Don't miss several must-see paddling, mountain biking events coming up in the next 10 days

National Cross-Country Mountain Biking Championships at Sun Valley (courtesy USA Cycling)

Hi all,

For this week's outdoor tip, I'm highlighting several must-see events coming up in the next 10 days, and suggesting some side trip activities that you can enjoy as well.

On Thursday night, June 28, the new Boise River Whitewater Park will be dedicated from 5-7 p.m., with a few speeches and paddling demonstrations. In this video from KTVB-TV Channel 7, you can watch Emily Dickerson from Idaho River Sports kayak on the main play wave.




Idaho River Sports will be having a paddler's-only raffle for all participants who register and then show up with their boats and SUPs to paddle at the event. No purchase is necessary. IRS is hosting a reception after the dedication is over. There will be free food and Payette Brewing will be serving beer. It's supposed to be a warm evening. Should be a perfect spot to hang out with some of your paddling friends.

The new wave-shaper gizmo that the Boise Parks & Recreation Department had installed in the Boise River is just the first phase of the whitewater park. A second phase for flatwater paddlers will involve tying together Quinn's Pond with two other ponds located nearby as part of the new Esther Simplot Park. That will allow people to peacefully canoe or kayak in the ponds and waterways and paddle a full circuit between the ponds. Given how popular Quinn's Pond has become, when they tie together the other ponds, it will become even more popular, and it will create an extensive stillwater paddling experience for canoeing and flatwater enthusiasts that doesn't really exist anywhere in the valley today.
I'm looking forward to that.

Next weekend, Kelly's Whitewater Park in Cascade will host the Ford USACK National Championship, which is a kayak freestyle event. The preliminary heats run on Saturday, July 7, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Sunday, July 8 from 10 a.m. to noon for the championships. The nation's best freestyle paddlers will be there. It should be quite a hoot to watch them do cartwheels, spins and flips in the middle of a frothing play wave. It's easy to watch because there's a new pathway along the Payette River called The Strand. At 5 p.m. on July 7, Muzzie and Billy Braun will play a free concert, and that will be followed by fireworks. That all sounds like heaps of fun.

If you'd like to get some exercise while you're hanging out in Cascade, check out some of these hiking and biking destinations, including Eagle's Nest Loop, an advanced 13-mile mountain bike ride or the Crown Point Trail, a 6-mile out-and-back beautiful trail along Lake Cascade (great for families and kids). You can go biking and swimming on the same trip. I've heard that the Boise National Forest has built a new trail in the Stolle Meadows area, near Warm Lake, but I have yet to hike it or ride it. Check with the Cascade Ranger District for more details, 382-7400.

If you're more inclined toward mountain biking than paddle sports, the National Mountain Bike Cross-Country Championships will be held July 5-8 in Sun Valley. The Sun Valley Chamber of Commerce puts on a number of recreational rides for us average joe's leading up to the event as part of Ride Sun Valley, and that's a great way to try out some new trails that you may have not experienced before in the Wood River Valley. Check out the whole schedule ... things start happening on Saturday, June 30, and continue through the following week.

In case you haven't heard, you could compete for the Sun Valley All Mountain crown between Saturday and Tuesday, by winning the Galena Grinder xc race, the Super Duper Downhill at Bald Mountain, and the Fat Tire Criterium. Whew! Whoever wins that one is a real stud!

Here's one date to remember ... July 28th is the date for the 4 Summit Challenge in Cascade, a bike race and recreational ride from Cascade to Landmark and back. The ride features approximately 7,500 vertical feet of climbing and descending over 75 miles. Need an incentive to train? There you have it! There's also a family fun ride (less than 10 miles).


Have fun! I'm heading out on the Main Salmon for a week of vacation. You'll hear all about it after I get back.
-- SS

10 reasons to head for McCall this weekend - hiking, biking, boating, beaching, hanging out

The good ship "Idaho," the new tour boat provided by Payette Lake Cruises. (Courtesy Ellen Ganz)

Bike racing at Jug Mountain Ranch. (Courtesy JMR)

Hi all,

I'm heading for McCall this weekend, and you should too!

In this week's outdoor tip, I'll give you at least 10 reasons to visit McCall. I'll start with Reason #1 -- Beat the Heat! When it hits 90 degrees in Boise, I automatically think about migrating to the lush, shady forests of McCall, where the wildflowers are beginning to bloom, and it will be at least 15 degrees cooler than it is in Boise.

Here's Reason #2: Payette Lake Cruises, a brand new tour boat service in McCall just started operation this year. The cruise service has a 65-foot, two-level tour boat named "Idaho" with daily tours of the lake at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m., a Sunday brunch tour, private dinner tours and more. Daily 90-minute tours cost $20 for adults and $12 for kids. The Sunday brunch tour includes food for $39 for adults. Sounds like a lot of fun! Not everyone has their own power boat or sail boat to cruise around on Payette Lake.

Reason #3: The Wild Rockies series moves to Jug Mountain Ranch in Lake Fork this weekend. It's the 5th annual Jug Mountain Ranch cross-country race and Super D. The cross-country course is 12 miles long on mostly singletrack with a few two-track sections. That's on Saturday. It's a national qualifying event. The downhill is on Sunday. Plus, there's a trail-running event on Saturday. I've been riding a lot at Jug the last few years. The riding out there keeps getting better as Jug Mountain Ranch, CIMBA and others enhance the trail system by building new xc trails and freeride trails. See the Wild Rockies web site for details about the race this weekend. 

Mountain biking in McCall is totally fab!  

Reason #4: I just reprinted and updated my guide Mountain Biking in McCall with new singletrack at Jug Mountain Ranch, the latest routes and map for Bear Basin Trails, a new meadow loop at Tamarack Resort, and other important updates to reflect logging impacts on trails or washouts (Teapot Mountain Loop in the South Fork Salmon River area is now an out-and-back ride). Some good bets for mountain biking this weekend include Bear Basin (can't go wrong), Tamarack meadow loop (great for all abilities), North Valley Rail-Trail (easy), and Loon Lake (advanced).  All of the local outdoor stores are stocked up on my guidebook, including Gravity Sports, Hometown Sports, McCall Drug, May Hardware, Shore Lodge gift shop, Paul's, Ridley's, the McCall gift shop and Ponderosa State Park. 

Morel mushroom

Reason #5: It's still possible to hunt for tasty morel mushrooms in the forests around McCall. I would look for them above 6,000 feet elevation. Make sure you know how to identify morels. 


Reason #6: Reilly Coyote will be playing Saturday night at the Salmon River Brewery, a very popular hangout in McCall with great food on Colorado Street. 


Reason #7: The snow is melting fast, but according to the McCall Ranger District, the snow level is hovering at approximately 6,700 feet elevation. That means the forest road to Lick Creek Summit is snow-bound at the summit, but you may be able to reach lower elevation trails. Some good bets for hiking would include the Huckleberry Trail at Ponderosa State Park, 20-Mile Trail near Upper Payette Lake, Bear Basin Trails and the North Valley Rail-Trail. 


Reason #8: It'd be a sweet weekend to paddle the Meanders on the north end of Payette Lake with your sweetheart. Start and finish at North Beach. If you have your own canoe, inflatable kayak or sit-on-top kayak, any of those crafts would work great for the Meanders. It's about 3-4 miles out and back. There also are rental boats available in McCall at North Beach, at The Hub, and Gravity Sports. The trip is featured in my guidebook "Paddling the Payette." 


Reason #9: It's always a good time to lounge on the beach in McCall. Bring your lawn chairs, some beverages and find some beach space to hang out on the south end of the lake (two public beaches), the north end by North Beach, or dispersed sites on the east side of the lake. 


Reason #10: All of the local golf courses are open and ready for play. The McCall city course is really fun and challenging to play ... it has 3 different nines. You also could play Meadow Creek in New Meadows, Osprey Meadows at Tamarack (closed temporarily until June 30), Whitetail by Shore Lodge or Jug Mountain Ranch. 


Hopefully this gives you a few ideas. I didn't even mention road biking to Secesh Summit,  circumnavigating Payette Lake on your bike (some dirt involved on the east side road) or soaking in the wonderful pool at Burgdorf. I could go on and on. 


If you don't have a place to stay in McCall, try to snag a hotel room, or check with InIdaho.com or vrbo.com for a condo or rental home. You can always pitch a tent in the national forest nearby, too! 


Don't forget your bug juice. The mosquitoes will be a factor ... at least in the evenings. 
Have fun! 
-- SS
Steve shares his weekly outdoor tips with Ken and Tim on 94.9 FM The River each Friday morning in Boise at approximately 7:10 a.m. You can hear archived audio segments on River Interactive.com. Detailed descriptions and color maps of Steve's hikes, bike rides and paddling trips are available for 99 cents each at www.stevestuebner.com, plus the full ebooks and hard-copy guidebooks.

Weiser River Trail Bike Ride; North Fork kayak races; SWIMBA 20th anniversary event ... lots of fun things to do this weekend

Fun underpass section of the Weiser River Trail, north of Council 

There are numerous planked bridges along the Weiser River Trail.

Here's Steve on the Weiser River Trail south of Cambridge ... the upper end is mostly forested. But the southern part is worth riding as well ... plenty of open space along the Weiser River away from U.S. 95. 

Hi all,

This is one of those weekends where you may wish that you could be in two places at once, or even three ... because there are a number of fun events going on, and you'll have to choose which ones work best for you.

There's still time to sign up for the sixth annual Weiser River Trail Bike Ride on Saturday, June 9. This is a fund-raiser of sorts for the Weiser River Trail -- the longest rail-trail in Idaho -- and it's a great cause to support. Plus, you can have fun riding 28 miles mostly downhill on the upper end of the Weiser River Trail!

I've ridden the Weiser River Trail multiple times over the years. It runs for 84 miles from Rubicon, a few miles west of New Meadows, to the city of Weiser, along the Weiser River. The surface is compacted gravel for most of the route. The upper end is the most scenic and fun, in my opinion. After you pass by the Evergreen sawmill, the trail winds along the upper Weiser River canyon, and you can really crank up the speed through here, with the aid of gravity. You'll pass by occasional meadows and ranches in a forested setting.

The tour stops for lunch near a WRT trailhead by Starkey Hot Springs. You will have traveled 18 miles by this point, and have 10 miles to finish. Once the downhill section ends, the final push to Council is mostly flat through a tranquil valley away from U.S. 95 most of the way.

The event starts at 9 a.m. Saturday in Council, where you can register, pay fees, get a T-shirt and board a shuttle vehicle to the start of the tour. Volunteers with Friends of the Weiser River Trail will take good care of you. The bike ride costs $35 for members, and $45 for non-members. Be sure to join the Friends of the Weiser River Trail and support this wonderful trail!

You can register at this online link, or for more information, contact Ride Coordinator Ed Allen at edgart@frontiernet.net or call 208-630-4836. Be sure to dress warm if you go ... it might be quite chilly on Saturday morning at the top end of the trail.

Another can't-miss event this weekend is the North Fork Championship on Friday evening and Saturday on the world-class North Fork of the Payette River. On Friday evening, starting at 5 p.m., a ton of expert paddlers will race downriver from Otter's Slide Rapids to Banks, a distance of about three miles, in an all-out downriver sprint. The top five finishers will join 30 pre-selected elite paddlers who will compete in a slalom course on Class 5+ Jacob's Ladder and Golf Course rapids beginning at noon on Saturday.

Jacob's Ladder is the gnarliest and steepest rapid among the many Class 5 drops on the famed North Fork. Jake's flows into Golf Course, named so for its many "holes" (recirculating frothing reversal features). Racers will have to maneuver around four gates on the course through Jake's and Golf Course. There will be time penalties for hitting the gates or missing them. Ultimately, the winner will be crowned "King of the North Fork," along with a cash prize.

Map of the mighty North Fork and its many Class 5 rapids  from my book "Paddling the Payette"

I'm planning on going up to watch both events. It will be a total rush to watch the downriver race on Friday evening, and see local paddlers like Jim Grossman, Jared Alexander, Tyler Allyn, Will Parham, Joe Carberry and many others vie for those five spots to compete on Saturday. On the "Lower 5," the paddlers will negotiate Otter's Slide, Juicer and Crunch, all Class 5 drops. The North Fork is running around 2,000 cubic feet per second, which will be plenty of water for the competition.

Beyond the paddling competition, there will be lots of fun stuff going on in Crouch in terms of food and drink. Check out these videos to get a sense of the kind of rapids these guys will be running.

On Sunday, the Southwest Idaho Mountain Biking Association (SWIMBA) will be turning 20 years old. Wow! Some of you may not realize that I was the founding president of SWIMBA, so this anniversary is especially meaningful to me.

We formed SWIMBA in 1992 to protect our access to trails, maintain trails in Hulls Gulch (this was before Ridge to Rivers existed), build new trails and work on mountain bike manners and etiquette. The group has thrived over the years, and gotten stronger through the Fat Tire Festival and significant funds generated through that event. My proudest moment was working on the Boise Foothills Open Space Campaign and winning 60 percent of the vote, securing $10 million to preserve open space, build new trails and bring some existing trails into public ownership.

Anyway, there is a group costume ride Sunday morning at 11 a.m. Need a costume idea? Well, what were you wearing 20 years ago on a mountain bike ride? There's a bike and gear swap from noon to 5 p.m. in Hyde Park by Joyride Cycles, and there will be beers and burgers happening at Harry's.  Sounds like a blast to me!

If you're hungry for more bike events, the Boise Bicycle Project is sponsoring Pedal 4 the People June 9-23. See the event calendar for details. There's a whole bunch of cool stuff planned.

- SS

New version of Mountain Biking in Boise aims to please with new rides for everyone

Ride the Memorial Bench on the Mahalo Trail 

Roberto, Mark and Jim take a breather at Eagleson Summit

Zooming down Hard Guy is too much fun 

Summit of Stueby's Death March

Hi all,

Ah, mountain biking in Boise, is a wonderful thing, isn't it? I've been riding in the Boise Foothills for more than 25 years -- to date myself just a little -- and I always find it invigorating. Between the top of Shafer Butte, Stack Rock and the Boise River, we've got over 200 miles of trails to explore. We are truly blessed.

Mountain biking is one of my favorite things to do because each ride has so many benefits -- fresh air, blue sky thinking, fitness, socializing with friends, running the dog, etc. With more than a dozen trailheads to choose from between the Eagle Cycle Park and Harris Ranch at the edge of the foothills, we can hit the trails just minutes from home and go exploring. 

I rode one of my favorite loops today - I call it the "Sidewinder-Fat Tire Connector-Trail #5 Loop. This 11-mile ride became doable when Ridge to Rivers built the Fat Tire Connector Trail in 2010, a trail connects Sidewinder with the Trail #5-Trail #6 ridge to the east. That trail opens up a lot of new opportunities that didn't exist before. And it was built with Fat Tire Festival beer money. How about that! Here's some video.

You start at Camelsback Park, ride up to Crestline via Kestrel, climb Crestline to Sidewinder and take that to the top, and then cruise over to Trail #5 via the Fat Tire Connector. From there, it's a fun zoom down the ridge to Military Reserve, and then back to Camelsback via the Military Reserve connector.

A cool variation on that loop, adding another 600 vertical feet of climbing, is to climb go left and climb Trail #5 from the Fat Tire Connector to Trail #6, climb some more to the Trail #4 junction, and then take Trail #4 back to Sidewinder. This ride is a pleasant variation to what I call "Stueby's Death March" in my guidebook, Mountain Biking in Boise. It's much more pleasant because the old route involved climbing Trail #5 up the backbone of a steep ridge through deep sand. Fat Tire Connector allows you to avoid that nasty climb, and still reach the upper part of Trail #5.

My friends Glenn Oakley, Mark Lisk and I used to do Stueby's Death March all the time. Glenn compared it to Bataan Death March, which is probably where the ride got its name. We dreaded the climb especially in the heat of July, but the ride always told me what kind of shape I was in, and it felt like a great accomplishment later. Now I do the same ride frequently except I go up there via Sidewinder and Fat Tire Traverse.

This variation on Stueby's Death March is one of 65 rides in my latest version of Mountain Biking in Boise. This brand new 6th edition is hot off the press. The 184-page book contains all of the favorite rides in t12he Boise Foothills such as Watchman and Far Tire Traverse, all of the popular rides near Bogus Basin such as Freddy's Stack Rock Trail, Mahalo, and Eastside, a number of rides out at Avimor and in the Eagle Foothills, and much more.

My guidebook complements the Ridge to Rivers maps by providing mileage, distance, travel time, and many, many variations on typical mountain bike loops.

Here are several other rides from the book that you'll enjoy:

• Deer Point Trail - Mahalo - Boise Ridge Road Loop. Distance: 12.6 miles. Travel time: 2.5-3 hours. 2,590 feet of vertical gain/loss. Difficulty: Advanced. Strong intermediate riders should be able to complete the ride by taking plenty of rest stops, as needed. Drive to the Bogus Basin parking lot. Ride Deer Point Trail #91 to the Sidewinder saddle. Turn right and ride over to Deer Point and a gate by the Boise Ridge Road. Go left on the ridge road and cruise downhill to Forest Road #275C on the left. Go left, go over the gate, and watch for the beginning of Mahalo Trail on your right. Mahalo is a fun singletrack built by SWIMBA in coordination with the Boise National Forest. The trail is all singletrack, winding through the forest for about 4 miles in some tight switchbacks, roots, rocks and various obstacles, plus some smooth and fast trail. Once at the ridge road, turn right and head back to Bogus and ride Deer Point downhill to the parking lot. One variation that strong riders do is finish this ride by going down the Dry Creek Trail after completing the Mahalo Loop. 
• Chris' favorite lunch ride. Distance: 9.1 miles. Advanced. Travel time: 1 to 1.5 hours. This one was contributed by Chris Haunold, owner of Idaho Mountain Touring. If he's got a little over an hour, this is the ride he likes to do to get a good workout in the footies. From Camelsback Park, he rides up Red Fox and Chickadee Ridge Trails to Hulls Gulch, then he climbs Hulls to the Crestline junction, takes Crestline downhill to Sidewinder, and climbs to Sidewinder Summit, and takes Trail #4 back down to Crestline, and takes Red Cliffs and Owls Roost back to Camelsback. That's a good, quick workout with 1,277 vertical feet of climbing and descent.
• Do you feel like king of the mountain? Are you feeling strong and eager for a challenge? Try Tom Patek's 3-hour Tour. This is more like a full-day ride for me. 26.8 miles. 6,843 feet of climbing/descent. Start at Camelsback. Ride Red Fox and Hulls uphill to the motorcycle parking lot. Climb Corral's Backwards. Climb Scott's Trail to 8th Street. Take 8th Street to Eagleson Summit. Go downhill to the Dry Creek turnoff, and ride Dry Creek downhill toward Bogus Basin Road. At the Dry Creek junction with Hard Guy, climb over to Hard Guy, descend to the Corrals Trail, and ride to Corrals Summit, and downhill over to motorcycle parking lot and downhill on Hulls back to Camelsback. I swear, anyone who can clock that ride in 3 hours is super-human. 
• How about something a little easier? Try Leo Hennessy's Howling Coyote Ride from Quail Ridge to Polecat Gulch. Distance: 11 miles. Travel time: 1.5 hours. 2,050 feet of climbing/descent. Strong intermediate to advanced. From Hill Road, climb to the top of the Quail Ridge subdivision, go to the water tank, climb over the step-over, and take the ridge north over to Polecat Gulch trails. Drop over to Quick Draw, climb to the Polecat Ridge, and climb the Polecat Loop trail to Doe Ridge. Descend Polecat Loop trail to the Polecat Gulch area, and then climb back to the ride leading to Quail Ridge to finish the ride. 
• Here's a fun intermediate ride - Jumpin' Jeepers Figure 8 Loop. Distance: 6.75 miles. 1+ hours travel time. Start/Finish in Military Reserve Park. Climb the Toll Road Trail to Central Ridge to Shane's Junction. Climb to Shane's Summit and complete Shane's Loop. Take Bucktail downhill back to Military Reservoir Park. This is a super fun descent on Bucktail. Finish along Freestone Creek or Central Ridge trail back to the trailhead. I call it Jumpin' Jeepers because of the potential of getting spooked from gunfire at the police firing range when you're on Bucktail or descending to Freestone Creek. But it's a fun and fast ride.

Well, there's a little bit of sneak peek at the new book. You'll still see Ian Fitzgerald of Eagle flying through the air at the Eagle Cycle Park on the book cover.

The rides in Mountain Biking in Boise  (detailed descriptions and trip maps) also are available for 99 cents at stevestuebner.com and the entire book is available in full color as an ebook. The hard-copy guidebook retails for $14.95. 

In my experience, a lot of people ride the same trails over and over again. But diversity is the spice of life, right? With 65 rides, there are enough ideas in Mountain Biking in Boise to keep you busy for several years. 

Have fun! 

- SS

Some suggestions for Memorial Day weekend

The Crooked River trail starts from the Edna Creek Road, north of Idaho City.

On top of Bogus Basin, looking north to Mores Mountain 

North Valley Rail-Trail in McCall 

Hot springs may be the ticket this weekend ... this is Kirkham near Lowman 

Hi all,

After all of this beautiful, warm weather we've had in May, it's too bad that Memorial Day weekend is starting off wet and cold.

Checking on the forecasts, I see McCall is supposed to have highs in the low 50s, and a 50 percent chance of rain or snow until Monday. In Stanley, it's supposed to be colder, with 60 percent chance of rain or snow. In Idaho City, it may hit 60 by Sunday, and a 40 percent chance of rain. Geez isn't that inspiring!

But hey, last year at this time was WAY worse. There was a lot more snow at low elevations, and the weather was horrible all weekend. My recommendations could be summed up in one sentence: "Party under the tarp."

Those sage words of advice will hold true again this weekend. If you're going camping, I'd recommend choosing a location that's in the lower elevation zone to avoid getting buried by snow. Definitely bring a good tarp. Pack a ton of firewood; keep it covered and dry. Dress warm.

The Idaho Statesman outdoor staff had a great roundup in today's edition on camping conditions in  Southwest Idaho. If you haven't tried it yet, you might look for a Forest Service cabin rental or an Idaho State Park cabin rental for the weekend. That would be warm and cozy.

In the meantime, I'll suggest a couple of hiking and biking trails that may be good bets for this weekend:

• Bogus Basin Contour Tour - This is a moderate hike or mountain bike ride. It's 5.75 miles start to finish. You circumnavigate Bogus Basin ski area by taking Deer Point Trail #91 to Elk Meadows Trail #94. Take Elk Meadows around the backside of Bogus to Lodge Trail, return to the Pioneer Lodge area, and then descend on Sunshine Trail and Shindig Trail back to the main parking lot. See my previous blog on this loop for details.  
• Two Trails that start with the letter "C" - Crooked River and Cottonwood Creek. Both of these trails are in the Boise National Forest. Crooked River is between Idaho City and Lowman, and Cottonwood Creek is near Arrowrock Reservoir. See my previous blog on these trails for details. 
• Station Creek Trail - I'm taking my kids hiking on this trail on Sunday. My 14-year-old son is going to be working on a trail crew this summer, and he needs to get his boots broken in. The Station Creek Trail is located directly across from the Garden Valley Ranger District office, on the Banks to Lowman Highway, just east of the town of Garden Valley. The hike is about 4.5 miles long. As an optional addition, you can hike to the top of Bald Mountain. That's what we're going to do. 
• Bear Basin or North Valley Rail-Trail - If you're in McCall, these are two low-elevation options close to town that are guaranteed to please. These two hikes/rides are featured in my book Mountain Biking in McCall. Click on the free sample rides for details. The Bear Basin Trails are in the Payette National Forest and the North Valley Rail-Trail runs south of McCall on the old railroad right of way. Both trails are kid-friendly. 

If you're camping in the Garden Valley or Idaho City areas over the weekend, one thing you could do is to watch the Exergy Tour stage race on Sunday. It's a 60-mile race from Garden Valley to Idaho City. It starts at noon, and it's expected to finish around 3 p.m. in Idaho City. It's called the "Queen's Tour."

On cool and wet weekends like this, another great alternative is to hang out at a hot springs. I expect that Gold Fork, Burgdorf, Baumgartner, Bonneville, Kirkham and others will be popular spots.  

Try to stay warm and dry, and above all else, have fun! 

- SS

Steve shares his weekly outdoor tips with Ken and Tim on 94.9 FM The River each Friday morning in Boise at approximately 7:10 a.m. Here's the audio from this blog topic. You can hear archived audio segments on River Interactive.com. Detailed descriptions and color maps of Steve's hikes, bike rides and paddling trips are available for 99 cents each at www.stevestuebner.com, plus the full ebooks and hard-copy guidebooks.

Have you ever wanted to ride across America on a bike or a horse? Here's some inspiration ...

Wayne, left, Frosty and Howard upon arrival at Chris Brady's in Boise

Hi all,

I had the pleasure of meeting two extraordinary gentlemen last week who are in the midst of riding their bicycles across America. They're brothers -- Frosty Wooldridge and Howard Wooldridge. They're retracing the route that Howard followed in 2002 on his pinto paint horse from Savannah, Ga, to Newport, Ore. -- a distance of about 3,100 miles. Howard called it "Misty's Ride."

Howard Wooldridge on his horse Misty

Frosty says about 350-500 people ride bikes across America every year. But Howard is "definitely the only guy to ride both a horse and a bike across the country," he says.

I don't know about you, but I've always dreamed of riding a bike across America. I've just never taken the time. I could have done it after finishing college, but I was broke and wanted to get a newspaper job in the worst way and start a career in journalism. And I did. Now I'm up to my ears in work, kids and family. But someday, I really hope to do the ride. Frosty and Howard are my inspiration and maybe yours too. They're not average Americans by any stretch. These guys take life by the horns and go BIG!

Frosty taking a roadside break 

Frosty Wooldridge has pedaled 100,000 miles around the world and covered six continents. He's the author of many books, including How to Live a Life of Adventure. This is the 6th time he's riding his bike across America, mainly to accompany his brother Howard on his quest to fulfill an item on his bucket list, and talk to the media about his cause -- overpopulation.

Unchecked immigration is a huge problem, Frosty says. "We've got 46 million people living on food stamps in America right now. We must create 95,000 jobs every month to take care of our legal obligations to immigrants coming into America. I call it slow-moving national suicide."

Frosty doesn't believe our nation can possible take care of all of the legal immigrants, much less the illegal ones, plus he worries about the impact of overpopulation on our natural resources. But none of our nation's political leaders will touch the issue, he says, calling their lack of action "thundering silence."

Howard's cause is fighting the prohibition of illegal drugs. He's an ex-cop and a lobbyist on
Capital Hill who feels that it's a big waste of money to continue the war on drugs. His organization is called Citizens Opposing Prohibition or COPS. The T-shirt he rides in says "COPS SAY LEGALIZE POT. ASK ME WHY." His feeling is that the war on drugs/drug prohibition has been the "most destructive, most dysfunctional and most immoral policy since slavery and Jim Crow."

Working in Washington D.C. is tough these days, Howard says, because everyone in Congress is bought by special interests. The true needs of the nation are ignored while special interests run the show. "I come home from work every day covered with slime," he says. "I have to take a shower to try to get rid of it."  Howard says he's going to retire in the next year or so because he can't stand being around the corruption much longer. Kudos to him for working on the cause, nevertheless.

Now, back to their cross-country ride. They're riding on a pace of about 50-65 miles a day, depending on terrain to stay on track for a timetable of completing their ride in 9 weeks. They're operating on a budget of about $15/day. They're carrying about 60 pounds of gear, and they camp out on most nights.

Cycling across America takes "true grit" Frosty says 

A third man, Wayne, is riding with them. Wayne is 70 years old, Howard is 60 and Frosty is 65. They're all happy and fit as can be.

One reason that fewer than 500 people ride bikes across America each year is that it's hard! "You gotta have true grit," Frosty says. "It takes a lot of toughness. Nature will throw all kinds of s--- at you and you've got to deal with it -- wind, rain, sleet, hail, heat, you name it."

But the benefits are big. "Bicycle touring will show you that you're alive in a grand way," Frosty says. "It's a spiritual zen experience. It makes you peaceful, happy and purposeful. We all have a powerful exploratory urge if you open your mind to the possibilities. It's in our human DNA to explore."

Penny-Farthing bike. Very easy to sail over the handlebars and land on your head.

Frosty and Howard are inspired by other people's stories, too. Consider the guy who rode a penny-farthing bicycle from San Francisco to New York in 29 days! Those are the one speed bikes with a big front wheel. Thomas Stevens of England was the first person to ride around the world on a bike (a penny-farthing) in 1884-1886. "Think how primitive things were at that time -- that guy could have died in a thousand ways!" Frosty notes.

Cross-country riders often are inspired to make the big trip because of some kind of adversity that has struck their lives. "Divorce and death are a catalyst to doing extraordinary things," Howard says.

One of the biggest rewards of riding across the country is how friendly people will come to your aid time and time again. Howard has experienced it on his horseback ride and on a bicycle. Frosty has experienced it all over the world. "I've been invited into hundreds of homes," Frosty says. "People figure that you have to have character and integrity to ride a bike across the country."

"The world conspires to help you succeed," Howard says.

Howard recalls riding Misty into the Stage Stop about 10 miles east of Boise on I-84. He needed hay and grain for his horse in that dreadful piece of road between Mountain Home and Boise. A rancher just happened to pull into the service station with fresh hay and grain in the horse trailer. He wouldn't let Howard pay for any of it. The next day, another rancher helped Howard with a broken horse shoe, brought a horse trailer over to haul the horse to their ranch to fix the shoe and fed Howard a hearty meal. "People just come out of the woodwork to help you. It's uncanny."

Go see the country! 

If you want to track Howard and Frosty's adventure, Howard has a twitter handle @cannabiscop where he provides a daily update. You can follow along on Frosty's blog as well. They plan to complete their journey in Savannah, Ga., by the first week of July. Right now, they're on Day 19 in SLC, Utah.

I want to thank my friend Chris Brady for giving me an impromptu phone call, inquiring about the best route for the guys to take from Parma to Boise. That led to a dinner invite at Chris' house last week to meet these characters and learn about their life. Chris has known Howard since they were college students at Michigan State in 1970. They worked at Domino's Pizza together, and have stayed in touch ever since. Ha!

Have a great adventure guys! Wish I could be riding with you.

Two other things of note I wanted to mention this week:

• Don't forget, next week is Boise Bike Week! Lots of events and activities planned. Try to park your car and ride your bike for work, errands, trips, etc. next week. 
• This Saturday at Eagle Island State Park, there is a Fishing Paddle Craft Demo Day and Casting Tournament. Runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Over 25 different models of fishing craft that you can demo. Experts and sales reps will be on hand to answer questions about gear.
  - SS

Here's an easy way to explore the new Big Jacks Creek Wilderness near Bruneau, Idaho

Here's Steve in the Big Jacks Creek Wilderness

Hi all,

It's going to be a bit wet heading into the weekend, but at least by Sunday, the weather appears very favorable for spring hiking.

As part of an ongoing series of sneak-peek blog posts about hikes and bike rides that we'll be including in a forthcoming guidebook on the Owyhee Canyonlands, I'd like to share an easy hike in the new Big Jacks Creek Wilderness, near Bruneau, Idaho.

The BLM has developed a trailhead and a marked trail to access Big Jacks Creek. It's called the Parker Trailhead. The hike is 2.5 miles out and back. There's a sweet campsite at the bottom of the creek, where a group could stay overnight.

Big Jacks Creek is a gorgeous canyon. Go see it and judge for yourself.

Driving map for Parker Trailhead

The hardest part of the whole trip, like many in the Owyhee Canyonlands, is finding the trailhead. A good 4WD vehicle or a high-clearance Subaru is recommended for the drive, once you hit the dirt roads.

How to get there: Take the freeway to Mountain Home. Take the first exit. Follow signs for Idaho State Highway 51 and Bruneau. After you reach Bruneau, take note of your odometer. Stay on Idaho 51 for approximately 25 miles. You'll be watching for a right-hand turn on a good dirt road, called the Wickahoney Road, just past milepost 45. The road is not signed, but it's a BLM public road.

Parker Trailhead 

Follow Wickahoney Road 4.9 miles to a T-junction by Wickahoney Creek. Turn right and go 2.8 miles to the Parker Trailhead. Park and hike from there.

Leo Hennessy follows the Parker Trail into the Big Jacks Wilderness

You'll follow a two-track road over to the rim of the canyon, walk over a barbed-wire fence via a wooden step-over gizmo, and descend into Big Jacks Creek. Take your time, take some photos and enjoy the scenery. There's a foot path going down into the canyon; it's marked by rock cairns along the way.

Once at the bottom, you can explore a little and eat lunch by the campsite area. Return the way you came.

Rock cairns help mark the foot path in Big Jacks canyon 

For more adventurous folks who like to walk down wet creek-bottoms, you might want to try starting the hike at Wickahoney Creek, follow Wickahoney down to Big Jacks, walk down Big Jacks to the Parker Trail and come back. That would be a longer loop, about 7 miles. Big Jacks has water in it in the springtime, so it'd be best doing that hike in Tevas or Chacos, or some kind of sturdy sandles. Flip flops would not work.

Have fun!
- SS

Steve shares his weekly outdoor tips with Ken and Tim on 94.9 FM The River each Friday morning in Boise at approximately 7:10 a.m. If you miss the program, you can hear the segments on River Interactive.com. Detailed descriptions and color maps of Steve's hikes, bike rides and paddling trips are available for 99 cents each atwww.stevestuebner.com, plus the full ebooks and hard-copy guidebooks.