Boccard Kipukas

Hikes: D, O.
Total Distance, D: 4 miles.
Difficulty: Level I+.
Season: April 1-June 30.
USGS Map: Summit Reservoir.
BLM 100K Map: Fairfield.
Dirt Road Miles: 4 fair dirt.
PLSS Location: Section 22, T3S R17E.

Introduction: In this little 4 mile hike, you can find a tremendous range of vegetation types: unburned native range in excellent, fair, and poor condition; "burned hot" formerly fair and poor condition native; and burned and unburned crested wheatgrass. Every so often, there's also a stretch of dense cheatgrass that dictates against hiking after late June unless you enjoy picking cheatgrass out of your socks.
  The hike also offers intriguing geologic formations and sublime vistas. The lava rock here is unique in the author's experience--very old lava, greatly weathered, and strangely distributed. This mosaic of lava, by slowing down or stopping range fires, has created the varied vegetation. With its mixture of flat plains and short stretches of rough lava, the hike rates a Level I+.
  There are three hikes here: a southern hike to some neat rocks and great grasses; a northern hike to the lava-walled kipukas; and a loop hike that starts south and heads north.

The Hike: Start the southern hike at T2, by walking to the top of the butte with the rounded rocks, to the west of the trailhead. This pink rock, partly rounded but partly divided into fine layers, is one of the area's three rock types. It must be a form of rhyolitic welded tuff from massive caldera events--similar to much rhyolite in Owyhee County.
  The butte is a fine place for gazing across this volcanic landscape. To the north is a low table of the second rock type: a massive, unlayered version of the pink rhyolite. With its rounded form, it resembles granite more than rhyolite. To the west and southwest you see the Black Butte Hills. Imagine the numerous volcanic vents all "cooking off" at once: awesome! Finally, to the northwest, stretching towards a water tower, you see a mosaic of lava, soil, and vegetation.
  In line with the water tower and about a mile away is 4828, a small lava butte in the middle of the flats. Head for it. As you descend the west side of the rounded rock butte, watch for the "Grand Canyon of the Desert". Cross a small stretch of crested wheatgrass where your topographic map shows an intermittent stream. The author wonders how water could ever have flowed across this cow-and-man-destroyed wasteland.
  You immediately encounter the third type of rock: old basaltic lava which has cooled into roughly hexagonal columns with level tops. Now, cross a fence, and you are suddenly in a small area of very good grass (D2). The old time GLO surveyors, who established Idaho's township and range system, were instructed to report on the quality of the land. They frequently wrote: "Soil 1st and 2nd rate, Good grass" on their survey plats. Well, here, thanks to the fence and the lava, you have some genuine "good grass"--but there's more.
  To hike the loop, continue on to the small butte at 4828 (W4), crossing a fence that shows on your map. Then walk due north, until you cut the poor road shown on your map. Continue north over a slight ridge, and watch for two mini-kipukas, areas of old soil surrounded by new lava. They are strangely inverted: instead of the usual uplifted area of soil rising above the encircling lava, these are bowl-like depressions surrounded by fascinating lava walls and moats.
  The western kipuka is round in shape, and seems to have gentler slopes and more shrubs. The eastern one (D1) is elongated; it surposed the author because it doesn't have as much cover as he expected. (Remember, "cover" is the measure of how much of the soil is protected by vegetation such as greasses, shrubs, and even lichens. It prevents erosion during a server rain, wind, or hail storm.)
  Try to leave the eastern kipuka at its northeast corner, and look for a single petroglyph. From there, head southsoutheast back to your car, on a route to the east of the one you took earlier.
  If you are hiking to the northern kipuka, hike almost due west from T1 and climb a summit (W3). From there, you should see the kipukas at your feet.

Access: Start by turning west from ID-75 onto the Buck Lake Desert Road, 13 3/4 miles south of the junction of US-20 and ID-75; or 14 1/2 miles north of Shoshone. Go a mile on a fair dirt road that is only passable when dry, and bear left at an intersection. Continue 2 1/4 mile to a major three-way junction, and turn left. continue a long 3/4 mile until a small butte with rounded rocks is to your right. This is the trailhead.