January 6 Trail Report

As our “tropical” winter continues here in the Boise Foothills, you should continue to experience trail conditions that change quickly and appear varied based on your location within the trail system. First thing this morning, after we received another round of rain showers yesterday afternoon, expect most trails to be quite wet and unusable until that moisture can absorb further down into the soil. Please avoid all the classically muddy trail locations today including the Table Rock Trails, most of the Military Reserve trails, and most trails west of Bogus Basin Road. Soil conditions in these areas are very likely to be too muddy to recreate on today.

If you are headed out for a run, ride, or hike today, please migrate to all-weather trails, foothills dirt roads, and/or sandy trails such as Lower Hulls Gulch trail. As we have observed over the past few weeks, these locations have proved to be quite resilient even shortly after significant amounts of precipitation so long as temperatures have stayed above the freezing mark overnight. 

While it is possible that other locations may also continue to firm up quickly, as we have witnessed so far with our mild winter temperatures, be advised that there is another round or two of rainfall forecast between today and tomorrow. Colder, below freezing temperatures following the conclusion of this period of rainfall could make trail conditions quite muddy during the second half of this week once soil conditions thaw out during the warmest parts of the day. Please make considerations now to use viable muddy trail alternatives for your outdoor recreation once trail conditions take a turn for the worse. The Ridge to Rivers Interactive Trail Map (https://www.ridgetorivers.org/trails/interactive-map/) and the Wet Weather and Winter Trail Use webpage (https://ridgetorivers.org/trail-guide/trail-etiquette/wet-weather-and-winter-trail-use/) exist as resources to aid you in your planning efforts during this part of the year.