Rich Landers

Hunting After hearing rave reviews from last year's first "Women in Hunting Workshop," the Idaho Fish and Game Department has doubled the size of the event scheduled this year for Sept. 30 in Coeur d'Alene.

Check it out Distance: 3 miles round trip Difficulty: Easy Hiking time: 2 hours Season: March through Nov. Maps: Maps available at park visitor center

Nordic skiing The Inland Empire Nordic Club is calling for volunteers to help clear brush on the Mount Spokane nordic ski trail system. The first work party, featuring free lunch, has been scheduled to begin Saturday at 9 a.m. Another work party is set for Oct. 7.

CHECK IT OUT Distance: 12-1/2 miles Difficulty: Difficult Riding time: 2-1/2 - 6 hours Season: July through mid-Oct. Maps: USGS Burke, plus Coeur d'Alene National Forest map Info: Wallace Ranger District (208) 752-1221, Thompson Falls Ranger District (406) 826-3821 MOUNTAIN BIKING TRIP NOTES Access: From Interstate 90 at Wallace, take Exit 62. Head north toward Burke on State Highway 4. Continue through Burke on pavement that narrows and soon becomes rough gravel Forest Road 7623. Continue straight at power substation following power lines for a ways. Continue up on main road. (Don't drop down on Forest Road 615.) Trailhead is at Cooper Pass, nearly 12 miles from Wallace.

Climbing Two famous climbers who made their marks in Wyoming's Grand Tetons, will be reading from their works to raise money for the proposed North Cascades mountaineering interpretive center at Washington Pass. The readings will begin at 7:30 p.m., Sept. 1, at Sun Mountain Lodge near Winthrop.

John Verd is on the European leg of his round-the-world bike tour. Photo by Jim States/Special to Outdoors

Skiing Montana's Big Sky Ski & Summer Resort is boasting that its new tram will give it more vertical feet of ski terrain than any other U.S. resort. The Lone Peak Tram will use two 15-passenger cars to lift skiers 3,300 feet to an elevation of 11,150 feet, just 16 feet shy of the summit.

1. Ed hikes down Parker Ridge in Idaho's Selkirk Mountains with Parker Peak at his back. His four-day trip is mapped in "Routes" on page G2. Photo by Rich Landers/The Spokesman-Review 2. Lupine sparkles after rain in the Selkirks.

CHECK IT OUT Distance: 35 miles Difficulty: Moderately difficult Hiking time: 3 to 5 days

Boating Motorized watercraft have been banned on sections of three major Montana rivers, the state Fish, Wildlife and Parks commission announced recently. The ban includes: Blackfoot River from headwaters to Stimson Lumber Dam.

Climbing Mount St. Helens is the most-climbed peak in the country and second-most in the world behind Japan's Mount Fuji, the U.S. Forest Service says. About 2.7 million people visited the south and east sides of the Western Washington peak last year, a 60 percent increase from the year before.

Bag of water enough to supply camp for day.

Americans have a constitutional right to be stupid, and a small faction of hunters is out to prove it. Last year, a Gray's Harbor hunter challenged a citation for violating the state's rule requiring hunters to wear fluorescent orange clothing during some hunting seasons. The judge ruled in his favor, saying the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission didn't have the specific powers to enact the law.

About 9 million pink salmon are expected to migrate through the Strait of San Juan de Fuca. Photo by Rich Landers/The Spokesman-Review

Check it out Distance: 5-1/2 miles Difficulty: Mostly easy Paddling time: 1-1/2 - 2-1/2 hours Season: Year-round Maps: USGS - Dartford, Nine Mile Falls Info: Riverside State Park, 456-3964

Climbing Jim Bridwell, a 30-year veteran of rock and mountain climbing, is scheduled to be in Spokane to present a slide show on the evolution of big wall climbing.

When it comes to teaching the basics of firearms safety to young hunters, the National Rifle Association is out of the mainstream. The NRA, once the national authority on firearms education, recently told the Idaho Fish and Game Department that it no longer would provide the instruction manual for the state's hunter education courses. Dan Papp, the state's hunter education coordinator, said he'd have to come up with $15,000 to make up the difference.

Conservation Whether you provide cover for songbirds or forage for elk, a clean stream for trout or a nest site for geese, the Spokane Chapter of Safari Club International wants you to enter its second annual Wildlife Enhancement award competition.

Fishing About 120 volunteers, including a fleet of 30 fishing boats and several pontoon boats, are scheduled to meet at Banks Lake Saturday to treat 50 disabled and disadvantaged children to a day of fishing. The Cast For Kids Foundation is joining the Washington State BASS federation to put on the fourth annual event featuring children from Spokane Shriners Hospital. Each child will receive a fishing ensemble complete with rod, reel, tackle box and barbecue at Steamboat Rock State Park.

Camping Access to the Selkirk Mountains' popular Roman Nose Lakes camping and hiking area will be closed for several weeks for major construction and improvements to the area, according to the Bonners Ferry Ranger District. When work is completed, recreation at the area will change. A camping spur is being built with three standard sites and one group site.

CHECK IT OUT Distance: 7 miles round trip Difficulty: Difficult Hiking time: 3-6 hours Season: July through Oct. Maps: USGS Scotchman Peak, Clark Fork plus Kaniksu National Forest Info: Sandpoint Ranger District, (208) 263-5111

Nicolin Gray

Aylmer Pass in Alberta's Ghost River Wilrdness.

The Selkirk-Priest Basin Association this week added $1,000 to the reward for tips that solve a North Idaho grizzly bear poaching case. Combined rewards of up to $4,500 being offered for information leading to the arrest of the persons responsible for killing a grizzly in the Selkirk Mountains northwest of Bonners Ferry in May. The carcass of the 95-pound yearling female grizzly was found concealed in brush along a Forest Service road after the spring black bear hunting season, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents said. The grizzly is federally protected as a threatened species.