In 2021, I got involved with Idaho Trails Association, a non-profit organization focusing on trail maintenance, public education and awareness, and advocacy for preservation and protection of recreation areas in Idaho. In 2023, I became fully certified in wilderness first aid and crosscut saw operation so I could start leading projects. Below are the projects I’ve worked on to date and the trails I’ll be working on with ITA in 2024.

2024

Purjue Canyon 4 – Little Jacks Creek Wilderness Area
I’ll be leading a crew at Purjue again as part of our annual work clearcutting the trail, which is starting to become more popular. If our winter and spring are anything like last year’s, we’ll have plenty of work to do.

Bogus Basin Hiking Trails – Bogus Basin Ski Area
This crew will be helping Bogus build critical hiker-only trails in an area where mountain biking trails have completely taken over.

Emerald Lake – Wallowa-Whitman National Forest
This trail south of the Seven Devils Mountains is in serious need of brush clearing and deadfall removal after several years of neglect. We’ll spend four days backpacking and working in late July.

Dry Creek Headwaters 2 – Ridge to Rivers
We’re continuing to focus efforts on these less-traveled trails, which quickly become overgrown with snowbrush, willow, and pine if not regularly maintained.

2023

Illegal Cold Spring Infill – Pole Creek Wilderness Area
Some jerk thought it would be cool to illegally dig a cold spring in a protected wilderness area to attract game animals. Tracks in the creek bed indicate that a backhoe was driven into the woods to do it. We filled it in with shovels.

Rock Island East – Ridge to Rivers
The scope of this project was small – fix one corner on Rock Island East by filling in the rut and regrading the banking of the turn – but our crew had to carry hundreds of buckets of dirt from the borrow site to accomplish our goal.

Queen’s River Trail – Sawtooth National Recreation Area
I spent a week volunteering with an awesome crew on Queen’s River Trail, where we cleared a further two miles, including a section through an avalanche debris field. Slowly but surely, the Queen’s River Loop is becoming completely hike-able again.

Hull’s Gulch Interpretive Trail 2 – Ridge to Rivers
This was another easy day of hiking Hull’s downhill while clipping away encroaching branches.

Rainbow Lakes – Boise National Forest
My first time leading a weekend project was a success, as our crew extensively cleared over twelve miles of trail to all of the Rainbow Lakes, then installed over fifty water bars on the steep ascent to the lake basin. The picture above is the group taking a well-deserved break at Big Rainbow Lake.

Purjue Canyon 3 – Little Jacks Creek Wilderness Area
For my third consecutive year at Purjue, I lead a crew that could’ve spent days clearing away brush after a historically wet and long winter gave way to a flourishing spring, even in the drier canyons of the Owyhees.

Dry Creek Headwaters 1 – Ridge to Rivers
These trails, which are former logging roads, are oft-neglected by hikers and maintenance crews alike, but we’re working on cleaning them up to make the hiking and riding experience more enjoyable.

2022

Hawkins Range Reserve Fence Removal 2 – Ridge to Rivers
We continued removing barbed wire fence along the former property line between private owners and the City of Boise.

Purjue Canyon 2 – Little Jacks Creek Wilderness Area
Working from the upper trailhead this time, we cleared away brush again to the thickly overgrown halfway point in the canyon.

Queen’s River/Little Queen’s River Trails – Sawtooth National Recreation Area
We spent a day each on the Queen’s and Little Queen’s River Trails, focusing efforts on removing deadfall with crosscut saws. About three miles were cleared on each side. In the picture above, I’m standing in the remains of a burned pine tree along the Queen’s.

Duck Lake Bridge Construction – Payette National Forest
We returned to the Lick Creek crossing to build a new trail bridge after the previous one had been destroyed and removed.

Hawkins Range Reserve Trail Building – Ridge to Rivers
We used various tools and techniques to finish the surface of Harrows Trail, a short loop nested within Hawkins Loop.

Hull’s Gulch Interpretive Trail 1 – Ridge to Rivers
This annual project is an easy morning of downhill hiking and clearing away brush on one of the most popular trails in the Boise foothills.

Harrison Hollow Sagebrush Planting – Ridge to Rivers
We spent a cold morning planting sagebrush saplings in the Harrison Hollow area to promote regrowth of native plants and create more robust firebreaks.

Military Reserve Sagebrush Seed Collection – Ridge to Rivers
Our crew collected sagebrush seeds near Freestone Creek to be grown into saplings at the Lucky Peak Nursery. The saplings would later be used for projects like the one above.

2021

Purjue Canyon 1 – Little Jacks Creek Wilderness Area
Working from the lower trailhead, we cleared overgrowth and brush up to the halfway point of the trail, which is notoriously infested with poison ivy.

Duck Lake Bridge Removal – Payette National Forest
We removed a trail bridge that had been struck by a falling tree and collapsed into Lick Creek.

Hawkins Range Reserve Fence Removal 1 – Ridge to Rivers
We removed barbed wire fence that previously formed the border between private property and City of Boise property. In the picture above, I’m using a T post puller to remove the metal posts.