This site contains the author's third Idaho trail guide, Exploring Idaho's High Desert. It is here for your own personal use. This truly free (but copyrighted) information carries two reciprocal obligations: to use the land responsibly, and to provide the author feedback.

Navigating the site: You should start at the home page for hikeidaho.com, and you can quickly click to go to the desert book introduction page. Once there, you can click on a text topic, or you can click on a region. The text topics will take you to introductory chapters of the book, which will become more interesting as more and more illustrations are added. The author hopes to include color photos of the major desert plants, animals, ecosystems, and landscapes.
  Clicking on a region takes you to a regional navigation page, where a map shows the individual hikes. You can click on the hike on the map, or in the text list below. Either way, you go to the hike.
  Almost every page has one or more options: to return to the home page; to go back to the regional navigation page; or to return to the hike page.

A single hike: The key page for each hike, as illustrated at left, has the following elements:
1) do-able hikes, with "D" meaning dayhike, "O" meaning overnight hike, and an occasional "W" meaning weekend hike;
2) to the right, the Drive Sketch showing the general location of the hike--click on it to go to the Detailed Drive Map;
3) the total (round-trip) distance of the selected hike;
4) the difficulty of the hike, with Level I approximately beginner, Level II intermediate, Level III advanced--but remember that all desert hikes are tougher than mountain hikes, because they are usually trailless!
5) an estimate of season when the trailhead can be accessed (but boy, can this be off--and in 1999, the first year of this site, most dates are too early!)
6) U.S. Geological Survey 1:24,000 scale topographic map(s) of this hike--available free from this site in an inferior Web version of the original, or available for $30.00 from Challenge Expedition Company on a CD-ROM (see the advertisement);
7) B.L.M. 1:100,000 scale maps, useful for roads, topography, and land ownership--available from BLM District offices in Boise, Shoshone, Burley, and Idaho Falls;
8) unpaved road miles, broken down by gravel, good dirt, or poor dirt;
9) a township, range, and section reference for the hike's goal;
10) an introduction to the hike;
11) a thumbnail photo from the hike--click on it to go to a page of larger photos, with captions;
12) the hike description, with periodic waypoint calls (such as "W4", for "waypoint 4") referring to points on the Detailed Hike Map;
13) a small "hike sketch", with a simple map of the hike--click on it to go to the Detailed Hike Map;
14) access directions to the trailhead, referring to waypoints on the Detailed Drive Map;
15) at bottom of the page, various navigation hotlinks; and
16) a button to help you email the author with feedback on this hike.

The Detailed Drive Map: Sorry, but these maps just take a long time to download! They use the background from a BLM 100K map; the route appears in magenta. Coordinates for waypoints shown on the map are given below. The coordinates at the bottom are given in NAD27, UTM projection, in meters. For more info, see the coordinates page. Finally, the bottom of the page gives you some navigation options, especially to return to the hike.
  These maps often display on the screen bigger than your printer can print on a single page, but present Internet browsers are too stupid to give you the option to fit the map on a page. I recommend the following incredibly painful process: 1) right-click on the map (in GIF format) and save it somewhere on your computer where you can find it; 2) start up Microsoft Word (or something similar) and set up a document with minimal margins, and either portrait or landscape format based on which fits the map best; 3) insert the picture into the document--if it's oversize, Word fits it to the page; and 4) print from Word. At least, this works well on my computer!

The Detailed Hike Map: Sorry again, these maps take a long time to download. The author experimented over and over with options for faster downloads versus legible information, and came up with this... Coordinates for waypoints shown on the map are given below. Finally, the bottom of the page gives you some navigation options, especially to return to the hike. For a tip on printing, see the section above.
  The author has assembled a CD with about 100 topographic maps at a much better resolution. Further, they are georeferenced, and you can capture your own waypoints from them. For more info, click here.

The Photo Page: The photo pages simply have a larger version of the photo on the hike page, along with a caption. Many hikes add a second photo. The bottom of these pages have some navigation options.

Fine Print from the Book: The author writes this book in the belief that the average hiker knows one or two areas intimately, and a few others poorly. When that "average hiker" opens this book, he will turn to the hikes he knows well, and find that the author has missed something.
  The author begs that person's forbearance. He realizes he is a jack of all hikes, and a master of some. He believes that what makes this book worthwhile is its CONCEPT of Idaho's high desert and its six regions, and its selection of 58 hikes and 5 drives. It offers the average hiker a chance to view his favorite hikes in a larger perspective, and to expand his knowledge of other desert areas.
  The author knows that this book, like his other two, has flaws. There is too much information in here to guarantee perfection: it's just too easy to write "right" when one means "left", "1 1/2" in place of "2 1/2". Your best protection against these flaws is to use the book the way the author intends: as outlined in this chapter. If you skip steps, you increase your risks.
  The author remembers well the sobering advice he was given many years ago by a very senior Forest Service recreation planner: just don't do anything in your book that will make me bring dead bodies out of the backcountry. He has tried to follow that advice, but you must help!
  Start by reading the fine print: the introductory chapters, or at the very least, the chapters on hiking skills and equipment, driving, climate, and archaeology. Then study the home page map. It shows six regions, each of which has its own text and map pages. Pick a region of interest, and click to its navigation and text pages. The text page gives you an overview of the region; the navigation page shows the hikes and drives.
  Now, select a hike. Within each region, they are arranged in order from easy to difficult road access. If two hikes have essentially equal access, then the one that opens earlier in the year is given first.
  Your selection should be based on several bits of information. First comes the type of hike: D is a day hike, O an overnight hike, W a weekend hike. Next is total distance of the featured hike. You, of course, have the right to shorten or lengthen your outing.
  Third comes difficulty, the hardest factor to quantify for cross-country travel. Level I is a beginner hike, with few routefinding problems and relatively easy terrain. Level II is an intermediate hike. Level III is an advanced hike, with severe routefinding challenges and/or arduous walking. START WITH LEVEL I HIKES, no matter how experienced you are on mountain trails: the desert is different! Take several hikes at Level I before moving on to Level II, and several there before trying Level III. And remember: accidents happen most often to overconfident intermediates who have lost their beginner's caution.
  The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) location for the hike's goal is there for a reason: you must tell some "responsible person" where you are going and when you'll be back. (This is easy on Forest Service land, with named trails, but hard on BLM land thus, the township, range and section location.)
  At last! the description. The author hiked every inch of these trails, but he does NOT give you inch by inch instructions. Instead, he attempts to point out the main places where you will face routefinding problems. This keeps the challenge in the hike...
  The hardest part to write are the access directions. They are kept vague (quarter miles instead of tenths) because the author has learned that every car's odometer is different. He has tried to calibrate what his odometers have told him with Interstate highway mileposts, but this isn't perfect. The type of tire on your car, the wear on your tires, the road conditions on the day you drive, the way you drive, the way your odometer works: all these affect YOUR mileage versus the author's mileage. If you are just 1% off, you are a full mile off over 100 miles, but worse, you are a quarter mile off after 25 miles. The only remedy is to buy the BLM 100K maps for access. They are good maps: you won't regret the purchase. Another remedy is to purchase and learn how to use a GPS unit; that should help you immensely.
  The author wants to conclude by urging the reader not to judge the book or the desert on the basis on one hike or one region. The more hikes you can take in other areas, the more you'll appreciate your home region. Above all, desert is an acquired taste--the more you see, the more you'll want to see, until you forget about such pipsqueak spots like the Sawtooths or whatever.