Priest Lake is one of Idaho's crown jewels

Awesome beach camping

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This tree doesn't have much foundation left

Paddling up the Narrows to Upper Priest Lake

Full moon over Priest Lake

Navigation Trail

Sweet singletrack

I am so happy to be here!

Our campsite

Wendy and I had a four-day weekend reserved last week to run the Bruneau River. But after our friends had to cancel, we shifted the trip to Priest Lake, one of my all-time favorite outdoor haunts.

We headed for Beaver Creek Campground in the Panhandle National Forest, a premium camping area on the north end of Priest Lake that has beachfront, immediate access to singletrack hiking and biking trails, and close access to the "the Narrows," a creek-like water channel that connects to Upper Priest Lake. It's a perfect base camp for just about any outdoor activity, including reading on the beach!

We mountain biked on the Lakeshore Trail, a 10-mile wonder along the west shoreline of Priest Lake in heavy timber right on the edge of Priest Lake. We also rode the Navigation Trail to Upper Priest Lake. It's an easy trail for the most part, but there was one challenging section with some stairstep drops into a creek bottom, and Wendy landed at the bottom of the stairstep feature and lost control. She got ejected from her bike and Supermanned into the creek bottom, landing on her head in the mud. Ouch! She was OK after a bit of rest.

The Selkirk Mountains are directly above the east shoreline of Priest Lake. You can take logging roads to points near the upper ridge, and hike to the peaks from there. When Mark Lisk and I worked on the Idaho Impressions coffee table book, we hiked out to Chimney Rock at sunset, and he got a great shot of the orange-and-rouge sunset glows on the Selkirk Peaks, and we hiked back to the truck in the dark, and actually found it!

Several of the mountain bike trails in the Priest Lake region are featured in my statewide guide "Mountain Biking Idaho." Check 'em out. They're awesome!

Try to plan a week to visit Priest Lake and immerse yourself in all of the outdoor fun. Don't forget to hang out on the beach and chill, too.

How to get there: From Boise take I-84 west toward Portland. Go right on I-82 near the Tri-Cities. Then take U.S. 395 north to Ritzville and I-90. Go east to Spokane, then U.S. 2 north to Priest Lake from Spokane. It's about 8 hours of driving time if you keep the pedal to the metal. -- SS

Spring tease opens Boise Foothills to recreation

I went out for my first mountain bike ride of the spring in the Boise Foothills on Friday, March 20, and it was the warmest day (photo courtesy Joshua Roper) of the year so far - just nudging 70 degrees. It had been getting progressively warmer since Wednesday, the 17th, and so I expected the trails would be getting pretty dry.

Once Wendy and I got out there, we realized that everything was bone dry in the lower foothills trails. Cool! We rode Red Fox and Chickadee Ridge over to Hulls Gulch, and then climbed
Kestrel to Crestline, and then rode up to the top of Sidewinder. Again, everything was totally dry.

Yippee, I thought, the recreation season in the Boise Foothills has begun for yet another year of non-stop fun and relaxation. Being the first real warm day of spring, people were out in droves that evening. Hikers, joggers, mountain bikers and dogs everywhere! The creek in Hulls Gulch was running strong. Daylight-savings time already had begun, so it was a fantastic evening. We are so lucky to live in a place with 100 miles of trails at our doorstep.

But this year, we seem to be getting the warm, dry weather in small doses so far. I went for a 5-mile run in the Hillside to the Hollow area on the Saturday after that beautiful Friday, and it was still dry and warm, but a thunderstorm chased me home, and it rained all day on Sunday. On Monday, I did a quick ride after work in Military Reserve, and the trails had dried out by then - I just encountered a few small tiny puddles on Bucktail and Shanes. But the next couple days, it rained hard, and turned things to mush. By Friday of this week, things were drying out again, but more rain was forecast for Sunday.

To make sure that you're not causing any trouble on muddy trails, keep an eye on the dialogue in the Idaho Outdoors yahoo group and the new Boise Front Trails yahoo group. If you're not a member, it's easy to join. All you need is a yahoo login. Both groups have had a lot of dialogue about foothills trail conditions on a daily basis. You also can check trail reports on the Ridge to Rivers web site.

Please remember, if the foothills trails are muddy, just turn around and go for a ride on your road bike or a run on the Greenbelt or wherever you won't cause environmental damage. On weekends, consider heading out to the Owyhee foothills, south of Nampa or Marsing, or the Snake River Birds of Prey area. The trails out there are usually the first to dry out.

Thanks and have fun! - SS