Twin Falls singletrack nirvana

Ross Blanchard enjoys the singletrack

Chip Dillman from Twin Falls

Fred's Mountain at the top of the Singletrack Nirvana ride

(Click to enlarge)

Hi all,

It's getting hot, so it's time to head to higher elevations for mountain biking adventures.

One of the most unsung mountain biking destinations in Idaho lies in the South Hills, south of Twin Falls and Kimberly. After my book Mountain Biking Idaho came out in the late 1990s, a lot of people came up to me and said, "I can't believe how nice those trails are in the South Hills. They are so SWEET!"

I definitely felt the same way when I rode them. Some local riders in Twin Falls showed me their favorite rides in the South Hills. I featured two of them in the book:

1. Third Fork - Heart Attack Loop - 13.7 miles, advanced intermediate, 2-3 hours riding time.

2. South Hills Singletrack Nirvana - 26.8 miles, advanced/expert, 5-6 hours riding time.

Google Books digitized Mountain Biking Idaho (don't ask me how they get away with such thievery), so here is a web link to the book. Search for page 120-127 and you'll see maps, detailed directions to the trailhead and photos.

The best way to do the trip is to go camping in the South Hills on a Friday night, ride the first ride on Saturday and the long ride on Sunday. What's way cool about the rides is that they are singletrack the whole way. They course through aspen forests next to beautiful streams. You won't be disappointed.

If you'd like to stay in a hotel, there are several nice places to stay in Twin Falls. Please see the Twin Falls Chamber of Commerce web site for more information.

- SS

Consider some fun outdoor destinations in Cascade for the 4th of July

Courtesy Kelly's Whitewater Park Facebook page

Crown Point Trailhead

Chinook salmon

Stolle Meadows and S. Fork Salmon River

(Eagle's Nest singletrack)

Hi all,

This might seem counter-intuitive after the big wind storm in Valley County earlier this week, but I'd suggest heading up to the Cascade area for some outdoor fun. I've got a few suggestions for hiking, biking, fishing, skiing, camping, paddling and hot springs.

Cascade is only 90 minutes north of Eagle and Boise on Idaho 55. It's a gateway to the Boise National Forest, Warm Lake and Lake Cascade State Park.

As for camping, I've always found some cool undeveloped (self-support) car-camping areas in Stolle Meadows near the upper South Fork of the Salmon River. I also like to go past Warm Lake on the paved road and drive to Landmark (elevation 7,000 feet), where it's cooler, and there are many places to camp, including Penn Basin Campground. Grab a Boise National Forest map, cruise around and pick your spot.

While you're near the South Fork of the Salmon River, remember that the chinook salmon season is open, and you can catch and keep up to 5 five per day! This is a very good year for salmon fishing, so try to take advantage of that because they are fun to catch and delicious!
Talk to Tackle Tom's in Cascade for tips on what kind of bait or lures to use to catch those ferocious fighters!

The road to Snowbank Mountain is open to the top, and the Forest Service reported that there is still 4 feet of snow there on top! Drive up there with your skis and skins and barbecue and have a party! Skiing on the 4th of July! Hey, how can you beat that!

Some other stuff to do in the Cascade area:

Check out Kelly's Whitewater Park on the North Fork of the Payette River in Cascade. It's got a number of surfing locations that are ideal for hard-shell kayaks and inflatable kayaks. Gear and Grind in Cascade rents equipment. It also has a beautiful visitors center.

Hike, run or bike the Crown Point Trail, a scenic path that runs along the shoreline of Lake Cascade that's great for the whole family. It's three miles out to the end of the trail, and three miles back. You can access the lakeshore and go for a swim or hang out on the beach.

Go mountain biking or hiking on Eagle's Nest Trail. The 13-mile ride is featured in my book Mountain Biking in McCall. Eagle's Nest features over 2,800 vertical feet of climbing on a Forest Service Road, and then you bomb downhill on a smooth singletrack to the start. It's a tough climb but worth the effort. See map above.

Go soaking in one of several natural hot springs in the Warm Lake area. Some of the popular draws are Trail Creek Hot Springs, Molly's Hot Springs, and Vulcan Hot Springs.

These are just a few ideas for the Cascade area. Consult the Boise National Forest map for many other trails and camping destinations. Have fun!
- SS

Grande Ronde River is a special spring treat

Sweet campsites!

gorgeous canyon

Hi all,

Call us weenies if you want, but we chose to cancel our Selway River permit in early June because of high water, and moved our trip to the Grande Ronde River in NE Oregon. Since we had 6 days carved out for the Selway, we decided to run the full 90 miles of the Grande Ronde, from Minam to Heller Bar, just south of Lewiston.

It turned out to be a fantastic trip. Here's some video. The Grande Ronde is a great choice in the spring because the countryside is soooooooooooooooooooo velvety green and beautiful, the river flows are high enough to cover the rocks and make navigation really easy, and you move fast enough to do the full 90 miles of the Grande Ronde without having to stop and camp in a more developed section of the canyon below Troy.

In terms of difficulty, the Grande Ronde is rated Class 2 - 3, which is pretty low key on the whitewater scale. For our trip at 9,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) of river flow, I would have rated the river Class 2, pretty much the whole way except for the Narrows Rapids on the last day, which is closer to Class 3+. At that flow, we traveled at 7 mph, clocking river miles with ease. Just put the oars under your knees, kick back and sip a beverage while enjoying the scenery and wildlife along the way.

We took three rafts and a double inflatable kayak for 8 people on our trip. It's also possible to canoe the Grande Ronde with experienced paddlers and flotation, and hard-shell kayaks would be fine, except there just aren't that many play wave opportunities.

The primary way most people float the Grande Ronde is to go from the put-in at Minam, northeast of La Grande, and take out at Powatka Bridge, a distance of 39 miles. It's easy to do that over a 3-day trip in the springtime. For the 90-mile trip, it's best to do that in higher water in the spring or it would be a real slog.

From Boise, it takes about 4 hours to get to the put-in -- 3 hours via I-84 to La Grande, and an hour on two-lane paved roads to Minam, a little roadstop next to Minam State Park, a gorgeous place to camp the night before you launch, if you wish.

One of the neatest parts of floating the Grande Ronde is staying in these sweet, grassy riverbank campsites amid ponderosa pine and Douglas fir trees. On night #3 of our trip, we stayed in this spacious campsite that was easily as cool as some of the best camps on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. It had a large grassy meadow, a sandy beach next to the river, a kitchen area in the shade, and a hike up a ridge behind camp that went to the top of the canyon. What more could you want? Well, OK, a hot springs ... but no dice.

For vehicle shuttles, you can sign up at the put-in, and you can buy BLM river maps there as well. It's no farther to the Grande Ronde put-in than it is to drive to Middle Fork. It just happens to be in Oregon!

As the water drops -- it's running at 6,470 this week -- you have to bring your fishing pole. It's a quality trout fishery, and in the fall, it's full-on steelhead fishing similar to the Riggins area in Idaho.

If you don't have your own rafting stuff, there are three outfitters that offer trips on the Grande Ronde: ROW Adventures, Oregon Whitewater Adventures and All Star Rafting and Kayaking. If you have an interest in learning how to row a raft, renting one to float the Grande Ronde would be a great way to break into the sport.

Have fun!

-- SS

Route of the Hiawatha near Wallace is a sure bet for a unique biking experience

The 15-mile trail is family friendly

Bring bright halogen lights if you have them

Riding the high trestles

Some of the high trestles are more than 200 feet high

One of the shorter tunnels (photos courtesy Lookout Pass Ski & Recreation Area)

Hi all,

I've always felt that the Route of the Hiawatha Rail-Trail near Wallace, Idaho, is one of the neatest rail-trails imaginable. I've ridden it several times since it was opened in the mid-1990s, and I even had the opportunity to do an early test ride on the trail before it was open to the public. Every time I rode it, I thought it was an invigorating and beautiful biking adventure.

The reason it's so cool is you ride through 10 unlit tunnels, including the 1.7-mile-long St. Paul Pass tunnel, and seven high trestles as part of the 15-mile trail. If you take a shuttle, the ride is completely downhill, and it's totally family friendly.

This week, USA Today published an article about the top 10 rail-trails in the United States, and the Route of the Hiawatha was listed as numero uno!

So when you're planning your vacations or long weekend getaways this summer, try to work in a long weekend in the Wallace or St. Maries area and ride the Route of the Hiawatha. The trail is managed by Lookout Pass Ski Resort, located on the Idaho-Montana border on I-90. Lookout Pass provides shuttles, trail passes, etc. The ride is featured in my Falcon Guide Mountain Biking Idaho.

Here's a video about the trail and the railroad history. Believe it or not, former Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, had a big hand in obtaining federal funds to develop the old railroad line into a rail-trail. There was a very progressive recreation officer working for the St. Joe National Forest at the time when the trail was only an idea, and she worked closely with lots of people in Wallace and St. Maries to create the trail and a new tourism draw in a town that was reeling from the decline of the mining industry. It's always sweet to see a dream project become a reality.

You stay in the Wallace Inn (formerly the Best Western) or other lodging properties in Wallace while you're in the neighborhood, and check out the Oasis Bordello Museum, or you can camp at the foot of the trail by traveling from St. Maries up the placid and scenic St. Joe River (fly fishing is good!) and pitch a tent in the national forest. Bring a canoe if you'd like to paddle the St. Joe as a side trip opportunity.

Be sure to bring BRIGHT and POWERFUL lights for riding in the dark tunnels, if you have them. Lookout Pass has lights available for rent for $5, plus they have bikes and helmets available for rent, if you don't want to take your own. I've found that night-riding mountain biking lights work great.

More experienced bike riders will enjoy the challenge of riding the Route of the Hiawatha from the Pearson Trailhead, near Avery, in the St. Joe drainage. It's 13 miles uphill at only a 2 percent grade, and then 1.7 miles of riding through the St. Paul Pass tunnel on the Idaho-Montana border, for a total of 15 miles. Then you can turn around and cruise downhill back to Pearson, for a 30-mile ride. It took me less than an hour to climb the trail, and about a half hour to zoom down it, pedaling all the way.

While you're in the 'hood, take some time to ride the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, a fairly new paved trail along the Coeur d'Alene River. You can access the 71-mile trail in Mullan, just up the hill from Wallace, and ride downriver to Harrison and Heyburn State Park, if you want to ride the whole thing.

If you bring the kids, you have to stop at Silverwood Theme Park, north of Coeur d'Alene, where you can enjoy 65 rides, including roller-coasters, insanely steep and fast rides, and water slides. Silver Mountain in Kellogg also has a new indoor water park that the kids would enjoy.

As you can surmise, it'd be easy to spend a week in the Silver Valley-Coeur d'Alene area for a great and affordable Idaho staycation. Have fun!

- SS

Wild & wacky weather calls for creativity, good shelter

(Image courtesy Cunyadenki)

Hi all,

I'm sure a lot of people already have their Memorial Day plans carved out, but a few may not, so I've got a few suggestions.

The weather looks pretty iffy this weekend, and the forecast looks pretty wet and unstable for at least the next 10 days (I hope I am wrong!), so I'd like to provide some suggestions that may work for this weekend and the coming weeks.

I ran across one event that's going on this weekend that sounds pretty neat -- the Sun Valley Wellness Festival at the Sun Valley Inn. It starts on Friday and runs through Monday. It's all about blending mind, body and spirt. There will be 11 movement classes touching on things like pilates, yoga and belly dancing. Jamie Lee Curtis is the keynote speaker, and Grammy winner Colbie Caillat will play in the Sun Valley Pavilion, a beautiful place to take in a concert.

Click on the links to review lodging specials recommended by the Ketchum-Sun Valley Chamber of Commerce and InIdaho for the Wellness Festival.

On Saturday, general fishing season opens in Idaho. Check out this brief article in the Statesman that talks about how to find family friendly fishing waters and other details. The rivers and creeks will be roaring with high water, so you might try taking your kids to a pond.

Chinook salmon season is open on the Salmon and Snake rivers. People are catching lots of fish already! Catching a chinook salmon may be just as thrilling as catching a steelhead, if not more so. Click on this web site to get information on outfitters, hotels and fishing in Riggins. The Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association also has a good listing of outfitters who fish for chinook.

If you'd like to get out of town, but you'd like to stay dry, you might look for hot deals for a cabin or condo rental in McCall. The Woodsman Hotel is offering queen rooms for only $39/night (sorry, doesn't include holidays) during slack season. Visit the McCall Chamber for information about what to do and see when you're in McCall.

Pssst ... if you've ever thought about buying a second home in Cascade or McCall, the pricing for homes and cabins has declined to the point where a ton of properties are affordable today that weren't affordable two years ago. You'll be amazed! Contact my friend Steve Jones for more information about second homes in McCall.

Another option is to book a Forest Service cabin in the Boise National Forest or other national forests you like to visit. I particularly like the Forest Service cabins in the Middle Fork of the Boise River area, Middle Fork Payette area (Boiling Springs cabin), the North Fork of the Boise River or near Bear Valley. Some names include Beaver Creek Cabin, Barber Flat, Deer Park and Elk Creek Cabin. Click here for more information.

Or, you might want to reserve a yurt near Idaho City in the Park 'n Ski area and go hiking or biking near the yurt. The snow is slowly receding at 6,000-foot elevation, and many of the roads and trails are getting clear. You can choose from at least three different yurts in that area including Skyline, Banner Ridge and Elkhorn. Click here for web site information on how to make reservations.

If you do go camping, be sure to take a good tarp this weekend. Boise Army Navy and D&B Supply are two places that carry heavy-duty tarps that should keep you dry.

- SS

Some camping ideas for the Owyhee Canyonlands

Hiking into the W. Fork Bruneau River canyon (in bike shoes)

Hidden caves can be found in the Owyhees (courtesy BLM)

Big Jacks Creek (courtesy BLM)

Hi all,

When I touted running the rivers in the Owyhee Canyonlands several weeks ago, Ken Bass asked if I could recommend some car-camping ideas in that country. So here you go. I love to car camp in the Owyhees and go hiking or mountain biking during the day. It's a great place to find plenty of solitude in the big wide open desert, which also has many hidden canyons and nifty places to explore.

The only problem is that it has been a very WET spring, so it's important to use caution when venturing into the unmaintained dirt roads in the Owyhees. Lots of rain can turn the side roads into quicksand-like mud bogs that can sink a 4WD rig to its axles. Going out there this weekend, for example, might be dicy in places. Call Owyhee County to check on road conditions, 208-495-1143, and if you need more information on destinations, check with the BLM Owyhee Field Office, 208-896-5912.

You'll notice that I didn't recommend any camping in Silver City ... that's because it's still snowed in.

I also need to point out that there are NO SERVICES in the Owyhee Canyonlands, so you'll need to have plenty of gas in your vehicle and be prepared to cope with any breakdowns. Take a sturdy rig with four-wheel-drive that has good tires. Bring your own water and, of course, all of your camping stuff. Make sure you pack out what you pack in and leave no trace.

Here are several places to explore that won't disappoint:

1. Take a scenic drive on Mud Flat Road, aka the Owyhee Uplands Backcountry Byway, and pick your spot to camp. The road is 103 miles long, criss-crossing the Owyhees between Grand View, Idaho, and Jordan Valley, Oregon. I suggest starting from Grand View, drive south on the byway, go over the first pass, and then begin looking for your own spot from there. You can access Little Jacks Creek from the byway, and there are some nice primitive campsites near Deep Creek or Triangle. Be sure to bring some good maps with you to assist with exploring.

2. The North Fork Owyhee River Campground is a good bet for people who like to camp by established rest rooms and fire pits. It's the only developed campground managed by the BLM along the byway. Take U.S. 95 south to Jordan Valley, Oregon, and then follow signs to the byway from there. The campground is 27 miles south of Jordan Valley. There are places to hiking and biking nearby. The 15.7-mile Grave Creek-Cottonwood Creek Loop is featured my book, Mountain Biking Idaho.

3. Big Jacks Creek. Go south on Idaho Highway 51 south of Mountain Home, go past the little town of Bruneau for about 25 miles, and turn right on the Wickahoney Road (unmarked dirt road) to reach the Parker Trailhead at the edge of Big Jacks Creek Canyon. Click on the Big Jacks link to see more information and driving directions from the BLM. Here's an interactive map of the Jacks Creek area. This is one of the new wilderness areas that was created as part of the Owyhee Canyonlands Wilderness last year.

4. Sheep Creek and Bruneau River plateau. Go south of Bruneau on Idaho 51 to Grasmere (the little roadstop town is signed). Turn left on the Grasmere-Rowland Road and cruise toward the upper reaches of Sheep Creek canyon. There are some campsites here, and tons more farther down the road. The Grasmere road goes all the way to the Nevada border, and you also can access the West Fork of the Bruneau River Canyon, a very cool place to explore. You won't see many people down in the deep recessses of this country, and there are a ton of two-tracks you can explore on a mountain bike, and it's fun to hike into the canyons.

5. Take the gravel road south of Bruneau toward Murphy Hot Springs and explore. You can reach the upper Jarbidge River canyon from this route, and high desert portion of the Idaho Centennial Trail. You can check out the Bruneau River canyon overlook from this route, and as you travel south, there are numerous two-tracks to explore.

6. Camp near Reynolds Creek canyon via the Wilson Creek Road. You can hike or bike from your campsite on the China Ditch Trail and check out the ruby red vertical walls of Reynolds Creek. Here's a BLM map that shows how to drive in there. My book, the Boise Trail Guide, has a detailed description to the trails in this vicinity. Mountain Biking Idaho has a guide to what I call the Mini-Moab Loop in the same area.

Have fun!

- SS

New edition of Mountain Biking in McCall is packed with great rides for everyone

Hidden Valley Trail, Brundage Mountain

Bluebird Express, Brundage Mountain

View from Osprey Point, Ponderosa State Park

Payette Rim Trail

View from Bear Pete Trail looking west

Hi all,

The all-new 3rd edition of Mountain Biking in McCall is hot off the press.

The book is jam-packed with 40-plus rides for all abilities, including 8 beginner (easy) rides, 18 intermediate rides and 15 advanced/expert rides. It retails for $12.95, the same cost as the previous editions. The book is available at all of the outdoor/bike/book shops in Cascade, Donnelly and McCall. Ditto in Boise. Pick up your copy now to research what rides you'll check out on your next trip to Cascade, Donnelly, McCall or New Meadows.

Right now, while there is still a ton of snow in the mountains surrounding McCall, the best rides are the North Valley Rail-Trail in McCall, the Weiser River Trail, Rapid River near Riggins, Hard Creek near New Meadows and Ponderosa Park in McCall. These are all lower-elevation rides that should be free of snow or you may encounter a few patches of snow.

Quite frankly, McCall is my favorite place to ride in the world. I've ridden mountain bikes in Hawaii, Switzerland, France, Moab, California, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Idaho and many other places, and I just love to ride in McCall. Part of it is being able to ride in the deep woods, being able to ride to high mountain lakes without quantum miles of hike-a-bike, sweet singletracks, the challenge of many rocks and roots in some areas, and cool, shady cool forest conditions. And did I mention hot springs? The list goes on.

If you're from Boise, riding foothill trails is great training for McCall, but you'll find that the 90% of the trails around Boise are much smoother than they are in the Payette National Forest. You'll need to build endurance to handle steep uphill sections where you'll need to thread around rocks or yank upward on your handlebars to ride over a huge tree root or a series of roots. On trails like Loon Lake, East Fork of Lake Fork, Goose Creek, Bear Pete and even the Huckleberry Trail in Ponderosa State Park, you'll encounter "true mountain conditions" that require strong biking skills. That's part of the fun.

Here's a link to an article I wrote in this week's Boise Weekly about the Loon Lake Loop.

But it's not all gnarly. The 8 easy rides include the Crown Point Trail, a beautiful wide dirt trail that parallels Lake Cascade for six miles out and back, and the North Valley Rail-Trail, which Valley County Pathways just opened last weekend. It's 10 miles out and back, but a very easy 10 miles on a mostly flat surface. Having been involved with VC Pathways since the beginning (2003), it was particularly gratifying for me to open that trail.

Check out the Mountain Biking in McCall page on my web site and see if it's your cup of tea.

I might add that while you're in McCall, there is a host of great places to eat and many places to stay. Check out the McCall Chamber of Commerce web site for more information.

Have fun!

-- SS