Put on the big boy pants and cap the mountain bike season with a big ride!

Jim Giuffre and Doug Lawrence heading down on the Bear Pete Trail. 

Mark and Roberto on last year's ride to Mark's cabin. 

Hi all,

It's that time of year when it's perfect conditions for fall mountain biking. Cool temperatures keep the sweat factor to a minimum. Fall colors create a beautiful backdrop while you slalom through the forest or the sagebrush. But winter weather is coming soon, so it's important to capitalize on these last sunny days in October for some epic rides.

Many of you have been riding since March or April, you're in great shape, and you're ready to do some big miles on an Idaho classic ride. That's my outdoor tip of the week -- I'm recommending some of my favorite fall Idaho classics. Put on your big boy or big girl pants and go for it!

My post this week is inspired by my plan to do the "Ride to Mark's Cabin" on Saturday, Oct. 5 with a bunch of fun people. It's a 40-mile route starting from Bogus Basin, out the Boise Ridge Road to Harris Creek saddle, down to Placerville for lunch, and then over another mountain range via Ophir Creek to drop into the South Payette via Wash Creek. Mark's cabin is at the bottom of the descent, where plenty of beer and ribs await for dinner! 

It appears we're going to have excellent weather on Saturday, with partly cloudy skies and a high temperature near 60. Sunday should be an even better day for a ride, with highs in the low 70s. 

Here are some other classics to try:

1. Around the Mountain - Eastside - Sweet Connie - Chukar Butte to Hidden Springs. Shuttle Required. I'm not sure how many miles this one is, but definitely 20+ miles. Your legs will feel cooked by the time you reach the bottom of Chukar Butte! This is one of the best downhills in the trail system! See the Boise Trails site for a map of Sweet Connie and the rest.

Nice light on Sweet Connie (courtesy MTB Project) 

2. Corrals- Hard Guy-Dry Creek Loop - This is one of my all-time favorites. It's a tough climb up Hard Guy, but it's one hoot of a good time coming down the Dry Creek trail. Rated: Advanced. Distance: 22 miles. Travel time: 4-6 hours. Tread: dirt road and mostly singletrack. Vertical gain/descent: 3,513 feet. Connect with Corrals Trail 1.8 miles up Bogus Basin Road on the right. Proceed on Corrals to the Hard Guy Jct on the left at mile 3.2. Climb Hard Guy to the Boise Ridge Road. It's five miles of strenuous granny gear climbing on singletrack, some of it sandy and super steep. Turn left on the Boise Ridge Road and ride two miles to the Dry Creek junction (mile 10.3). Descend into Dry Creek on the singletrack and enjoy the shady ride in the trees and water crossings. You'll hit Bogus Basin Road at mile 17.7. Ride the pavement back to town.

Hard Guy-Dry Creek Loop is one of the major primo rides in Boise

3. Five fall rides I recommended in a Visit Idaho post - Around the Mountain, Loon Lake, Fisher-Williams, Gold Hill in Sandpoint and the Lynx Trail in Farragut State Park, north of Coeur d'Alene. See the post for details and photos.

Mark Anderson takes in the views on the Bear Pete Trail. 

4. Bear Pete Trail, near McCall - This is great ride in fall colors. Once you get on top of Bear Pete Mountain, you're riding a singletrack at 8,000 feet and you can see forever! Everyone loves this ride because it does test you, and sometimes hike-a-bike is required! Distance: 17.5 miles. Vertical gain: 3,500 feet. Rated advanced (strenuous). Travel time: full day. Bear Pete Trail is located north of McCall via Warren Wagon Road. Past Upper Payette Lake, watch for a turnoff to Cloochman Saddle. This road takes you to the trailhead. You also should plant a vehicle at the north end of Bear Pete, north of Burgdorf Hot Springs, if you don't want to ride a long dirt road slog back to your vehicle at the trailhead. At the saddle, climb trail #142 Bear Pete and grind for a couple of miles to the ridgetop. You'll ride up and down along the high mountain ridge for several hours. There are a few junctions but stay on the main trail. On the north end, the trail plunges downhill to Forest Road #246, the road to Burgdorf Hot Springs. You made it! Bring your swimsuits and take a soak at Burgdorf after the ride! Always a good call!

Back of Beyond Three Fingers! Gorgeous scenery up-canyon! 

5. Back of Beyond Three Fingers Loop - This is still a little-known super scenic mountain bike ride in the Owyhees, near Carlton Canyon and Painted Canyon. The scenery is gorgeous -- you'll see neat canyons, hoo doos and other rock features, similar to what you see at Leslie Gulch. Distance is 22 miles. Rated strong intermediate/advanced. Tread: All two-track roads. Travel time: 3.5-5 hours. Bring plenty of water and a lunch. Getting there: Go to Succor Creek State Park, and continue south 6 miles to an unsigned dirt road on the right at the top of a grade. This is McIntyre Springs Road. Go right and follow the dirt road 3 miles to an unsigned two-track on the left. This is your trailhead. Follow the directions on the map below. The scenery is gorgeous on this ride -- you'll see neat canyons, hoo doos and other rock features. Detailed directions are in my book, the Owyhee Canyonlands - An Outdoor Adventure Guide. Bring a BLM map, topo map and a GPS for best navigation.

Map for Back of Beyond Three Fingers Loop. After
you do the ride, climb to the top of Three Fingers!

There you have it! Have a great weekend! 

- 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

Five must-do mountain bike rides for the Fall; Weekend weather looks fab!

Nice light on Sweet Connie (courtesy MTB Project) 

Cool stock pond that you'll see riding the new trails that connect to Sweet Connie
in Daniels and Dry Creek over to Hidden Springs 

Back of Beyond Three Fingers! Gorgeous scenery up-canyon! 

Back of Beyond Three Fingers ... 

Paul Hilding rides through the red rocks 

Hi all,

I wrote about five high-elevation hikes suitable for the fall recently, so this week I'm dishing up five must-do mountain bike rides for the fall. The mountains are becoming colorful with the huckleberry bushes and other shrubs turning deep red, and yellow and orange quaking aspen waving in the breeze.

Several of these rides are "levy specials," meaning the rides are possible because of the $10 million foothills open space levy that Boise voters passed back in 2001. Boise Parks & Recreation staff did a masterful job of stretching those dollars and selecting the best open space areas for acquisition, including some of the trails that I'll describe.

A new $10 million open space levy is on the Nov. 3 ballot, as I wrote last week. Thanks to everyone who came to our party last week. We raised more than $4,000 for the campaign. Consumed the big keg full of tasty craft beer, too! Thanks Highlands Hollow! Go to the official Boise Water and Open Space levy campaign site to endorse the campaign and find out how you can help.

Most of these rides are featured in Mountain Biking in Boise, available at most bike shops. It's available as an ebook on my web site and individual digital rides go for 99 cents each.

Now, the rides!

1. Sweet Connie from the top, levy special - With the new trails just opened up in Northwest Boise, it's possible to ride Sweet Connie from Stack Rock all the way to Hidden Springs and Cartwright Road. Rated: Advanced; Mileage: 15-20; 2,500-foot descent. Sorry, I don't have a full GPS map of this ride ... only the lower portion. Here's a link to a map on MTB project showing Sweet Connie coming down the foothills to the pullout on Bogus Basin Road. For the full enchilada, take Eastside from the left-side pullout on Bogus Basin Road about 12 miles from Boise, and ride out to Stack Rock. At Stack Rock junction, bear left to peel off on Sweet Connie down the foothills. Ride about 5 miles to the junction with the new trails in Daniels Creek and Dry Creek. Turn hard right where Sweet Connie heads over to Bogus Basin Road, and follow the new trail over to a big stock pond and then snakes down through sagebrush and rocks to Cartwright Road and Hidden Springs area. A shuttle will be necessary to fetch your rig at the Eastside Trailhead. This video of Eastside to Sweet Connie gives you an idea of what to expect in the upper end.

Map of new trails in Daniels Creek and Dry Creek that connect to Sweet Connie
The short route from Polecat to Hidden Springs is about 10 miles. 

2. Back of Beyond Three Fingers Loop - This is one of my favorite rides in the Owyhees on the Oregon side, near Carlton Canyon and Painted Canyon. The scenery is gorgeous -- you'll see neat canyons, hoo doos and other rock features, similar to what you see at Leslie Gulch. Distance is 22 miles. Rated strong intermediate/advanced. Tread: All two-track roads. Travel time: 3.5-5 hours. Bring plenty of water and a lunch. Getting there: Go to Succor Creek State Park, and continue south 6 miles to an unsigned dirt road on the right at the top of a grade. This is McIntyre Springs Road. Go right and follow the dirt road 3 miles to an unsigned two-track on the left. This is your trailhead. Follow the directions on the map below. The scenery is gorgeous on this ride -- you'll see neat canyons, hoo doos and other rock features. Detailed directions are in my book, the Owyhee Canyonlands - An Outdoor Adventure Guide. Bring a BLM map, topo map and a GPS for best navigation.

Map for Back of Beyond Three Fingers Loop. After
you do the ride, climb to the top of Three Fingers!  

Wendy and Huck take a breather on the Watchman Trail 

3. Ride the Watchman Loop, Levy Special - This is a super sweet ride in the NE Foothills of Boise. When the city purchased the land around Five Mile Creek and Orchard Creek, the Ridge to Rivers crew built Watchman Trail, which provides great view of the foothills and the city, while touring several creek-bottoms. Distance: 10.2 miles. Rated advanced (strong intermediates could do it). Riding time: 2-3 hours. Tread: Dirt road, mostly singletrack once you're off Rocky Canyon Road. Getting there: In east Boise, take Reserve Street to Shaw Mountain Road and then follow that to the top of the hill. Turn left on Rocky Canyon Road and follow that to the end of the pavement. Park. The ride starts here. Ride up Rocky Canyon Road 2.5 miles to the Five Mile Creek Trailhead. Turn left and climb the trail along the nice creek for a mile or so. At mile 3.9, pass the junction to Orchard Gulch. Go straight and climb a steep rocky pitch to the Watchman Junction. Now the trail contours more across the hills for several miles. When the trail descends fast, go left at the Trail #6 junction on Three Bears. Follow Three Bears all the way down Curlew Ridge to Shane's Jct. That downhill is a hoot! Go left at Shane's, return to Rocky Canyon Road, go right and ride back to your vehicle.
 

Watchman Loop map. You can add some singletrack by starting in Military
Reserve and climbing over to Shane's and Rocky Canyon Road. 

4. Corrals-Hard Guy-Dry Creek Loop, Levy Special - This is one of my all-time favorites. It's a tough climb up Hard Guy, but a hoot of a downhill coming down Dry Creek. There's some new bridges up there. Still, it's usually a wet shoes ride. Rated: Advanced. Distance: 22 miles. Travel time: 4-6 hours. Tread: dirt road and mostly singletrack. Vertical gain/descent: 3,513 feet. Connect with Corrals Trail on the right, 1.8 miles up Bogus Basin Road. Proceed on Corrals to the Hard Guy Jct on the left at mile 3.2. Climb Hard Guy to the Boise Ridge Road. It's five miles of tough climbing on singletrack, some of it sandy. Turn left on the ridge road and ride two miles to the Dry Creek junction (mile 10.3). Descend into Dry Creek on the singletrack and enjoy the shady ride in the trees and water crossings. You'll hit Bogus Basin Road at mile 17.7. Ride the pavement back to town. This is a levy special because there's public easement now all the way down Dry Creek thanks to the Grossman Family and the Land Trust for the Treasure Valley.

Lower Dry Creek 

Upper Dry Creek 

Hard Guy-Dry Creek Loop is one of the major primo rides in Boise 

Polecat Loop Trail 

5. Polecat Gulch, Levy Special - Polecat Gulch was one of the first open space aquisitions that the city made after the first levy passed, creating a much-need open space reserve and public trail system in NW Boise. Now there's a public trailhead on the south and north ends of Polecat Reserve. The Polecat Loop is 5.75 miles around the perimeter. Rated: Intermediate. You can mix in some additional loops when you're there to increase the mileage by several miles. Getting there: Take Hill Road west to N. Collister in NW Boise. Go up Collister about a mile or so to the trailhead. Ride up Polecat Gulch, take your first left, and climb up on top of the finger ridges that lord above the gulch. It takes about an hour to follow the Polecat Loop Trail around the reserve and then it's a fun downhill down the gulch to the trailhead.

Polecat Gulch Loop 

There you have it! Have fun!
- SS