Locations
Crash Course: Payette National Forest, Ponderosa and McCall
The Road North
Our adventure starts via a flight into Boise, a place I hope to be as little as possible. Boise has an artificial feel thats hard to describe, a vast desert with sprinklers that never turn off, and random patches of vibrant greens; the sooner we get on 55 North, the better. Before we can head up on Sunday afternoon, the family attends congregation at a local LDS Branch, I grab some coffee instead.
The traverse north is, frankly, beautiful. A narrow valley passage fallowing the Payette River for nearly an hour of driving, vistas are plentiful, but there isn’t much else besides rafting check points (A great business to be in, I bet). We saw a few homes, and even a bar / store in Horseshoe Bend – but not much else. Much of this road parallels the river, but it forks off and returns at various points.
After you get through the valley, it’s nothing but beautiful fields, farms, live stock and mountainous horizons. Some of my favorite pictures from the trip came from the drive up and back to Boise. As soon as you get past the Payette River it turns into Cascade Lake, and Payette Lake after that, with the occasional airfield thrown in for good measure.
Fun fact, my father grew up around Weiser ID and frequently spent summer vacations at a campground on Cascade Lake called Rainbow Point Campground. A younger version of me probably wouldn’t care at all, but driving over there with him was very cool to see and heartwarming. Old man took a picture pointing at the sign and sent it to his brothers and sisters.
McCall, ID
McCall is a Lake Town at its heart, and immediately reminded me of Lake George, Lake Placid and some of those other “vacation towns” up there in the Adirondacks. There are plenty of obvious differences, there on opposite sides of the country, but the vibe is similar in a kind of indescribable way. In terms of scale, it’s much larger than those little towns, it even has a few of its own grocery stores, and appears to be growing and expanding (as far as I can tell).
What is significantly similar is the kind of lake front strip, with the small restaurants, cafes and ice cream spots (Ice Cream Ally is a must if you visit). Most mornings I walked about a 1/3 of mile to Flying M Coffee to get a morning Mocha and take a walk around the bay.
Ponderosa State Park
The AirBnB we stayed at was right on the edge of the park, within 20 steps I could be approaching the front gate. Nearly the entire is peninsula is the Park, with cutouts for Idaho State, a Girls Scout Camp, and some private spots on the east side. Everything inside is littered with bike trails, which were surprisingly busy while we were there.
Once you get past the welcome center, there are tons of camper sites, regular tent sites, and even several cabins for rent. North of that, its a lot of beautiful nature and bike trails, with a single paved road that loops the peninsula. I admittedly only spent a single day of the trip in the park, having hiked most of the loop and seen all the best views within about 8 hours or so.
The good news for the non-athletic crowd is that you can drive pretty much all the way to the Osprey Cliff Overlook, which is the most beautiful view from the park. You can hike all over this place, but it will become clear pretty quickly that these trails are intended for (and mainly used by) mountain bikes. There are also lots of nice picnic areas and beaches along the west side of the peninsula.
Boulder Mountain, Payette National Forest
An 8+ mile, 2K+ elevation hike is not the sort of thing any of my family members would be interested in, which would mean my day hike would be a solo adventure (score). Quick note for anyone traveling up this way, unpaved roads can be a little tough and plentiful once you stray off the highway. The trailhead was only about 30 minuets away from McCall, which would give me plenty of time.
The trail started right from the reservoir, and gained elevation steadily for a few miles, a welcome departure from the tight elevation spikes of the Adirondack hikes i’ve become accustomed to. I don’t have a ton of experience out west, but I do feel like trails out this way are just a lot better over all, particularly in National Parks and Forests.
I crossed paths with plenty other travelers, most of whom were hiking in to fish and camp. I was initially kind of surprised, but once I saw all the wild sites around Boulder Lake the appeal became clear instantly. Past the point of elevation gain, where the trails began to head further into the mountains, I din’t encounter a single soul. It’s possible that you’re average joe isn’t interested in the climb to 8,500ft, who knows.
