Tag: off-trail
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Danskin Trail #340 to South Fork Overlook
The oft-forgotten Danskin Trail System is located just one hour from Boise and provides excellent spring and fall hiking in a pocket of the Boise National Forest that is remote, scenic, and full of surprises. If you’re looking for an adventurous hike that exemplifies these three qualities, a trek down Danskin Trail #340 will exceed…
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2022 Almost-Blogworthy Hikes
These are my favorite 2022 hikes that weren’t worthy of an individual blog post. Sage Hen Nature Trail This short loop near Sage Hen Creek Campground travels through lush forest to a scenic ravine where the creek cascades down through several small waterfalls before it settles in Sage Hen Reservoir. There are benches along the…
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Juniper Gulch to the Yellow Jacket
It’s hard to believe that southern Idaho’s hiking season is already coming to an end, but with early snowfall and perpetual sub-40° temperatures on the horizon, I can’t imagine I’ll complete many trail miles from now until next spring. Like most endings, it’s bittersweet, as it ushers in a new, promising ski season, but nevertheless,…
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Sage Creek
My first hike of spring 2022 is in the books! Up to this point, the posts I’ve written were hiked in either 2020 or 2021, making this my first “live” update of the blog. The weather in Boise has been warming up and conditions are perfect in the Owyhees, so my girlfriend and I headed…
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South Fork Boise River Scenic Byway
Most Boiseans probably know Black’s Creek Road as the last interstate exit before entering Boise proper, or the route to historic Bonneville Point, where Captain Benjamin Bonneville and his expedition party first laid eyes on the Treasure Valley and the seam of green running through it, prompting exclamations of “Les Bois! Les Bois!” However, those…
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Owyhee Range High Points
Treasure Valley residents might be surprised to learn that at 8,403 feet, Hayden Peak, the high point of the Owyhee Range, sits almost 900 feet higher than Shafer Butte, the prominent Boise mountain home to Bogus Basin Ski Area. In fact, the four highest points forming the backbone of the Owyhees are all above 8,000…
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Three Fingers Rock
Three Fingers Rock sits just a few miles over the state border in Oregon, one of the most prominent features of the northern Owyhee Range, whose geology forms the western boundary of the Treasure Valley. Named for it’s three distinct skyward-jutting “knuckles”, the rock is a relatively easy hike and scramble that rewards explorers with…
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Big Bend of Sheep Creek Canyon
If you drive an AWD/4WD vehicle with ground clearance and enjoy desolation and the borderline feeling of vertigo when standing on the edge of a gorge and looking down, you’ll love the Big Bend of Sheep Creek. This waterway flows north through a deep canyon from Nevada down the Owyhee Plateau before turning east at…
Exploring Boise's Wilderness 