Midstokke: No really, get off the beaten path

In the 1930s, the population of Idaho was creeping upwards of 450,000, in trend with the rest of the nation, and equally impacted by the scourge of the Depression. Roosevelt’s 1933 creation of the Civilian Conservation Core brought “dignified work” to nearly 86,000 men in the state over the next nine years. Among their many projects: building a significant portion of the nearly 10,000 miles of trail that meander through some of the lower 48’s most remote wilderness.

Tom Dabrowski of the Idaho Trails Association, once a nuclear physicist, now a trail-saving evangelist, has been active in the organization for 10 years. He’s seen it grow to more than 750 members in that time, and evolve innovative approaches to trail management throughout the state.

Of those 10,000 miles of trail the state has – spread between BLM, forest service and state land – there is a disparity in traffic patterns. Some trails are highly used, arguably over used, while others are unheard of and overgrown.

Routes like the Sawtooth Wilderness Loop or the easily accessible and coveted Pack River Valley trailheads (home to Harrison and Beehive Lakes, Chimney Rock and others) are mostly inundated during hiking season. If parking is hard to find, peace and tranquility are even rarer.

“It’s hard to find a wilderness experience in those places,” said Dabrowski.

He sounds almost giddy about how many people are getting out to enjoy public lands and at the same time adding, “we need to find more places for people to go.”

The ITA has found them. In fact, it’s their mission to keep Idaho trails open for all. It’s the “open” part that is at risk.

Most trails are maintained by the Forest Service, but with their limited resources they must prioritize where to use them. Trails that are more remote or less trafficked or deemed otherwise lower priority may get neglected. If a trail becomes overgrown and unusable, it may be labeled as “abandoned” and taken off the trail inventory.

Once a trail has been removed from inventory, having it added again is a lengthy and expensive process (known as the National Environmental Protection Act or NEPA process) that can take years. It involves assessing the environmental impacts of a trail location. In an area where there is endangered or protected species management, for example, “new” trail access may no longer be granted.

A focus of ITA’s efforts is dedicated to keeping those trails open and usable. And these are trails through some of the most pristine, thriving wilderness in the continental U.S. They focus on trails the Forest Service doesn’t have the resources to maintain and collaborate with them on their priority list (also working on some of our local favorites every season).

Their 2022 schedule included 754 volunteers and 64 projects and this year they planning some of the most adventurous outings yet, including a three-week immersion experience in the incredible Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.

It sounds like summer camp for grownups. There are small plane dropoffs (like the Shearer Airstrip in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness), places accessed by jet boat, and even mention of a chef packing in food by horse. Crews are fed well and guided to breathtaking landscapes, alpine lakes, forested canyons, clear rivers. Surprisingly, Dabrowski says, what people say they love most about these excursions includes whom they meet in the process and the connections they make to others.

This may seem antithetical to creating trails for a more remote experience of the wild, where one may still wander for days and encounter no other humans. Most of the ITA members aren’t just trail builders though, they are every day hikers like the rest of us, looking for the reprieve of nature, uninterrupted.

When I asked how to get involved (this columnist is a sucker for camp coffee and wildflowers), the list is long. One can volunteer on trail days, become a member, apply for one of the grand adventures, or just get off the beaten path.

The trailhead might not be a 40-minute drive from your house, but you may just have it all to yourself.