Outdoors ripe for a memorable holiday weekend outing

The stage is set for recreationists heading out to flex their muscles, launch their boats and pitch their tents for the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Some people may be packing skis as well as flip-flops in their travel bags. Don’t forget the camera to capture the spectacular wildflower bloom.

Most popular campgrounds are open for campers who’ve already started showing up to claim spots for what many consider the “opening weekend” of the camping season.

A notable exception is the popular Porcupine Bay Campground and boat launch on the Spokane Arm of Lake Roosevelt, which remains closed because of an April landslide that took out a portion of the access road.

Access is the key issue for many people headed to traditional getaway destinations. The Idaho Panhandle National Forests website lists eight road closures in the St. Joe, Sandpoint, Priest Lake and Bonners Ferry districts because of road washouts during the unusually wet winter and spring.

The Colville National Forest also lists nine notable road closures on the Three Rivers, Republic, Newport and Sullivan Lake districts.

While access is more restricted that usual to mountain areas and trails, keep your mind open to other opportunities the weather and snowpack are delivering.

“For the first time ever, Silver Mountain Resort will be opening (this weekend) for skiing and biking at the same time!” the Kellogg-based managers say in a news release.

Yes, skiing and biking on Memorial Day Weekend – and one day of lifts will be free.

With plenty of snow at the top of the mountain, and 80 percent of the bike park trails cleared and in tip top shape, Silver will be loading skiers and bikers into the gondola – North America’s longest – on Saturday and Sunday.

Dave Smith Motors is sponsoring all lift tickets on Saturday, so skiing, biking and scenic rides will be free. Biking and scenic gondola rides will be running Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

The Silver Mountain Bike Park, which is highly ranked in the Northwest, won’t be fully open this weekend, but riders will still have 3,400 vertical feet of descent available, says park manager Willy Bartlett.

Skiing and snowboarding will be open in the Chair 2 Basin. Live music is planned at the mountain house Saturday and Sunday.

Free lift tickets available Saturday only. Discounted lift tickets are available and the same lift ticket is good for skiing-snowboarding and biking.

“While a lot of our bike trails will be open, it will be limited to intermediate and expert terrain on the lower mountain, so chair 3 will not be running and all riders must do a full top to bottom lap,” Bartlett said.

The Route of the Hiawatha rail trail across the Montana-Idaho border will open for the season for hiking and mountain biking on Saturday, says Phil Edholm of Lookout Pass Ski Area.

The 15-mile trail along the abandoned Milwaukee Railroad grade through the Bitterroot Mountains includes 10 tunnels and seven trestles as high as 230 feet between the old town site of Taft, Montana, and the North Fork of the St. Joe River.

Asked whether the lingering snowpack that’s still smothering the region’s high country would impact trail users, Edholm said, “The (Hiawatha) Trail elevations are 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Lower than our base area at Lookout Pass.

Workers plowed portions of the road leading to the East Portal in early May, but the trail was snow-free even then, he said.

When it comes to higher elevation trails in the region, be prepared for a long access hike and the need for skis or snowshoes. Some skiers have been slogging or snowmobiling into the high country to find some great corn-snow runs from Sherman Pass and the Priest Lake area to Abercrombie Mountain and Lookout Pass.

However, Bonners Ferry Ranger District trails supervisor Pat Hart said most of the Selkirk Mountains trails and many of the roads in that area of North Idaho have access issues.

“Myrtle Creek Road is closed so we can’t reach trails there,” she said, beginning a grim litany. “Katka road is closed at 9 Mile so we can’t get anywhere up there. Twenty Mile road is closed. Dawson Ridge Road is closed. Trout Creek Road has a slough, and you can get only about 4 miles up that way; there are no trails that low.”

The only official trails open on the Bonners Ferry District are the short routes at Snow Falls, Myrtle Falls and Copper Falls, plus the bottom of Long Canyon trail for about five miles before hikers will hit snow, she said.

The lower five miles of Parker Ridge trail is open though the burn is open as well as the Brush Lake biking-hiking trail.

“I can’t be sure when or if any of the roads will open,” she said. She rated the road damage in the area as “huge” and noted that the agency’s budget for road maintenance is not. “Our trail crews may have to let the trails rest this year.”

In the Spokane area, however, volunteer trail crews have been busy. Excellent hiking is available at Spokane County conservation areas, U.S. Bureau of Land Management areas and state parks. BLM’s Escure Ranch roads will continue to be blocked along Rock Creek this weekend, which means hikers and bikers will have the route to Towell Falls to themselves.

One of the most eye-catching benefits of this year’s proliferation of precipitation is a wildflower bloom that’s booming in the lowlands. The colorful bloom of arnica and other wildflowers in Riverside State Park and Little Spokane River area continues to be one of the best in decades.

A hike through BLM’s Fishtrap Lake area last weekend was a treat of blooming camas, wild iris, phlox, lupine, desert parsley and more.

One last note about the wetness that’s making native plants so happy this spring. It’s also making mosquitoes happy. Be prepared.