Give back on National Trails Day, Morning Star story contest and Raptor Fest in Kuna!

What's your story? Enter the Morning Star story contest to win a triple chair for your front yard!

Oh my goodness, the weather looks fab this weekend in the Boise Valley! Temperatures will be nudging 80 degrees in the afternoons ... and things should start to dry out after a long series of rainy days in Idaho!

For my outdoor tip of the week, I'm recommending a hodge-podge of activities for the weekend, including three National Trails Day events on Saturday, a new story contest for a Morning Star chairlift from Bogus Basin, and another event on Saturday, the Snake River Raptor Fest at Indian Creek Winery, where I'll be speaking about Morley Nelson, the great champion for birds of prey at 2 p.m., and give some tips about recreation outings in the Snake River canyon.

Put some sweat equity back into your favorite trails. (Courtesy Land Trust of the Treasure Valley)

First for National Trails Day, you can do your part to give back to our beloved trail systems and  public lands by participating in one of three events on Saturday, June 1:

• Volunteer cleanup event by the Oregon Trail reserve on BLM land near Columbia Village. See Facebook invite for details. Hours are 9-11 a.m. Sponsored by the BLM, Ridge to Rivers, the Oregon-California Trails Association and more. Contact ddraheim@blm.gov for details. 
• BBP Goathead Challenge - From June 1 - July 31 BBP is encouraging people to pull goatheads around trails and their neighborhoods. Click on link for details. June 22 is a community-wide effort coming up soon. Prizes for large quantities of goat heads pulled. Drop the spoils at the Northend Nursery or dispose of them in your compost bin.
• Boise REI, the Land Trust of the Treasure Valley and Hidden Springs will be hosting a trail maintenance project on the Cartwright Ridge Trail from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Meet at the Hidden Springs Community Barn.     

Ok, now for the Bogus Basin story contest to win a much-prized Morning Star triple chair! The Morning Star chairlift is being replaced this summer with a faster quad. The retro triple chairs are proving to be quite popular!

The story contest is all going to happen really fast! "From marriage proposals to memorable mishaps, Bogus Basin’s Morning Star Chairlift Story Contest has become a sentimental journey for local ski enthusiasts. The story contest, which runs now through June 2, represents a chance for one lucky winner to own a unique piece of Bogus Basin history by sharing their memories from riding the lift," says marketing director Susan Saad.

Bogus has provided a series of opportunities for fans to win chairs from the decommissioned lift,
including an online auction, two raffles, and now the story contest. A second and final online auction is planned for June.

The winner of the story contest will be selected by a panel of two judges - Betsy Russell, the leading  state government reporter in Idaho for the Idaho Press, and yours truly. Betsy has been an avid skier for decades, plus she's the president of the Idaho Press Club. She and I used to race together for the Statesman on Monday nights at Bogus.

Entries are due by June 2. Mail entries to marketing@bogusbasin.org by June 2nd. Entrants must be at least 18 years old, only one submission is allowed per person, and the stories must be limited to 250 words or less. Photos are optional, but not required. The winner will be announced on June 7th.

Bogus is open for the summer season BTW! See their web site for more information on what to do, but you can do scenic chairlift rides, ride the Mountain Coaster, there's food and drink, and more! 

Love this painting of Morley! Come learn more about this man on Saturday at Raptor Fest.

The Snake River Raptor Fest runs from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday at Indian Creek Winery. The event was very well-attended last year for the 25th anniversary of the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area. There's live music, food and drink throughout the afternoon, plus presentations!

Indian Creek Winery will be serving a variety of their fine wines, and Lost Grove Brewing will be pouring cold beer. Bang on the Wall Burgers, Crisp, Melt, and the STIL will be serving amazing burgers and fries, globally eclectic food, and delicious ice cream.

Schedule of informal presentations:

1:00pm — Heather Hayes, Research Biologist, Intermountain Bird Observatory 

"The Long-billed Curlew: Tracking A Species of Greatest Conservation Need"

2:00pm — Steve Stuebner, Award-winning Author and Morley Nelson Biographer

"Conservation and Recreation in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area." Steve will sign copies of Cool North Wind at the event.

3:00pm — Mike Kochert, Scientist Emeritus, USGS, and the NCA's first Biologist

"Fifty Years of Studying Golden Eagles in Southwestern Idaho: What Have We Learned?"

4:00pm — Juli McCoy, Programs Manager for Canyon County Parks Cultural and Natural Resources

"What's Going on Out There? A History of Cultural Resources in the Snake River Canyon"

Wow, all of those sound pretty darn interesting! There also will be exhibitors at Raptor Fest, and I'm fairly certain that Monte Tish will be there with Morley's golden eagle, "Slim." 

Have a great weekend! 

- SS    

Snake River Raptor Fest, Big Water Blowout in Riggins and the Grand Ronde River

Steve on the Grand Ronde River last weekend ... 

There are many deluxe camps in the forest along the river. 

Hiking up the mountain behind camp is always rewarding and beautiful. 

Hi all,

The weather has been pretty topsy-turvy lately, with major rainstorms or hail late in the day. But the 10-day forecast for Boise and surrounding areas in the valley looks like summer is coming BIG-TIME! 

Just as we turn the page into June, forecasters are predicting temperatures in the 80s on Saturday, low 90s on Sunday, and mostly 80s through mid-month. Bring on summer!

For my outdoor tip this week, I'm recommending two weekend events and providing some recap notes from our Grand Ronde River trip in Eastern Oregon. 

First, the events ... the Snake River Raptor Fest in Kuna sounds like a lot of fun this year, particularly because of the 25th anniversary of the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, a great location at Indian Creek Winery and live music! I'll be manning a table and signing copies of Cool North Wind, a well-regarded biography of Morley Nelson's life with birds of prey. The event runs from noon to 5 p.m. There will be live birds of prey on display and kids activities as well. Hope to see you there. 

This is what one reviewer had to say about Cool North Wind, "It is truly an amazing book, and a fun, entertaining, and enlightening read!" American Falconry 

BTW, I'll be on a panel at the Idaho Environmental Forum next Wednesday, June 6th, to talk about Morley Nelson as part of a discussion about the 25th anniversary of the designation of the birds of prey area. Former Congressman Larry LaRocco will be on the panel along with Amanda Hoffman, area manager of the birds of prey area for the BLM. The deadline for signing up for this IEF luncheon program is on Monday. 



The first weekend of June also marks the Big Water Blowout in Riggins ... Take a wild ride with a local outfitter or bring your own raft and try your hand at running some big water on the mighty Salmon River. The Salmon River has been flowing in 50,000-60,000 cubic feet per second range in the last week or so after two peaks over 70,000 cfs. Should be cranking in the 65,000 cfs range this weekend! 

A lot of big water whitewater boaters were at the Lochsa River Memorial Day gathering last week, so they'll be tuned up for some more big water fun in Riggins! 

For a lower-key river adventure, I would recommend running the Grand Ronde River right now. We camped on the river for 4 days last week, Thursday-Sunday, and it was a super fun time. The whole canyon is really beautiful right now, chock full of wildflowers and very green! We picked a campsite that ended up having a resident bighorn sheep herd grazing on the opposite mountain from camp. We hung out and watched the wild sheep in the morning during breakfast and also during the cocktail hour in the evening. There were at least 4 baby lambs that were chasing each other around in the rocks and a small group of about 12 sheep ... really precious to watch! 

With fairly high flows in the 9,000 cfs range, the Grand Ronde scoots along at 7-8 mph. That means you can clock a lot of miles fairly quickly, and then make a base camp. The whole section we typically run is only 35 miles in length. So we went down about 20 miles in 3 hours, base camped for 3 days, and then rowed out 15 miles the last morning. 

The put-in for the Grand Ronde is at Minam, northeast of La Grande on Highway 82 (paved road all the way to the put-in; unusual for some rivers), and the takeout is at Powatka Bridge by the Wildcat Creek road. You do drive a gravel road from the takeout to a point near the little town of Wallowa, where you jump back on the highway. Super easy drive in the whole scheme of things to do a stellar river trip. 

The Grand Ronde is great for kids, side-hiking, wildlife-watching, camping and R&R. I highly recommend it! 

- SS