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Boise Bike Trail
We arrange a truck shuttle with Ann’s parents so they can bike down the Boise river bike path while we go up it. This is an area that is central to the city of Boise and the “green belt”, the lush woods along the banks of the bigger rivers in southern Idaho. I offer to…
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Reynolds Creek Loop
We return to the Wilson Creek trailhead early to avoid afternoon thunderstorms this time. Our route takes us past Wilson Creek Feeders, a giant feedlot packed full of cattle and manure – thankfully downwind today. We see boldly patterned reptiles going about their business – a gopher snake sunbathes in the trail, and a longnose…
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But I don’t want to be smart
As we’re starting along one of several trails into the Owyhee mountains of Idaho from the Wilson Creek trailhead, Ann tells me about several people who recently went to the hospital for lightning injuries sustained while waiting for Old Faithful to go off in a storm. We deride their lack of judgment just as lightning…
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Green Belt Duck Walk
I find another bike trail along a canal in Nampa to walk. This one is absolutely packed with mallards, little fuzzy ducklings trailing behind moms and dads. I woke up yesterday with lower back pain, so I walk a little like a duck also.
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Black Cliffs – Mid Cliffs with Doug & Liz
Cousins Doug & Liz are cruising through Idaho on their summer road trip, and we entice them into a morning at the Black Cliffs on the Boise River. The easy routes here still demand careful attention, which makes them all the more fun (sometimes in retrospect). We get coffee in Boise afterward – a fine…
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Greenbelt Trail and Canal Run
I’m feeling pretty good on a barefoot run when I reach the end of the greenbelt bike trail, so I hang a right on a dirt road that follows a canal through developments and farm fields. I go pretty far on the canal road too, and by the time I return to the bike trail…
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Bruneau Dunes Overnight
It’s a little stormy when we pull in to Bruneau Dunes state park. A blustery wind whips sand off the tall dunes like spindrift on a snowy peak. We’ve seen on the map that there are two small lakes at the base of the dunes, an odd juxtaposition, but we can’t see them from the…
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Twin Falls, Idaho
We want to check out the climbing in Twin Falls before rushing off, so we spend a few days. Idaho feels like a different world from Nevada – there are rain clouds when we cross the border! We parallel Salmon creek north – a flow of water that would be a major river in New…
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Cave Creek Trail
We’re fortunate we choose to go clockwise around this loop. The western trailhead is well marked, and there are plenty of signs along the trail, then they disappear. At least there is still tread to follow, and it eventually spills onto the forest service with no marking other than a “closed to motor vehicles” post.…
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Mission to Square Top
We’re curious about any climbing routes on the unmistakable Squaretop limestone summit, but information is scarce. Rather than try to haul climbing gear up for nothing, we make a hike of it. The Cave Lake state park trail system is newly maintained and well-signed, so we no trouble getting to the pass south of Square…