Trail Blaze: The Blog of Idaho Trails Association

Today I am thankful for you- our volunteers and members. I can see snow outside my window and, since trail folks are always thinking about trails, my mind wanders to my favorite wild places and how most Idaho trails must be blanketed in white by now. Here at ITA, if we aren’t working on trails […]

By Hobie Swan, ITA communications and trail crew volunteer The holiday season is upon us, and among the many things we at ITA are thankful for is our volunteers! We’d like to introduce you to two of them—one of our oldest, and one of our youngest.  Meet Bruce Shaffer. Bruce is 83 years old and […]

By Liz Bridges, ITA Advisory Board Member and Youth Trail Program Cook Wilding, grubbing in the dirt, trail crew, fun…however you want to describe them, ITA’s Youth Trail Crews are all that and more. The first Youth Trail Crew took place along the banks of Big Creek in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness in the summer […]

ITA’s Fall Membership Drive starts November 1 and runs through the end of the year. We need your help to reach our goal of $35,000 to support the work of ITA in 2022. You can join or renew for $25, $50, $100 or more! When you become a member of Idaho Trails Association, you are […]

Big news! We are proud to share with you our new logo as part of a larger campaign to refresh our brand!  Our previous logo served us well over the past ten years and we wanted to keep many of the same elements and colors while creating an updated design. You will soon see our […]

If you’re lucky, you’ve had the pleasure of being on an ITA trip with Cindy! This year, she took volunteering as an ITA cook to a new level and planned out the meals for many of our trips. Thank you for taking on this new responsibility and keeping our crews fed, Cindy! Could you share […]

After six years leading and organizing trail projects across Idaho, Clay Jacobson is leaving ITA for new adventures, including hiking the Continental Divide Trail next summer. We will miss Clay and wish him the very best! ITA is now advertising for a Trail Projects Director. This person will oversee the planning, coordination, logistics, and successful […]

John is an ITA crew leader and board member. He retired to the McCall area after living much of his adult life in Boise. His professional career includes working in outdoor sports stores, teaching outdoor sports, and technical writing for a large bicycle manufacturer. His outdoor influences came from growing up in the Forest Service, earning […]

​The West is in the grip of a particularly hot, dry summer and a historically severe fire season. We all can do our part to be sure we and our loved ones enjoy our trails while taking precautions to keep ourselves safe and our forests green. Going hiking or camping this weekend? Stage 1 and 2 fire restrictions are […]

Check out part 1 and part 2 of Alexis’s journey! On Sunday, June 6, I finished my personal challenge to summit all four of Boise’s Grand Slam peaks in one day. I started at Heinen at 5:20 a.m. and finished Kepros at 6:51 p.m. for a total time of 13 hours and 31 minutes over […]

Training is coming along. We’re only a couple weeks away from my attempt at the single day Grand Slam challenge. I’m keeping an eye on weather, as it appears that this cloudy, rainy front will be passing soon and we’ll be expecting some sunny days. Ordinarily I’d be excited about this, but bright, uninhibited sunshine […]

Completing the 35.7 miles with 11,493 vertical feet elevation gain that is the Boise Grand Slam is no small feat in itself.  Especially, Heinen. Blessed, Heinen.  For those unfamiliar, the Grand Slam is made up four hikes in the nearby Boise area. All are gnarly in their own right. Completing them carries some street cred among […]

As an organization that cares about Idaho’s wild places, we want to let you know about an opportunity to speak up for a special area of Idaho.  The Payette National Forest is seeking comment on a travel management plan for Rapid River, which includes the Rapid River Wild and Scenic River corridor that is popular with […]

ITA is planning to transition our bookkeeping activities to a professional outsourced service or volunteer resource over the next 3-6 months.   Since ITA’s inception, we have leveraged an ITA volunteer to perform these tasks that will allow us to support our continued growth and complexity. We are seeking services from a local accounting firm or certified […]

Dear Idaho trail users and friends, Happy New Year! Here’s to remembering the challenges of 2020 but looking with hope to 2021 and time in our beautiful Idaho backcountry, accessed of course by Idaho’s extensive network of public land trails! As I begin my tenure with Idaho Trails Association, I am struck by the positive, […]

It takes a lot of work to keep some of our treasured trails open. Some would say that trail maintenance is “men’s work,” but that simply isn’t true. Over the years, the number of women out there working crosscuts and swinging Pulaskis has continued to grow. The skills needed for this kind of work don’t […]

We had an awesome 2020 season of trail work! Thanks to all of our volunteers that gave so much to make Idaho’s trails better for everyone. Dear ITA friends, 2020 presented many new challenges this year. A big thank you to our volunteers who helped us navigate this unpredictable and ever-changing season! While we did have […]

Dear Idaho trail users and friends, Our membership drive is underway and goes through the end of the year! We need YOUR help to preserve and maintain vulnerable trails in Idaho’s backcountry. Trails take us to our state’s most beautiful places, providing access to unique landscapes and Wilderness areas. Unfortunately, decades of inadequate funding for maintenance have […]

Join us November 1- December 31 for our membership drive!  When you renew or become a member of Idaho Trails Association, you are joining an organization and community that cares about Idaho’s wild places. Not only do we need volunteers to make our projects succeed, but also members to financially support the hard work of […]

This blog is part of our series honoring ITA’s 10-year anniversary! There is one thing that all of the members of our board and staff have in common- a passion for trails! Here are 10 hikes hand-picked just for you. Kane Lake Trail (#66) in the Pioneer Mountains east of Ketchum Kane Lake is a […]

This blog is part of our series honoring ITA’s 10-year anniversary! By John Plat, ITA Advisory Board member John Platt has been backpacking for over 50 years, mostly in Idaho. He is a climber, backcountry skier, an Eagle Scout, and a volunteer with Valley County Search and Rescue.  He has backpacked and camped in wild country […]

This blog is part of our series honoring ITA’s 10-year anniversary! By Jeff Halligan, ITA Executive Director It’s important to have the right tool for the job. These ten items will have any trail cleared in no time! Crosscut saw- This has been the backbone of trail work for a couple hundred years.  The vintage saws (that […]

By Clay Jacobson, ITA Trails Program Director Whether you are going out on an ITA project or planning your own backpacking trip, these items can help make your time in the backcountry a little more enjoyable! Hand Sanitizer – In the post-pandemic world, we have become increasingly familiar with the benefits of clean hands. These […]

Earlier this summer, ITA, in partnership with the Payette National Forest Heritage Program, helped complete a survey of the historic Three Blaze Trail in the Frank Church- River of No Return Wilderness. The Three Blaze Trail was built in 1902 during the Gold Rush days to connect the mining town of Dixie, Idaho with the […]

Idaho Trails Association is seeking a full-time Executive Director. The chosen candidate will lead ITA into its second decade of promoting the conservation and enjoyment of Idaho’s backcountry on foot. Working collaboratively with the Board of Directors and ITA staff, this position will focus on seven main responsibilities: strategic vision and plan implementation, fund development, […]

Dear friends of Idaho Trails Association,  After six years as Executive Director of ITA, Jeff Halligan will be retiring at the end of this year. Jeff has been involved in ITA from the start and has helped lead us through periods of rapid growth and great achievements. We are so grateful for the leadership and compassion […]

Here at ITA we love Idaho’s trails. We also appreciate that there are many types of trail users, and different forms of recreation to enjoy. At times, there has been some conflict between the Motorized and Non-motorized trail users as these groups struggle to fund and maintain trails with limited resources. We were recently contacted […]

Anyone who submits a report to ITA’s new trail reporter anytime from Saturday to the end of the day Monday the 8th will be entered into a drawing for a Gossamer Bumster lumbar pack. Our trail reporter is a simple survey that you fill out after your hike about trail conditions you encounter. These reports […]

Some friends ask me why someone who has no kids of their own would work so hard to provide opportunities to get someone else’s kids outside and into the backcountry. Well, it started when I was young. My parents liked to camp and visit the mountains and national parks during my childhood in the 60s.  I […]

We have new shirts and cups to celebrate our 10 year anniversary! Every donor who gives $100 or more to our Idaho Gives campaign will have the choice of one of these goodies. Give today!

Do you remember going on outdoor trips when you were young? Do you have fond memories of making s’mores around a campfire, learning how to pitch a tent, and using a crosscut saw to clear trails? Okay, probably not that last one. But maybe you remember hiking as a kid! Outdoor experiences from childhood have shaped […]

The health and safety of our staff, members, family and community are our number one priority.   In response to the worldwide Covid-19 outbreak and the concern it poses to everyone’s health and well-being, our entire staff will be implementing best practices which will still allow us to do our jobs safely and help keep our […]

With so many great projects on the schedule, it’s hard to even know where to start! Here are a few that we are especially excited about: April 26 – May 2 • North Central Idaho • Gospel Hump Wilderness • Sheep Creek Jet Boat TripJet boat from Vinegar Creek Boat Ramp, outside of Riggins, to Sheep Creek in […]

We’re so excited to announce that our project schedule is open to members to sign up! There are so many great maintenance and monitoring trips this year and we can’t wait to get out on the trail with you. We have projects from one to seven days and ranging from easy to difficult. Our Members-Only sign-up period will be until April 1 when it […]

On January 29th, as part of the ITA Trail Master Presentation Series, board member Pam Bond and Leave No Trace Ambassador Evan Worthington discussed the potential impacts, good and bad, of sharing our outdoor experiences through social media like Facebook and Instagram.  Those who attended had varying opinions about how outdoor enthusiasts should share their […]

We are getting ready to kick off our third season of the ITA Trail Master Presentation series. We thought it would be a great idea to start offering a recurring presentation on something related to hiking, outdoor skills, etc. over the long winter months to keep our members, and the general public, engaged with ITA […]

Since ITA’s start in 2010, the number of projects, volunteers, and supporters has grown every year. 2019 was no exception! Two hundred and seventy-seven volunteers contributed 7,996 hours of service and completed a total of 37 trail projects across the state. 2019 Totals: Miles of trail cleared- 189.5 Week-long Projects – 13 Multi-day Projects – […]

Going from freezing morning temperatures to an 80-degree bluebird afternoon is just part of the fun and excitement of an Idaho Trails Association project. In early June, our ITA crew started the day at Meyers Cove with a thick layer of frost on our tents. By afternoon we’d hiked 16 miles down Camas Creek to […]

This week, we would like to highlight why ITA chooses to use traditional tools and skills for our work. We are fortunate enough to have our work take place in the wilderness. But what does wilderness really mean? Wilderness can be a general term used to describe a tract or region of land that is relatively undisturbed by […]

Amidst the rush of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, join us on December 3rd for Giving Tuesday, a global day of giving. Giving Tuesday is your chance to support the community organizations that contribute to your way of life. For the outdoor enthusiast there are plenty of ways to support your favorite recreation areas, including […]