Found some interesting articles about getting into the great Idaho outdoors that you may find useful.


1. The Grizzly Bear Returns to Idaho Outdoors: Rocky Barker of the Idaho Statesman posted an article on November 20th, 2011 titled “Grizzly encounters may be Idaho’s new normal”. While there is a little sensationalism sprinkled throughout the piece, it's a fairly informative story. The basic premise is, grizzly bears are starting to migrate out of Yellowstone and Montana in increasing numbers into Idaho.

Link to the story: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/11/20/1886263/grizzly-encounters-may-be-idahos.html



My Opinion: First of all, I've spent some time in grizzly country. It's a little uncomfortable sharing a fishing hole with these magnificent creatures. Hunting, hiking and fishing becomes a little more complex knowing you'll be sharing the trail with a bear than can ruin your whole day and maybe your whole life. But for Jim Unsworth, Idaho Fish and Game deputy director to say “Grizzly populations throughout the Northern Rockies have grown enough that Unsworth would like them all delisted [from the threatened list]” is almost laughable. 



2. Geocaching Idaho's BLM Lands: In what I suspect is our federal government's effort to attract more visitors to our public lands, the BLM is encouraging the GPS Sport of geocaching. Why in the world do we want regular people trampling around the sagebrush covered land armed only with a GPS unit, an old peanut butter jars and a pencil?

Link to the article: http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/prog/recreation/what_do_you_want_to/Geocaching.html

My Opinion: I say, “It's about darn time”. While I have promised myself that I will start getting into geocaching, I just haven't found the need to yet. Mainly because to plant geocaches, it requires the planter to revisit the geocach site from time to time. I hate having to revisit my steps out in the expansive Idaho outdoors. There are just too many new places to explore. But I know others who don't mind doing this. But the article certainly refired my desire to start a new hobby of geocaching.



3. It's just too dangerous for our children to walk to school: I've heard it mentioned at school board meetings that the children need buses to get to school. Some parents say cars speeding by present a danger they aren't willing to risk without buses. Even our City Council tells us sidewalks must be built and/or smoothed out and repaired because of tripping hazards. Our children might have to negotiate these extremely dangerous hazards on the way to school.

Link to article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8890836/Chinese-children-endure-worlds-most-dangerous-school-run.html

My Opinion: Seriously? Sidewalks or no walking to school? What the heck are we teaching our children. I remember climbing trees before school...and that was without a safety harness, safety glasses or even a hard hat.



But my “old timer” experience pales when it comes to what 80 children in China have to go through to get to school. A 1,000 foot cliff, 4 single plank wide bridges, and if they are lucky a camel ride is part of their 120 mile journey to school. And it's too dangerous for the children of Mountain Home to walk that 1 mile of treachery to get an education? I say again...Seriously? Those Chinese children get an excellent education on the way to, and on the way home from school.

Got a Comment?
I know at least one of the stories provided above got your “commenting juices” flowing.

The days are getting shorter and cooler so we decided to explore the roads around Silver City, Idaho on our ATV. Of course we would be keeping one eye on the scenery and one eye on the road cuts for cool rocks. It was and crystal clear day with warm temperatures and not much wind.

The Video: 6 Minutes Through the Silver City Mountains of Idaho

6 minute video....

Getting There from Mountain Home
Head south out of Mountain Home on Airbase Road. Go southwest on Highway 67 towards the town of Grand View. Head west at the intersection of Highway 67 and 78. Once on Highway 78 you travel about 26 miles were you turn left or south on the paved Silver City Road. This road is paved for about 7.4 miles when it turns into a good gravel road. We parked our truck were Silver City Road intersect the North Fork of Sinker Creek giving you about 4 miles of gravel road driving.

Heading up to New York Summit and Over
We unloaded the ATV (Coordinates: 43.065333, -116.634173) and headed west on Silver City Road. This gravel road heads steadily up to the New York Summit at about 6,700 feet or about 2,900 foot elevation gain in 7 miles. This road, while bumpy can easily be made by a normal passenger vehicle.

From Silver City Idaho Atv trip in Sept 2011

The road follows the now mostly dry Scotch Bob Creek for the 1st 4 miles of this ride. The vegetation gradually changes from the typical mountainous desert landscape to mountain pines on this 3,000 foot climb. And the Snake River Plains views dramatically open up to the northeast-southeast as you near the summit. Not a thing you'll want to miss and maybe a good reason to head up to this area.

The road from the summit down to the outskirts of Silver City has some fine views of Florida Mountain and into the Jordan Creek Valley. This portion of the road is a little steeper and much rougher but still passenger car capable into the town of Silver City.

From Silver City Idaho Atv trip in Sept 2011

Following Jordan Creek to the West
We chose not to head south into the town but instead headed west-north-west along the road that follows Jordan Creek. This road is quite a bit narrower and rough and I'd say a 4-wheel drive would be better along this section but still passable in a normal car.

There are wonderful places to pull well off this gravel road down to nice flat camping areas along the creek. We rode down into one area that I suspect you couldn't negotiate in anything other than a 4-wheel drive or ATV. And it was here that we had our picnic lunch and enjoyed walking along the creek.



Almost every place we stopped along the creek we saw fish in the larger pools. Most places the creek is only about 5-15 feet wide and rarely deeper than 3-4 feet. This is cattle country so expect to see cow patties along the road and right down to the creek bed.

We only traveled 4.2 miles along the Jordan Creek Road before turning around. But it seemed like we went much further. The first 2 miles were typical sagebrush, many pines and big areas of rocks. There's lots of quartz in them, there rocks along this section. Might be well worth rock hounding that section.

From Silver City Idaho Atv trip in Sept 2011

But after about 2-2.5 miles the geography/geology changes rapidly to a “lava” and high desert surroundings. Much like riding around the area north of Mountain Home. As the valley widens out some in this section, there were lots of campers (hunters) taking advantage of some of the nicer spots along the creek.

Rock Hounding This Trip
We didn't find much of interest but the 2-3 miles section west of Silver City appears to be prime time for some good rock hounding. According to my information most of the land along both sides of Jordan Creek are public lands out to 43.039067, -116.763906. I don't believe I saw any mining claim signs or posts. That may or may not be a telling indicator of what's out there.

From Silver City Idaho Atv trip in Sept 2011

We had a Good Time
This trip was quite nice, it was relaxing and relatively uncrowded. If you'd like more info about this trip or have questions, let us know by making a comment.

Horsehead Spring in the Owyhee Mountains is located just off Mud Flat Road 20 miles south of Grand View, Idaho. This hike generally follows a mostly dry creek bed (I'll call it Horsehead Creek) that gradually became more remote and scenic. It doesn't take much effort to find some solitude and pretty views in this area.

Rock Hounding was a Bust
The route I took on this 4 mile round trip hike was rather barren of any rocks worth collecting. About the only thing I found interesting was some lava columns comprised of what I think was vessicular basalt. And these types of columns are rather common in this area of the Owyhee's. In short, I'd say you can cross this area off your rockhounding "wondering" list. I've hiked other peaks in this area and found nothing interesting, but your mileage may vary.

The Horsehead Spring Hike
The day started off with a few light rainshowers but eventually the skies cleared and it turned out to be a magnificent November Idaho fall day. As with every Owyhee hike I've taken, I encountered no one else out there.



The Horsehead Creek draw was a nice hike as I gained almost 2000 vertical feet up to my stopping point just short of the true Horsehead Spring. There were scattered clumps of trees in the draw displaying with their waning fall colors. The bright yellowy-orange foliage certainly contrasted nicely against usual tan-brown-silver colors of the landscape in this area.

As there are virtually no hiking trails in the Owyhee's, this hike was mostly cross-country. But this is ranching country. Most every valley or draw you chose to hike there will be cow trails. In places the cow trails along Horsehead Creek were better maintained than some National Forest Service trails. This makes for easier going through the brambles of sagebrush and thorny bushes close to the dry streambed.

My Hike Location by Coordinates

• Where I parked: 42.749193, -116.309572
• Hiking up to the higher ground: 42.755335, -116.314772
• Horsehead Creek starting point: 42.756690, -116.322241
• Where I turned around: 42.763559, -116.334075
• Map link of general area:  http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=111249431318674283266.0004947c607cced158d2c&ll=42.756592,-116.322212&spn=0.048841,0.132093&t=p&z=14

Note: Copy/Paste the above lat/long into Google Earth or Google Maps will give you the exact location.

Animals, Hunters, Cows, Ranching and the Environment
Hunters are always a concern when I hike Game Management Unit 40 in the Owyhee's during Oct/Nov. Thankfully I saw no hunters but that doesn't mean they didn't see me. I saw many places were big game bedded down recently. Obviously the deer, elk and/or antelope saw and smelled me and headed towards a safer place before I got near them. It appears as if the upper portions of this hike would be prime hunting grounds for the adventurous hunter. But there aren't any roads or ATV trails close so filling a tag means a rough trip out with 100-150lbs of dead weight.

The numerous cow trails along Horsehead Creek is a blessing and a curse all in one. The easier hiking is offset by the sheer amount of cow poop in places. While all the cow patties I stepped over, in and around were old, it certainly still attracted clouds of flies. Once I got into the rougher sections of this BLM and State land, the flies magically disappeared.

The only animals I saw during my hike were 7 or so rabbits and lots of the normal birds. This is coyote territory and I saw plenty of evidence these animals call Horsehead Creek their home. While this creekbed is dry, I found 4 places with standing water in the low spots. I'd like to head up to this area again during the morning or early evening for some wildlife viewing.

I've done a fair amount of hiking and rock hounding in this general area. I've been off the beaten trail to places I'd never expected many or any people have ever been to. But these are the places I've found trash and other signs of stupid people. On this Horsehead Creek hike, the land was clean except the ever present ranching stuff.



Land and Fences
All the land I traveled on during this hike was either "owned" by the BLM or the State of Idaho. One would think fences wouldn't be a problem out in this isolated area but they are. Grazing allotments seem to blanket the Owyhee's and I suspect each allotment is fenced off??? Even where there are gates, they are difficult to figure out how to open them. This leaves the hiker, hunter or rock hound only one option and that is to find a place to climb over or under these barriers.

Advice to Hikers and Rock Hounds
Owyhee County is close to Mountain Home and a perfect place to get out to experience our vast public lands. Hiking is wide open down there and with a little research, you can easily avoid private lands. For rock hounding, the wide open public land is an invitation to get out to find some cool rock, gems and geology. All this land is as close as 45 minutes from Mountain Home. Using Mud Flat Road means you get to avoid bad roads completely.

More pictures from this rock hounding and hiking trip: http://picasaweb.google.com/tim.bondy/HorseheadSpringsHikeInTheOwyheeMountains?feat=directlink

Have any questions about this article? Want some digital products from this hike? Leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

Tim Bondy

The Bondyweb.Com author

With the Idaho ski season just around the corner, the saga of the Tamarack Ski Resort on Lake Cascade continues. It's possible Tamarack could open for skiing this December 20th, 2010. They just need investors and some operating capital. It's sad a ski area with such great potential has so many problems. Read the latest news about Tamarack at these 4 links:
1 October 2010 News: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/10/01/1362543/tamaracks-lifts-will-open-dec.html
12 October 2010 News: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/10/12/1376980/tamarack-lawyer-to-judge-2m-loan.html
13 October 2010 News: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/10/13/1378336/idaho-judge-keeps-tamarack-in.html
The Tamarack Website:  http://www.tamarackidaho.com/

Ticket Prices - Adult High Season Rates
Affordable skiing in Idaho isn't hard to find but lift tickets at some resorts are approaching the $100 level. As a matter of fact, some ski resort are trying to mask the price of their tickets. I searched some of the most famous ski resort website and a few of them make it difficult to find the price.

Graph of Lift Ticket Prices


As you can see there is a big difference between the price of ski area lift tickets. At least you have price options.

Ski Area Lift Ticket Price Brundage Mountain $55.00 Bogus Basin Mountain $48.00 Sun Valley Resort $85.00 Soldier Mountain $36.00 Jackson Hole, Wyoming $94.00

Get You in the Mood Video
The YouTube Video below was taken during the epic 2005 ski season in Europe. Nothing too extreme....just some great scenery with very deep powder skiing.



What are your thoughts about the Tamarack Ski Resort saga? What is your favorite Idaho ski area? Is the current economic recession going to affect your ski season? Let me know by leaving a comment.

Tim Bondy


The Bondyweb.Com author

This is our ATV trip report to Josephus Lake on Sunday September 19th, 2010. We called the area we travel through the Seafoam Lake Area because I cannot find a better name for it anywhere. Where is Josephus Lake? It is located about 25 miles north-northwest of Stanley, Idaho in the Challis National Forest.

Click to see a map of Josephus Lake:  http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=111249431318674283266.000490b03e001425f2eb7&z=19


Getting To Josephus Lake
The Seafoam Lake area looks like a popular camping spot off Highway 21 in a beautiful forested area close to the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. Once you get off the highway (44.393509, -115.174012) there is a great gravel road tracking north for about 6 miles. At the Beaver Creek / National Forest Road 172 intersection ( 44.444571, -115.100048) the road starts getting a little rough as it starts climbing towards Vanity Summit. We parked our truck near this intersection and unloaded the Arctic Cat ATV and headed for the summit.


Click to see a better photo of Vanity Summit Lake

On top of Vanity Summit we took a side trail to a lake we called Vanity Lake (44.486408, -115.093688). The road/trail to the Vanity Lake isn't really suited for anything other than a stout 4 wheel vehicle. This lake sits in a high basin that contains a couple more lakes above the 7,800 feet point. It really is quite a beautiful lake with some cool places to camp if you could get your stuff up there. And plenty of people have done this. While we didn't see any fish in Vanity Lake, there are likely some trout swimming around in it. We spent some time admiring the scenery before heading back to the main road called National Forest Road 8 / Seafoam Road.


Click to see Vanity Creek and aspens photo

We headed down off of Vanity Summit towards the Seafoam Creek Ranger Station(?). This road is pretty much dug right into the side of the mountains with a rather steep cliff dropping into Vanity Creek below. The scenery is quite stunning and the road narrows quite a bit in this area. We pulled over to let a few pick-up truck pass by us. I'd much preferred to be on a ATV than my pick-up as the road is rocky and rough but easily passable in a vehicle with good tires. We stopped a few times along this section to ogle at the scenery and the colorful aspen trees and then continued down to the Seafoam Creek Ranger Station(?).


Click to see "Minor Summit" full size photo

At the Seafoam Creek Ranger Station(?) we continued north and climbed up to another minor summit (44.566378, -115.071804) we interestingly enough called Minor Summit, at 6,300 feet. At this summit, the road heads straight west towards Josephus Lake but we stopped here for some more sightseeing. The views to the south are spectacular and looking straight down about 500 feet into river valley was a little scary. Well worth stopping here.

From Minor Summit we headed to Josephus Lake. The road from this point does get a just a little rougher and more narrow but passable in truck. It also climbs in elevation up to the 7,100 foot point where Josephus Lake is located.


Click to see Josephus Lake picnic area photo

Josephus Lake
Forest Service Road 8 ends at Josephus Lake and a small campground area. Josephus Lake appears to be two small lakes connected by a short stream and is quite scenic. We ate lunch on a picnic table in one of the camp spots and then headed down to the lakes. There looks to be a healthy population of trout in this crystal clear lake complex. We spent quite a while watching the trout from the bank as they surfaced to catch a bug or two. I'd say the fishing pressure on these trout are quite high and they are very wily fish. I certainly main one huge mistake on this ATV trip...I didn't bring my fishing pole with me.

While we were at Josephus it got kind of crowded as 4 different ATV's showed up with two people aboard each. Plus there were two trucks with horse trailer parked in the campground but they obviously were out in the high country for a while. With this evidence on a mid-September Sunday afternoon, I suspect this campground gets and stays filled up during our nice Idaho summers. There also appears to be some hiking trails that head into the wilderness areas around the lake so this seems like a great place to spend a few days during the mid-week.


Click to see the rock hounding area we visited

Rock Hounding in the Seafoam Area
This area is mining country so we naturally assumed we'd find some cool rocks along the route we traveled. This was not the case at all. We found a lot of poor examples of opal and a few nice specimens and came home with 5 rocks that would fit in the palm of your hand. I'm sure there are places to do some major good rock hounding but this wasn't our main objective. We just wanted to explore a totally new area before the snow starts flying.

See some more pictures from this trip: http://picasaweb.google.com/tim.bondy/JosephusLakeATVTrip?feat=directlink

As always, I encourage questions, comment and any advice you may have for ATV'ing, rock hounding or exploring new areas.


Tim Bondy
The Bondyweb.Com author

Chariot Gulch in the Silver City Mountains was our destination for Sunday September 12th, 2010. This area is west and above the Sinker Tunnel Mine and sort of remote. The road up Chariot Gulch isn't suitable for cars or trucks but our trusty Arctic Cat ATV handled the rocky, rough and steep terrain easily. To be honest, this was a exploratory trip as I knew nothing about this area so we were quite excited to find some cool rocks. While we could have explored this area more thoroughly, we really only stopped at two spots for any length of time.

Geology 201 Spot
We called the area located at 43.015324°, -116.694063° Geology 201 because of the totally cool rocks. I suspect a whole semester of a Geology 201 class could be held right at this spot. The rocks were so varied and crazy we marveled over 100's of them. All the good rocks are mixed in a semi-dry stream bed with some quartz crystals, twisted and tortured sedimentary rocks, agates and opal. None worth any money but the weirdness and "eye candy" factor made this one of my favorite spots for rock hounding during the 2010 rock hounding season.

Oro Fino Minor
Located at 43.010363, -116.694154 and just east and downhill from the Oro Fino mine we decided to call this spot Oro Fino Minor. This accidental rock hounding spot was really a no-brainer. We just emerged from a long rough and steep part of the trail that was totally in the shade. So when this sunny and open area came into view we had to stop. Of course, seeing quartz littering the road certainly made our decision much easier. Once off our ATV a quick swivel of the head to the north and we knew this was the place to stop for a picnic lunch. The view was incredible with the pine tree cover landscape surrounding us and a grand view of the Snake River Plains spreading northward to the Boise Mountains. While some people like to dine at sidewalk cafes or ritzy restaurants we prefer picnic lunches with views not obtainable anywhere else but in Idaho. Yeah, we have a few flies to deal with but the service and solitude is unbeatable.

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After lunch, we turned our attention to the road and rocks. We didn't have to look far for cool specimens. Right at our feet we found small conglomerates of quartz crystals. These 1-2 inch long rocks contained many small crystals in the white to clear range. I call these rocks "little sawtooths" because the resemble the Sawtooth Mountains near Sanley, Idaho.

Other finds included what I call "common opal slab sandwiches". Basically two pieces of flat common opal with an unknown thin layer between that cements the opal layers together. The opal in these sandwiches could also be just quartz...but I suspect it's opal. We found the source of these cool rocks in a vein running through a boulder next to the road.

We ended up bringing home a large handful of the "little sawtooths" and a few opal sandwiches. Our family and friends might find some of these rocks in their Christmas baskets this December? The best of the best will be displayed on our fireplace mantle.

Info on the Bondy's Chariot Gulch Rock Hounding Trip
Date of trip: Sunday September 12, 2010
Tools Used: While we had our rock hammers with us they never left the ATV. All rocks were gather by hand and they were laying loose on the road or in the streambed.
Critters and bugs: This was an afternoon trip so we didn't see any animals except a few chipmunks. We dealt with a few flies...very few files so it was quite enjoyable.
Crowds: Once we turned onto the unnamed Chariot Gulch Trail, we were completely alone. I named this trail Chariot Gulch because it isn't marked on any map I could find.
Entrance/Exit Point Coordinates: 43.023502, -116.695135 and 43.009008, -116.695657
Elevation: Entrance at ~6,300 feet | Exit at ~7,300 feet
More Pictures:  http://picasaweb.google.com/tim.bondy/ChariotGulchRockHounding?feat=directlink

Overall, this late summer trip was quite fun. We got off the roads less traveled on to the trail rarely traveled and discovered a wonderful area. As I said above this trip isn't for the trucks...even for 4 wheel-drives. There were times we had to put our Arctic Cat into 4-Low to get up some short, steep sections. The trail isn't very wide in parts and nature is beginning to take over. This area also has some mining claims on it...Claimed by a company called GoldCorp Holdings but it's a lode claim. The road leading to Silver City was quite busy on this day. More busy than any other time I have been up here. It was mostly the ATV and motorcycle crowd instead of car traffic. I encourage you to get out to see some of the beauty and wonders Idaho contains.

As always, I encourage questions, comment and any advice you may have for rock hounding or exploring new areas.

Tim Bondy
The Bondyweb.Com author