Five spring hiking destinations inspired by new edition of Boise Trail Guide

Rick Gerrard pauses to enjoy the view on the way up to Cervidae Peak.
2,000-foot climb in 2.2 miles. Steep!  

Look how the trail goes directly up the ridgeline ...
That'll get the heart pumping! 

Another steep section ... watch for elk and deer 

Rocky rims lord over Shoofly Creek in the Owyhees

Steve hiking the Shoofly Quick Loop 

Wonder if the wildflowers are going to bloom early this year? 

Hi all,

Well, the weather looks pretty fab once again in the low country this weekend, with temps in the 70s on Friday, slight possibility of rain Saturday, and a slightly cooler day on Sunday, with temps in the 60s, but clear skies. And then rain on Monday.

So I'm recommending five spring hikes inspired by the 2nd edition of Boise Trail Guide, my hiking and trail-running book which is expanding from 75 hiking and running routes to 90. There's a whole new book cover, new photo spreads inside, and more. The 224-page book should be available for retail sales in about 3-4 weeks (mid-April). A full-color ebook will be available as well.

Here are the hikes!

1. Hike to Cervidae Peak near Lucky Peak Reservoir and Spring Shores Marina. Rated strenuous. Distance: 2.2 miles up; 2.2 miles back. 4.4 miles total. Travel time: 2.5-3 hours. Vertical gain: 2,000 feet. Take Idaho 21 east of Boise. Cross the Mores Creek high bridge. Turn right after the bridge and go 2.2 miles up the road (you'll go by the Spring Shores Marina) and park in a large pull-out on the right. Cross the road and pick up a jeep trail that climbs up to a ridge and then you're on the trail to Cervidae. It's a steep hike that goes directly to Cervidae Peak, climbing 2,000 vertical feet in about 2 miles. Leg-burner and lung-burner! It's hard on the knees on the way down. Go easy. Trekking poles would help soften the blow. Good hike for strong kids. Great views at the top of the peak.

Trail map for Eagle Island State Park. Enjoy! 

2. Eagle Island State Park in Eagle - Rated easy to moderate. Distance: up to 5.5 miles. Travel time: You make the call. Take State Street west, past Eagle Road, to Linder. Follow the signs for Eagle Island State Park. Park at the trailhead. There's a hiking/trail-running circuit that you can do at the park that follows the north channel of the Boise River, crosses the park, and then follows the South Channel of the Boise River, before returning across a field to the trailhead. The park has hand-out maps of their trail system. Their trails are open to hiking, running, horseback riding and mountain biking. I enjoyed the Eagle Island leafy setting.

3. West Fork Shoofly Quick Loop - I detailed this hike in a previous blog post when I was working on my guide The Owyhee Canyonlands: An Outdoor Adventure Guide with Mark Lisk. But it will be included in the new version of Boise Trail Guide. Rated moderate. Distance: 5.5 miles. Travel time: 3-4 hours. I like this hike because the trailhead is less than an hour from Boise near Grand View. It's a scenic location, but it's an adventure hike, involving some route-finding and bushwacking. Read my blog post for a trip map, photos and details.

Harrison Hollow trail is popular with families and dogs 

Great views of the city from the ridge above Harrison Hollow 

4. Highlands - Corrals - Bobs Loop, Boise Foothills - The recent completion of Highlands Trail #1 makes this loop possible for hikers and trail-runners. You used to have to shuttle a vehicle to do this loop as a hike/run. But not any longer! Rated easy to strenuous. Distance: 8 miles. Travel time: 3.5 hours. Vertical gain: 1,328 feet. Take Bogus Basin Road north to Curling Drive. Go left on Curling, left on Braemere, go up the hill, then take a left on Hearthstone. Go to the end of Hearthstone and park at the trailhead at the end of the road. This hike provides a mixture of terrain. It starts out kind of steep on the Highlands Trail and then moderates on a steady uphill climb to the junction with the Corrals Trail. Then the walking is moderate on Corrals for about a mile or so before trail gets steeper to reach Corrals Summit. Turn right at the top of the hill to reach Corrals Summit and then follow Trail #31 downhill for a couple of miles to Bob's Trail. Make a sharp right on Bob's and enjoy the rock-dodge down the trail.  

5. Harrison Hollow Loop - Rated easy. Distance: 2 miles or more. Travel time: 1 hour. Take Bogus Basin Road north from Hill Road. Turn left at Highlands Hollow Brew House next to Healthwise and follow the paved road to the parking area. Cruise into the Harrison Hollow area on the all-weather trail provided by the Land Trust for the Treasure Valley. Take a right and climb up to the ridge. Go left on the ridge and follow the ridge trail for a mile. It winds toward a saddle next to some large homes. Climb to the saddle to check out the view. Return to the trailhead via the main trail that goes down the bottom of the gulch. There are many other options in this area, depending on how much time you have, and you much climbing you'd like to do. Once at the saddle, you also could climb uphill to the Buena Vista Trail, which winds around the south side of the hills and heads over to Hillside Jr. High. There are several ways to return to Harrison Hollow.

There you have it! Have a nice weekend!
- SS

Spring hiking, biking in full swing in Boise Foothills, Owyhees; camping would be good, too!

The Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area
is an ideal spring destination for hiking, biking, boating and birding.

Hi all,

Mayor Bieter will be reporting on city affairs during my normal time on The River 94.9 FM tomorrow morning (7:30ish), so I don't have a new blog for this week.

Instead, I'll recommend some great spring trips from previous blogs:

• Hiking, biking and trail-running in the Boise Foothills is in full swing! Here's a blog I wrote about five recommended spring hikes, a cross-foothills biking trip and Watchman trail. From last March, the headline was "Boise Foothills dry up fast, ready for hiking, biking, trail-running; Have fun!"  Sound familiar? 
• Hiking, biking and camping in the Owyhees would be perfect this weekend. Here's one destination that is worth checking out near Succor Creek State Park, near Homedale. It's called Sage Creek. 
• Six spring camping recommendations - Bruneau Dunes State Park, Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, Celebration Park, Succor Creek State Park, Leslie Gulch and Steens Mountain. How can you go wrong? 

There you have it! 

I'm holding a yard sale for my son's AA travel hockey team on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. if you'd like to stop by. See our Craigslist ad for details ... 

I'm also working on finalizing a new version of Boise Trail Guide, which is growing from 75 hiking and running routes close to home, to 90 hiking and running routes close to home. The book will have a new cover and new photos inside as well. I'm hoping the book will be available for retail sales by mid-April. 

Have a good weekend!
-SS

Barking Spider mountain biking, trail-running race a great springtime booster for fitness, fun

Scene at the finish line (courtesy Wild Rockies)

Rider descending "Skateboard Park"

Entering "Skateboard Park" section 

Looking back on climb along finger ridge on Trail #400 

GPS tracks of the Barking Spider course 

Hi all,

It's April and the first Wild Rockies mountain bike and trail-running race is coming up on Saturday, April 6. It's called the 18th annual Barking Spider Bash, which is kind of hilarious. Ever heard a spider bark?

The race is held in the Hemingway Butte area of the Owyhee Front, a place that's normally used primarily by motorcycles and ATV's, but on Saturday, the course is set aside for mountain bikers and trail-runners. Even if you're not a serious racer, Barking Spider is a good warm up for the mountain bike and trail-running season. I've logged the course and provided directions here so if you want to try the course another time, you can do so.

The big highlight of the 9.3-mile course, in my view, is a downhill section called the "Skateboard Park." It's this cool little canyon where you're riding or running downhill inside a canyon and going up on the walls of each side as you descend through tons of S-turns over the space of 3-4 miles.

The rest of the course is challenging even though Wild Rockies says rates it "easy." With lots of sand, rocks, gravel and technical features, one loop around the course will seem like a longer ride than nine-plus miles. I hope it rains in the next couple of days to knock the dust down. Experienced racers will zip through it with ease, I'm sure. In the race, beginners have to ride it around once, Sport-class riders will do two laps, and Expert Pro will do three laps. Whew!

The trail-running courses are broken into a 10K (6.2 miles) and 9.3 miles.

When I logged the loop last night, my GPS indicated that the whole route featured 864 feet of vertical gain/loss. But with four mini loops within the course, you climb and descend on each one. It'll feel like more climbing than the elevation gain suggests.

Anyway, give it a shot! Race begins shortly after noon on Saturday. You can register online. Sandwiches will be provided by Paul's Markets and beer is provided by Ninkasi Brewing Co. in Oregon. Food and drink are provided as part of the registration package.

How to get there: Go west on I-84 to Nampa. Take the Franklin exit and follow signs into downtown Nampa. Follow signs for Idaho 45 or 12th Avenue South and go south of Nampa on ID 45 to the Snake River. Cross the highway bridge, and go left at the Y toward Murphy. Turn right on Reynolds Creek Road, go past the feedlot, and pull into the BLM Hemingway Butte trailhead.

If you don't do the race, visit the Hemingway Butte area in mid-week, preferably when the course is still marked, and enjoy the the ride when the OHV traffic isn't that heavy. BLM officials do not recommend trying to mountain bike or run in the area on weekends, when the OHV traffic is heavy.

See the course map on the Wild Rockies photo page.

Spring cleanup opportunity: Volunteers are needed to pick up litter along the Snake River near Celebration Park on Saturday. Contact Idaho Fish and Game, Dennis Hardy, 465-8465, if you'd like to participate. Meeting time will be 9 a.m. at Map Rock and the project should be complete by noon. Ask Fish and Game for directions.

Have fun!
- SS

It's official: Boise Foothills trails are ready to enjoy

Google Earth GPS route of Cross-Foothills Route; click to enlarge

Hi all,

I checked on the Ridge to Rivers web site earlier this week to check on Boise Foothills trail conditions, and the headline was, "Trails are mostly dry." After all the rain in the last month, that's great news! We've got the official green light to go hiking, running or biking on foothills trails.

So I dashed out for a mountain bike ride on Tuesday afternoon, and indeed, the trails were bone dry. I went on a cross-foothills ride today (more on that in a moment), and the trails were mostly dry. Of course, as the Ridge to Rivers trail report points out, conditions can change when rain is in the forecast. There's a 50 percent chance of rain on Saturday, for instance. Be sure to give the trails a chance to dry out after a storm.

In the meantime, seize the day and head out on the trails. You'll hear the sound of meadowlarks, and the creeks roaring with snowmelt. Red-tailed hawks are soaring in the fresh winds, searching for prey. Foothills grasses are turning green and shrubs beginning to bloom. Spring is in the air!

It's always interesting to see how the legs and lungs have fared over the winter during the ski season. If you're like me, you've got some lung power, but the quads aren't that used to climbing long steeps. Winter road biking helps. But you've pretty much got to go mountain biking for real to get in mountain biking shape. Same goes for hiking and running.

So if you haven't been training for the Race to Robie Creek (the race is Saturday!) for the last month, take it easy at the beginning of the season and tackle some easier hikes, runs and bike rides to get the body tuned up for the summer.

I've got some recommendations from Mountain Biking in Boise and Boise Trail Guide. The main thing right now is to focus on the mid- to lower foothills trails. The upper trails and the Boise Ridge Road are still snow-bound. The trails in the mid- to upper foothills, such as the Watchman Trail, are still wet and greasy in some places, so it's best to wait for them to dry in the coming weeks.

• Cross-Foothills Ride (Intermediate; strenuous in places) - 10 miles. 2 hours riding time. Today, I rode up to the Corrals Trail (trailhead is 1.8 miles north of Curling Drive on Bogus Basin Road), rode Corrals to Corrals Summit, and then rode downhill on Corrals and Trail #1 over to Hulls Gulch. Then I took Crestline to Military Reserve, and dropped out on the Freestone Creek Trail in Military Reserve near Fort Boise. The hardest part of the ride is climbing to Corrals Summit (3 miles uphill from trailhead, 1,200 feet of vertical gain). Then it's mostly downhill to Military Reserve, with a few uphill sections in between. Fun ride! Hardy mountain trail runners would enjoy that route as well.
  
  
• Jumpin' Jeepers Figure 8 Loop - (Intermediate/Moderate) 6.75 miles. 1+ hour riding time; 2.5-3 hours hiking time; 1:15 running time. This hike and bike ride are featured in my guidebooks Boise Trail Guide and Mountain Biking in Boise. It's a Figure 8 loop as the name suggests, starting from Military Reserve Trailhead on Mountain Cove Road, climbing the Toll Road Trail #20 to the Central Ridge Trail #22. Follow Central Ridge to Shane's Junction. Turn left and ride Shane's Loop clockwise. Back at the Shane's-Central Ridge Junction, bear right on Bucktail Trail #20A, and take the lower part of Central Ridge #22 back to the trailhead. Be aware that police officers practice firearms training at the end of Mountain Cove Road, very close to Bucktail Trail. I've jumped out of my skin a few times when enjoying the quietude, and then, "bang!"
  
  
• Military Reserve Double Ridge Loop - 3.7 miles. Moderate. 1.5 hours hiking time; 45-50 minutes jogging time; 45 minutes riding time. This one is even easier. You go to the Military Reserve Trailhead near Fort Boise on Mountain Cove Road, go uphill on Central Ridge Trail #22, turn right on Ridge Crest #20A, take that to the bottom of the hill, go left on Eagle Ridge Trail #25, and do a short loop on Eagle Ridge. Drop down the hill to the trail by the dog park, and return to the trailhead.
  
  
• Crestline-Hulls Loop - 7.25 miles. Moderate. 2.5 hours hiking time; 1.5 hours running time; 1.25 hours riding time. Start from Camelsback Park in Boise on N. 13th. Find the trailhead behind the tennis courts. Climb on Owls Roost and Kestrel to Crestline. Follow Crestline to the Hulls Gulch Junction. Turn left and descend on Hulls Gulch. It's rocky and uneven in places. When you reach the 8th Street trailhead by the Foothills Learning Center, turn right, cross 8th Street, and finish the ride on Red Fox Trail, which leads you back to Camelsback Park.
  
  
• Seaman's Gulch Double Loop - 3 miles total. 1+ hours hiking time; 30-45 minutes running time; 30 minutes riding time. This one is the easiest of the routes listed here. Take Hill Road west in Boise to the Seaman's Gulch/Hidden Springs right-hand turnoff. Go right and follow Seaman's Gulch Road to a nice paved parking area and rest room next to a large water tank. Take the Valley View Trail #111 to the right, and then take the first left on Trail #110 to Phlox Trail #112, turn left and return to the trailhead for a one-mile short loop. Now go back on Valley View, and keep going out to the true "valley view" viewpoint provided by the trail, hanging above the Boise Valley. The trail loops around to Phlox and returns to the trailhead.

Please see the Ridge to Rivers map or check out my books for more hiking, biking and trail-running possibilities in the Boise Foothills. The Boise Trail Guide features 76 hikes and trail runs within an hour of Boise, including routes on the Boise River Greenbelt, the Owyhees, along the Snake River, the Boise Foothills and in the Boise National Forest.

Mountain Biking in Boise provides a guide to 65 rides in the immediate vicinity of Boise, including the foothills, Bogus Basin, Stack Rock area, Avimor and Oregon Trail.

In case you didn't know, you can buy digital color files of individual hiking, biking and paddling trips on my web site now for .99 cents each, in bundles of 5, 10, 15, or the whole book as an e-book. See more at www.stevestuebner.com.

Have fun!

- SS

Steve shares his weekly outdoor tips with Ken and Tim on 94.9 FM The River each Friday morning at approximately 7:10 a.m. If you miss the program, you can hear the segments on River Interactive.com.

Celebrate latest Boise Foothills purchase with an outing in Polecat Gulch in NW Boise

Good views from the trail

Wendy Wilson in Polecat Gulch


(Click on map to enlarge)

It's going to be a freakin' gorgeous weekend, it appears, so many folks will be itching to get outside.

In case you'd like to stay close to home, in between working in the garden or mowing the lawn, consider heading out for a hike, trail run or a mountain bike ride in Polecat Gulch, a relatively new open space reserve and trail system in Northwest Boise.

While you're there, you can ponder that the City of Boise this week announced the purchase of an additional 80 acres of land in Polecat Gulch for $270,000, even though it was appraised at $500K. Check out the article in the Statesman.

Over the last several years, the city has spent more than $2.2 million to purchase 520 acres of land in Polecat Gulch. The area lies in between Cartwright Road and Hill Road near N. Collister Drive. Trails in Polecat are featured in my guidebooks, the Boise Trail Guide and Mountain Biking in Boise.

Here is a trail description and map from my web site.

There are eight miles of trails in Polecat Gulch. It's all singletrack. Several sections that parallel Cartwright Road are sandy, so watch out for that. The Polecat Loop Trail traces the tops of numerous finger ridges as it does a circular tour of the gulch. The Doe Ridge spur trails and Quick Draw Trail add variety. I like to turn on the tunes and just cruise around in there and try different variations.

Overall, it's a 5-mile loop to circumnavigate Polecat Gulch, but by mixing it up, you can add more distance, if you're on a bike. It takes about an hour to do the loop on a mountain bike and a little longer running. Hiking time is two hours.

Check out the map for details and have fun! Watch for wildlife. You'll see red-tailed hawks flying overhead, and if you're lucky, you might see some of the resident deer. This is one area where an albino deer has been seen.

Enjoy!

-- 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