Trails Update Friday, June 21 2019

Happy first day of summer. Here are some trail updates for the Wood River Valley region of Idaho:

Undermined foundation on closed Osberg Ridgeline Trail footbridge.

On the Osberg Ridgeline Trail, the second bridge up from the end of Baker Creek Road has been closed by the Ketchum Ranger District (KRD) due to the undermining of the foundation and a resulting safety hazard. The district reports that trail users may be able walk around on the low side, but motorcycle and equestrians traffic will have a harder time getting through. In the near term the KRD will be working to remove the bridge and they will be installing a temporary trail through. Long range; they hope to be able to install a replacement bridge. For an anticipated work/replacement schedule visit the BCRD Summer TraiLink site’s Trail Alerts section.

Screen shot of an Instagram post by @svtrailsandbikepark near the top of Baldy – shot is of Saddle Up Trail.

Updates from the Sun Valley Resort regarding trails on Baldy:
1. Bald Mountain Trail – Open to summit – Portion from Roundhouse Lane to the summit has 2 trees down & some snow/icy patches left.
2. Warm Springs & Cold Springs Trails – still closed due to avalanche activity this winter, trees down and to protect calving elk.
3. Starting Friday June 21st, the Sun Valley Resort will be open for lift access. River Run Trail will be open for downhill biking only during lift operations (9 am – 5 pm). Mindbender, Pale Rider, Lupine and Broadway are open and ready to ride. Saddle Up will be open but be cautious of icy patches on the trail.

The Sawtooth National Forest Range Specialist has issued an updated sheep report. Here is a link to the full report: June 19, 2019 Sheep Report.

Here is a summary:

  • A band is now in the Cow Creek region of Greenhorn.
  • A band is scheduled to move onto the forest in the vicinity of the Adams Gulch area on Monday, June 24.
  • A band is on BLM lands in, or near to, Colorado Gulch. This band is expected to move down and into the vicinity of the BLM Croy Creek Trails today, June 21. In years past we have seen this band trail up Bullion Gulch Road, bedding down near the west, low end of the Two Dog Trail (upstream from the intersection of the Hidden Valley Trail and Bullion Gulch Road). They do not typically spend much time near Two Dog before heading up Bullion Gulch and onto the forest through the Wolftone Creek area.
  • On the North Fork Boulder allotment a band is scheduled to move onto the allotment through the bottom of Lake Creek and onto Dip Creek.
  • In the Little Wood drainage, one band is in the vicinity of Argosy Creek.
  • A band is scheduled to move into the vicinity of Willow Creek on Saturday, 6/22.
  • One band is in the Milky Creek drainage of the Sawtooth Valley. It will be moving toward 4th of July Creek today.

Outerbike is on! Welcome riders! Western Spirit Cycling and the Sun Valley Resort have brought the worlds best mountain bike demo event to the valley. It takes place Friday, June 21 through Sunday, June 23. The fee-based event’s main venue will be at the River Run base area of Bald Mountain with riders using the trails on Baldy, Greenhorn, Adams Gulch, and other trails in the valley. For more information you can visit the Outerbike website at outerbike.com

Thank you to all the trails volunteers who have been involved in the projects hosted by the Wood River Trails Coalition. More volunteers are needed. The next volunteer work session is Thursday, June 27th on the USFS portion of the Proctor Mountain Trail from 6 to 8 p.m. Meet at the Hemingway Memorial for the 1.5-mile hike in to the work site. For more information about volunteering email the Wood River Trails Coalition Executive Director Sara Gress at sgress@woodrivertrailscoalition.org. Thank you to all the volunteers and the WRTC for all the work that organization is doing for the trails. Here is a link to a blog that describes the last WRTC hosted trail event that took place recently in Adams Gulch: Brushing Sunnyside and Pork Chop

Last season the KRD was busy trying to stop the person (or people) who had been taking a sledgehammer to rock outcroppings found along the Griffin Butte Connector Trail. This season the BLM has had an incident where an individual was doing similar unauthorized, and unwelcome work on a rock-band that is low on the Two Dog Trail. Do not do unauthorized trail work of any kind. If you have an idea about how a trail might be improved, or if you have a maintenance concern, please bring it to the attention of the BCRD Trail Coordinator. He can discuss the situation with you and help you bring the matter to the attention of the land management agency responsible for the property in question. Do no work. Ask permission first. Call me, Chris Leman at (208) 578-2273 or email me at cleman@bcrd.org.

Thank you BCRD Trail Crew for all the great work going on up at Galena Lodge.

Galena Lodge is open and more trails have opened up. The Spring Creek Trail remains closed, and a few other trails remain closed to protect wildlife. All of the remaining closed trails will be opening on Wednesday, June 26. The lodge is open daily from 9 to 4 for your dining and sunny-deck-with-a-beverage pleasure.

Here are some links to reports from some of our partners:

Hope you have some fun out on the trails this weekend!

 

 

 

2 comments for “Trails Update Friday, June 21 2019

Comments are closed.