It's been snowy, rainy and wet! Five rock-solid ideas for all-weather hiking trails this weekend!

Bruneau Dunes State Park

Hi all, 

It's been quite the rebound to winter-like conditions in the Boise Valley and greater Southwest Idaho in the last 10 days, plus plenty of spring rain, hail and graupel. That's an awesome thing for our water supply! 

It should be obvious that many of the Ridge to Rivers trails are wet and soggy, and thus it's best to search for alternatives. Stay in tune with the latest conditions on R2R Trails here.  

Looking ahead to the weekend, the weather forecast looks sunny and cool on Friday, rainy on Saturday, and sunny and cool on Easter Sunday. 

New snow (1-3") is forecast at Bogus Basin for a special bonus day on Saturday. Sun Valley is operating 7 days a week through Sunday, April 17.  

So if you're itching to make a few more turns, the skiing/riding conditions should be great at Bogus and Sun Valley. If you venture into the backcountry to go snowshoeing or backcountry skiing, you're likely to encounter DEEP snow, with over 20" of new snow that's fallen in the last 10 days, depending on location. Could be some of the best skiing of the season!   

For the valley-dwellers, I'm recommending 5 rock-solid ideas for all-weather trails that would be doable this weekend ... all of these trips are featured in my Boise Trail Guide: 95 Hiking and Running Routes Close to Home: 

1. Bruneau Dunes State Park. Pure sand. Located about 1.5 hours east of Boise. 

2. Eagle Greenbelt from Eagle Road to Glenwood. 4-6 miles one-way. You can do a loop by crossing the pedestrian bridge across the Boise River, if you wish. 

3. Snake River Trail, accessed from Celebration Park, south of Nampa. Very sandy trail to Halverson Lake or stay on the river trail to a cool old rock cabin.  

4. Harrison Hollow all-weather trail. Trailhead is by Healthwise and Highlands Hollow restaurant off of Bogus Basin Road. 1.5 miles out and back. 

 5. Walking path from River Run to Barber Park. Good all-weather surface mostly. 3 miles one-way. Start/finish in Barber Park. 

There you have it! 

- SS 

A hodge-podge of outdoorsy notes for Halloween weekend; Vote Yes on Nov. 3rd!

Vote yes on Nov. 3! 

Volunteers are needed for a trail re-route project in Harrison Hollow, near Healthwise.  

Five Mile Creek Trail in the East Foothills would be a good bet this weekend
if the trails aren't too wet after the expected rain storms. 

Near the Watchman Trail, one of my favorites, with Huck. 

Bucktail in Military Reserve has been riding great! This is a levy special!
Trail access made possible by open space funds! Everyone loves Bucktail!

Hi all,

It's looking like a pretty soggy Friday, but Saturday looks much better, weather-wise, at least in the Boise-area, and then more rain on Sunday.

I'd recommend getting out on Saturday to do some hiking or biking in the Boise Foothills, Boise or Eagle Greenbelt, Stack Rock or Bogus Basin. I recommended several "levy specials" plus a super-cool ride in the Owyhees in a blog post in mid-September, including Sweet Connie from the top, Watchman Loop, Hard Guy-Dry Creek Loop and Polecat Loop. Check on the Boise Foothills Trail Conditions Facebook page to check on trail conditions.

These local trails are levy-specials because city leaders used funds from the original $10 million levy to create long-term public access to those trails. Remember to vote for the Boise Clean Water and Open Space levy on Tuesday, Nov. 3rd to preserve more open space, public access and wildlife habitat in the future. I will be working the phones on Sunday for the Conservation Voters for Idaho to help the campaign. Tell your friends and family!

Wondering where to vote on Tuesday? Use the Ada County elections polling locator to find out.

Also on Saturday, the Land Trust for the Treasure Valley will be doing a trail-reroute project at the top of Harrison Hollow in Boise. Sign up to help if you'd like. The trail project runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Some other notes of interest:

• Due to a large amount of rainfall, the BLM road to Leslie Gulch is CLOSED for the time being until repairs are made. Stay in touch with the Vale District of the BLM to find out when it reopens. 
• The Idaho City District of the Boise National Forest is planning a big timber-management project in the same area where the Idaho City Park n' Ski Areas are located. It's called the Becker Integrated Resource Project. This project will affect road and trail access to the Park n' Ski yurts, so I recommend that you read up on the project and recommend that they keep the two-track roads open in the summer to Skyline and Stargaze yurts. 

The Forest Service is recommending a springtime seasonal closure of these roads to benefit Rocky Mountain elk during the calving season. Alternative C would close the roads year-round. See Leo Hennessy's take on this project in  Idaho Outdoors. I think it's important to keep the two-tracks open to Stargaze and Skyline so people can pack water into the yurts for summer use, and young children and the elderly can enjoy the yurts by reaching them by a vehicle. Comments are due by Nov. 9th.

Have a great Halloween weekend! 

- SS