Valley County Pathways and St. Luke's McCall are teaming up on a new event, the Mountain Pathways Celebration, on Saturday, Aug. 5th, from 8 a.m. to noon. Please come if you're in the 'hood!
This is a family friend, kid-friendly non-competitive event with a Bounce House at the Start/Finish and live music from a local DJ pro.
We want to celebrate pathways in the greater McCall, Valley County and West Central Mountains region by hosting an event on McCall city pathways and the North Valley Trail. You can walk, run or bike for 1, 2.5, 5 or 10 miles. Entry fee is $5/person. You can pre-register online. Same-day registration is OK, too.
For the 5-mile course, we'll shuttle people out to the south end of the North Valley Trail in the outskirts of McCall, so they can experience the full sweep of the beautiful trail along the tree-lined old railroad line, pass by the Activity Barn, McCall Airport and Smokejumper Base, and then cruise into downtown McCall on city pathways to the Start/Finish area behind City Hall.
The event is a fund-raiser for Valley County Pathways, a non-profit group that's been working on developing a system of valley-wide trails that would connect the communities of Cascade, Donnelly, Lake Fork and McCall.
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| Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes |
We all know how cool it is to experience long-distance pathways in beautiful settings such as the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes in North Idaho, the Boise River Greenbelt, and the Wood River Trail from Bellevue to Ketchum/Sun Valley.
In the early- and mid-2000s, when I was working in government affairs for Tamarack Resort, I joined a number of citizens who wanted to put together a plan for long-distance trails in Long Valley. We wrote the first Master Plan in 2005. Since February of this year, I've been working on updating the Master Plan, with a new map and fresh priorities. The plan was approved by Valley County P&Z in March, and Valley County Commissioners in July. Big milestone for VC Pathways! We had 108 letters of support!
The West Central Mountains' America's Best Community campaign asked us to update the Master Plan, and they see further pathway development as a big priority for the region in a 21-point economic revitalization plan. Now that our plan is approved, we can move forward with working on future pathways in high-priority areas throughout the valley.
Back to the Mountain Pathways Celebration event ... the trail is nearly flat the entire way with a couple of short uphills and downhills. Very kid friendly for all ages. Seniors too!
We want folks to have fun at this event! Costumes are encouraged. We'll have music at the
Start/Finish area, coffee, fruit and muffins. We'll have multiple aid stations with fun activities or treats. Scavenger hunts are planned for kids.
Here's another reason to come ... we have some great raffle items from McCall businesses, including:
- Hala
Hoss SUP $1,100.00 value, donated by River Gear, a paddle shop in Cascade.
- Yeti
cooler, $199 value from May Hardware
- Cheap
Thrills ½ day Wave-Runner rental $175 value
- Four
passes to open skating at Manchester Ice Center
- Two
gift certificates for three movie rentals at Sunset Video
- Two ½-day SUP rental from McCall Sports Exchange
- Two
$25 G.C.’s to McCall Jewelry
- Lift tickets to Tamarack Resort
- Ski tune packages from Kurt Wolf
- Full-day mountain bike rental from Gravity Sports
We'd also like to thank our event co-sponsors Mida Gold and McCall Parks & Recreation for their support.
Prizes: Bring a prize to share at the event ... toys or stuffed animals for kids, used recreation gear, hats, whatever you think someone else might want!
To make things go smooth on the course, we plan on starting the walkers/runners first, and the cyclists afterwards.
Bring your own water bottle, please! You can refill at our aid stations.
For more information, go to valleycountypathways.org.
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