The first Saturday in June marks National Trails Day.  This is the day we celebrate hiking by giving back.  It’s the day we gather together, partner with trail managers and help take care of the trails that we use and enjoy.

Indeed, many of Idaho’s hiking trails are still covered with snow right now, but needless to say there are plenty of trails that are thawed out too.  Take for example, the Owyhee Canyonlands.  June 4th is the perfect day to head out into the high desert while it’s still green and not scorching hot.

This year we are partnering with REI and the Bureau of Land Management to improve a great hiking opportunity in the Big Jacks Creek Wilderness – the Parker Trail.  In 2009, Congress passed the Owyhee Public Lands Management Act, which protected approximately 517,000 acres of canyonlands in Owyhee County as Wilderness.  Among the areas protected, the Big Jacks Creek Wilderness is one of the closest Wilderness areas to Idaho’s capitol city.

To make this project successful, we need a group of dedicated hikers to volunteer and help out.  Volunteers will establish a new trailhead and finish converting an old two-track road into a single track hiking trail.  We’ll also assist the BLM with other trail improvements.  We’re also planning to set aside some time in the afternoon to allow volunteers to hike and enjoy this new Wilderness area.  So far 16 volunteers have signed up.  We need 14 more volunteers to tackle this work! If you would like to volunteer, please register through the REI website.  You can also find more information on our Volunteer page.

If you can’t join us for National Trails Day or your want to learn more about the Idaho Trail Association first, we’re giving a presentation at the Boise REI store on the evening of Wednesday, June 1st, beginning at 7:00 PM.  More information about this event can be found on our Events Calendar.