's face it, a lot of people are stuck in a rut, and they're not necessary trying anything new ...

"How many of Boise’s amazing trails have you tried? The Boise Trails Challenge is an annual month-long challenge to complete as many of Boise’s trails as you can during a single month. You’ll discover new favorite trails, break out of your routine, test your endurance, and compete for prizes!"

I see this as a great way to celebrate our trails ... people can sign up, even if they don't think they can do every ride as an incentive to just see what you're capable of!

Smith thinks that strong intermediate riders could do it. He's got a buddy who has mountain biked for for only two years, and he completed the Boise Trails Challenge in 30 days.

The cool thing about participating in the challenge is that the Strava app will sync with the interactive trail map on the BoiseTrails.com web site, and it'll track your progress, and keep you informed as to what trails you have left to cover. After each trail is ridden, the trail segment will fill with a different color than the interactive map to show you're done that one.

I asked Smith about his strategy. He recommends sitting down with a hard copy of the Ridge to Rivers map, and plan out your rides to try to be efficient and avoid duplication. "I sat down and planned when and where I was going to ride," he says.

He tried to vary his rides between super-challenging long hard climbs and easier trails with less climbing. This was Day #1 for him: a 45-mile ride, starting in Camelsback, up Hulls to the motorcycle parking area, down Trail #1 to Bob's, then up Highlands Trail to Corrals, then up Hard Guy to Sheep Camp to Dry Creek, then up Sweet Connie to Eastside, part of Around the Mountain Trail and down the ridge road back to Boise ... I might have missed a few things in there, but man, that's one heck of a day's ride!

"It's a fun way to explore Boise," Smith says. "I just want to improve on my time from last year. I'm competing pretty much against myself."

Prizes: All participants will receive wool Boise Trails socks ($18 retail value), and finishers and winners will get even more stuff, and there are random prizes and drawings, too.

I highly recommend the Boise Trails Challenge! I personally would like to try it, and even if you don't want to try to do all the trails in a month, set your own goal and try to cover all 158 miles at your own pace. Just to knock out all the trails in one summer season would be impressive as well!

Sometimes it takes a big goal to improve your fitness, get stronger, maybe lose some weight, and earn it the hard way by taking on the mountain! The mountains don't care, I notice, how fast you go or how you're feeling that day. They are the great equalizer!
- SS