Salmon, Idaho Cross-Country Ski Trip Reports
“Winter” 2008 – 2009
Author: Cliff Keene Latest revision: 04/03/09 Search for * (asterisk) to find any changes from 03/25/09 and ** for any future minor changes.
Click on the following links for previous year trip reports: Last Winter 2007-2008 or 2006-2007 or 2005-2006 or 2004-2005 or 2003-2004 Trips.
When you read these reports, it may help to learn more about our trails using the following
Williams Cr. Area Ski Trails Links: (Hit the refresh button if one of these seems to stop loading.)
Trail
Descriptions Trailhead
Locations Trail Map Trail Segment table
Chief Joseph Lost Trail Pass Area Trail Links: Lost Trail Chief Joseph Un-groomed Trail Segment Table
Chief Joseph Groomed Trails Map or Chief Joseph Area Un-Groomed Touring Trails Map <- This is an excellent map.
Click on one of the following to jump to that section. Hit the Back button to return here.
A. MARCH - APRIL 2009 TRIPS (To see late March & April trips click on February and scroll upward)
B. FEBRUARY, 2009 TRIPS (To see late February trips click on January and scroll upward)
C. JANUARY, 2009 TRIPS (To see late January trips, click on “December” and scroll upward)
D. DECEMBER, 2008 TRIPS (To see late December trips, click on “July - November” and scroll upward)
E. NOVEMBER 2008 TRIPS (To see late November trips, click on “June” and scroll upward)
E. July 2008 – November 2008 (Work Days) (To see late October trips, click on Web Site Statistics and scroll up.)
F. . Web Site Statistics
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03/03/09 |
36 Tue. Pvt. Ski/Work Day: Tim & Cliff were hoping to ski the cutting area above Cougar Point, however the snow was much too crusty and sticky so we elected to scout out the needs of the upper Buckhorn Trail some more. We found that the top 1/3 mile or so of the trail has steep pitches. The first pitch is where the trail leaves the road and is rather treacherous because snowmobiles use this section to gain access to the meadow to the east of the A-Frame. I found an easy by-pass around this section. We can angle the new trail to the left and go 200 feet or so and switch back to the right and cross the existing trail and drop to a flat and switch back to the left and join the original trail. This will be a big improvement and wont’ require any new signing. The next steep section will probably have to be left. There doesn’t seem to be a good way around it. A possible route to the right (south) would put the trail across a VERY steep OPEN HILLSIDE which would be more dangerous than the steep section of trail. I’ll try and get these sections flagged sometime this spring. We scouted out a route for a possible connection with the Perreau Meadows trail but didn’t come to any conclusions. We started back and had lunch in the Big Meadow. The snow was almost as grabby as the previous Tuesday (02/24/09). Work time for tw0: 3 hours, travel time about 1.5 hours. |
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03/05/09 |
37 Thur. Pvt. Ski: Cliff & Tim skied up from Cougar Point and found that on the exposed slopes the crust was enough to hold us as we skied through 2-3” of soft powder. We yo-yo skied, making 5 trips down through the meadow and logging area. Previously this trail did not have markers to ski up-hill. The summer before last we added blue diamonds so that one could switch-back uphill. This was my first time following the trail uphill in the winter. We were able to do it without skins. We then went up to William’s Cr. Summit and skied up the Ridge Road about 0.4 miles and took an old road to the left that I call the Blindfold Trail. This road is currently not on the trail system and is not marked except for a lone blue ribbon at the start. This road crosses a meadow I call “Blindfold Meadows” and continues 100 yards or so onto a ridge and then bears right down-hill and dead-ends at a creek. We elected to stop at the Blindfold Meadows which comes out just west of the Lower Shoshoni Trailhead. We skied down and again the crust held us as we skied through 3-5” of light powder. This meadow faces south so it’s often not good skiing. The upper part is quite gentle so when the snow is deep one can’t make turns. Today it was about as good as I’ve seen it. The only drawback was that we were in fear of breaking through the crust. Generally we were able to avoid this. I did find that if I kept lots of weight on my trailing ski in a telemark turn I could avoid falling if I started to break through. We then skied up the road 0.6 miles to William’s Cr. Summit. |
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03/07/09 |
38 Sat. Pvt. Ski: Cliff & Tim skied the Shoshoni Meadow. We skied south up the Ridge road to the Deep Cr Ridge Trail where we skied west up the “Fireline” to the Upper Shoshoni Trail and out to the Meadow. It took me about 1:15 to ski from William’s Cr Summit to the South edge of the Shoshoni Meadow – slightly longer than usual due to soft snow. It takes about 10 minutes to ski to the North end of the Meadow where we usually start down. On a scale of 1 – 10 I’d rate the snow on the meadow as an "8". Not perfect, but close. I did fall twice, but it still only took 15 minutes to ski down the meadow. At times we could still feel the crust under the new snow. The ski out on the Lower Shoshoni Trail was a little slow since no-one had skied it for several weeks. It took about 35 minutes to ski to the Lower Shoshoni TH which is 0.6 miles west of William’s Cr. Summit. |
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03/08/09 |
39 Sun. Grp. Ski: Judy, Cliff & Marlene and Tim skied the Richardson Ridge Trail. Note that the old maps call it the “Richardson Ridge Trail”, but lately they’ve been calling it the “Richardson Cr. Trail”. I thought that this was an error because there WAS another trail that headed further up Richardson Cr. However I just noted that the signs now do call this the “Richardson Cr. Trail”. I expect that the old route up the Creek has been discontinued. Marlene and I were not able to follow the blazes all the way last summer. I think I’ll continue to call the ski trail “Richardson Ridge” because it does go down the ridge for most of the way and only along the Creek a short distance. I still think it may be possible to follow the old trail up Richardson Creek, in which case I’ll call that trail “Richardson Cr.” At any rate we had perfect flat-track snow – about 4” of light powder in previous ski tracks. However when we reached the steep part of the trail we found that some folks had skied UP the trail and back down using up the powder in some of the narrower sections. However we still rated it as excellent. One-hundred yards or so before the trail reaches a logging thinning area, Tim and Cliff turned off left, to the north downhill. Although we could feel a crust, the snow was almost perfect and we made numerous turns. We then ski NE across Joseph Cr. to the parking area. I think this may be my normal route from now on. |
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03/10/09 |
40 Tues. Pvt. Ski: Cliff, Tim, Joel and Wayne skied the Meadow Trail to Cougar Point and the Blindfold Meadows. This was almost the same as our Ski on Thu. 03/05 except that we skied DOWN from the Meadow TH. We did make 3 laps in the Meadow/Logging Area about Cougar Point. The snow was almost perfect. It was fairly cold so we drove up to the Meadow TH and ate lunch in my Bronco. We then shuttled a vehicle to the Lower Shoshoni TH and skied north up the Ridge road 0.8 miles to the high point. Just before the high point we angled downhill through the trees a couple 100 yards to the top of Blindfold Meadows. The top 0.1 mile or so is quite flat and we were unable to get up enough speed to make many turns however when we reached the road (that Cliff & Tim skied on Thu Mar 05) the slope got steep enough to make turns. The snow was better than on the 5th – almost perfect. We also noted that most of the sagebrush had been covered. It if would only stay cold we could have excellent skiing like this for many weeks. Unfortunately the prediction is for warming by the weekend. |
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03/13/09 |
41 Fri. Ski/Work Day: Cliff and Tawna drove to the Meadow Trailhead to start our GPS Project. We plan to GPS (or re-GPS) all the William’s Creek Area XC Ski Trails. Using my Garmin GPSmap60csx receiver we located the Meadow Trailhead and the start of the Meadow Trail and then turned on “track-logging”. We then skied 0.1 mile to the junction of the left and right forks of the trail, and skied down the left fork, which I consider the “main fork”, all the way to Cougar Point. We took Waypoints and recorded notes at every trail junction and at major changes in trail condition. After “re-shuttling” my vehicle, Tawna had to leave, but I proceeded to do the “right fork” (which I may rename “Spur A”). I recorded this trail down to the Wapiti Loop and back to the lower junction with the “Main Meadow Trail” and turned off track logging. I then skied down to the Junction where the William’s Cr. Road Cutoff Trail bears left away from the main trail down to Cougar Point. I took waypoints along this route which I may call Spur C, and I thought that I’d recorded the tracks. Later I discovered that I’d not turned on “track-logging”. Thus, I did this section over on Saturday. I’ll add Saturday’s time here. Saturday, March 14, 2009. (Continuation of the Meadow Trail GPS project). I skied down the main Meadow Trail past the “Big Clearcut and Rail Fence” to the point where the road that the trail follows takes a sharp bend to the right. The ski trail continues around a “by-pass” that avoids the sharp bend and somewhat steep drop. However I’d previously noted that the “road route” is better for bicycle use and I decided to make this an “official spur” (spur B?), and thus took a track log for this section. I’d previously taken waypoints. I turned off track logging and proceeded to the “William’s Cr. Road Cutoff/Spur C” that I’d missed on Friday. I remembered to turn on track logging this time and skied down to the William’s Cr road and then continued track-logging, skiing down the road about 0.05 miles to the Lower Aspen Loop Parking area and took a Waypoint. (Somehow this waypoint didn’t get saved yesterday). Waypoints are currently saved as 001 – 035. I will change the names to something more descriptive and I’ll add a short comment for each waypoint. I’m currently reviewing how long to make these. Probably something like “001_MeadowTH, Trailhead @ Road MP 12.9 left”; “002BegMeadowTr, Start on primitive Rd”; 003_SpurA_Jct, SpurA to Right is Easier to ski”. GPS Times on
Friday: 35
miles total for 2 vehicles (needed for shuttle). Travel time for two: 1.25
hrs for each. |
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03/14/09 |
42 Sat. Grp. Ski: Roy, Jay & Renee, Judy & Paul, and Cliff & Marlene skied the Horse-Log Trails between the Lower Shoshoni TH and the Mukluk TH. We skied down and up from the Shoshoni TH past the Spur A to the right and took the Spur B to the left out to the fork. Part of us skied up the right fork and across the steep cut-off. We returned to the main Horse-Log Trail and skied up to the second (Spur C) to the left and made the loop, eating lunch at the high point. We continued to the end of the main Horse-Log trail and skied down to Spur A and back to the “steep road”. Cliff & Roy skied the 1st (more westerly) steep road and the rest skied the second road. The snow was slow enough that nobody needed to ski the more gentle “by-pass” trail. We then skied a “beginner loop” and then back to the Mukluk Trailhead. Cliff finished (hopefully) the “GPSing” of the Meadow Trail – see details in previous days report. |
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*03/26/09 |
43 Thu. Pvt. Ski: Cliff and Tim drove to William’s Cr. Summit and skied the un-official “Blindfold Trail” and Meadows. We skied north up the Ridge Road 0.4 miles for 10 minutes to a faint road that bears left at a blue flagging ribbon. I call this the “Blindfold Trail”. We skied about 15 minutes to the Meadows which we crossed and continued on the faint road (which has a few blue flags) for another 8 minutes to a point where the trail bends sharply to the right and drops (north) downhill. (At this point a westerly trending ridge starts.) We skied 10 minutes down to the end of the road. Just past the end of the road there is a small open meadow and the start of a creek going downhill to the left. This creek would eventually hit the William’s Cr. Road just about the Mukluk TH. We briefly explored the meadow past the end of the road and skied back up the road and considered skiing down to the Mukluk TH, but decided to wait until we have a shuttle vehicle. At the top of the road we skied downhill to the south through some widely scatter trees angling left (SE) to the main meadow. Just before hitting the William’s Cr Road (aka Moccasin Cr. Road) we angle more to the SE to avoid a steep pitch. We hit the road about 100 yards before (west of) the Shoshoni TH. It took about 10 minutes to ski down. We then walked about 25 minutes back to William’s Cr. Summit. The shaded snow in the trees was excellent, but the sun had already crusted up the snow in the open and it was barely skiable. After eating lunch we headed home. Stopping to measure the snow depth at the Meadow TH. The new snow that had accumulated since last week was 10” deep (I expect that it had settle somewhat). Under this was a crust and I’m sure there will be a crust on top in sunny areas. The total depth is over 40”, deeper than my stick and about as much as I remember measuring at this trailhead. Note however that the depth drops off quite a bit a little above Cougar Point. However there is plenty of snow for many more weeks of skiing. |
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*03/29/09 |
Sun. Grp. Ski: Planned trip to William’s Cr. Summit. Cliff & Marlene, Tim, Judy & Paul, and Nancy drove up past the Cougar Point Campground to the Upper Aspen Loop Parking area. The snow was so deep and the wind blowing so hard that we chickened out and drove back to Nancy’s and had hot tea and beer. The snow looked like it would be good skiing but we’ll wait for better weather. |
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April, 2009 TRIPS |
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*04/03/09 |
Fri. Pvt. Ski: Nancy and Paul & Judy drove up to the Meadow TH and skied the Buckhorn Trail. They reported that the snow was good, but the road hadn’t been plowed, so use caution. |
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*04/04/09 |
Sat April 4 Planned group ski to Lost Trail and Saddle Mountain. Some are going to ski Richardson Ridge, so we’ll meet at Chief Joseph Pass at 10:00 AM. |
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*04/07/09 |
Planned mid week ski trip and planned trip to GPS the Wapiti Loop Trail. |
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May, 2009 TRIPS |
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Ski Year 2008/2009 Wrap-Up |
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02/04/09 |
26 Wed. Grp. Ski: Cliff, Craig, Lou, Wayne and Tim skied south up the Ridge Road to the un0fficial trail described on 01/24/09 and up to the Shoshoni Trail. This time it only took me about 50 minutes to get to the Upper Meadow. The upper meadows were fair but the lower meadows were crusty. The Lower Shoshoni Trail was great skiing down the creek. When we hit the “Horse-Log” road we continued down to the Mukluk TH. The snow on the steep roads going down to the Mukluk spur was fairly good. |
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02/05/09 |
27 Thur. Pvt. Ski: Cliff & Joel drove to the Lower Shoshoni TH (0.6 miles past William’s Cr. Summit). We skied the “Horse-Log” road and the two spurs to the left (currently spurs B & C) and made a loop back on Spur A. At the top of Spur B we found a potential loop using an old horse skid trail. After returning to the TH, we drove to the parking area just below the Upper Aspen Loop. We skied out this trail and decided to ski down the William’s Cr trail to the Lower Aspen Loop. The snow was quite good. Joel walked up the road to the vehicle and Cliff walked most of the way. |
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02/07/09 |
28 Sat. Pvt. Ski: Cliff & Marlene drove to the Lower Shoshoni TH and skied the “Horse-Log” road up to the 2nd spur (1st to the left) and trimmed the limbs on a horse skid trail that connects the two forks at the end of this road. The spur is a little steep but should be good skiing when the snow is soft and untracked. |
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02/08/09 |
29 Sun. Grp. Ski: We left a vehicle at the Lower Shoshoni and Mukluk Trailheads and skied up from the Mukluk Trail on the “by-pass” and out to the end of Spur B. We ski down the loop that Cliff & Marlene trimmed yesterday. We determined that this “connector” is too steep to add as an “official trail” but it will be a good “unofficial telemark route”. After skiing the connector we ate lunch and returned to the main “Horse-Log” Trail. Marlene, Bob & Nancy then skied back up to the Shoshoni TH. Cliff, Lou, Dave and some others skied the Spur C loop and down to Spur A and back to the Mukluk TH. |
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02/10/09 |
30 Tues. Pvt. Ski: Cliff, Joel and Wayne drove to Lost Trail (which was not open). We cross country skied down an old road that parallels Hwy 93 and the Gunsmoke Trail. It comes out on the West Camp Cr. Road about ¼ mile north of the yurt at the bottom of Chair 3. We skied past the base of Chair 4 and up (north) on the West Camp Cr. past the closed gate to the top of a ridge where a cross country ski trail bears toward the south. I determined that it might not be wise for me to attempt the long ski on this trail without knowing how well it is marked. I’ll check it out more this next summer. We skied back to the base of Chairs 4 & 3 and skied up the Gunsmoke Trail to the parking lot and our vehicles. I determined that if I ski this road again, I’ll have a shuttle vehicle at the start of the West Camp Cr. Road. Tim and I had skied up this trail before and it didn’t wear me out as much – I must be getting old. |
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02/12/09 |
Thur. Grp. Trip: Marlene and the hiking group snowshoed around the North end of Sal Mountain. |
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02/14/09 |
31 Sat. Grp. Ski: Cliff & Marlene, Tim & Nancy and Lou skied down the “Horse-Log Trail” to the Spur B. Tim, Lou & Cliff climbed up the “telemark connector” described previously and back to the junction where we met Marlene and Nancy. We then skied all the various “spurs” off the Horse-log trail and the two beginner spurs off the Mukluk Trail and back to our shuttle vehicle at the Mukluk TH. On the way back we checked out a meadow that’s just below where the Mukluk Trail crosses Moccasin Cr. |
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02/15/09 |
32 Sun. Pvt. Ski: Cliff & Marlene skied down the meadow west of the Mukluk TH and then skied out on the 1st beginner spur to the right (west) and down the small creek to Moccasin Cr. We found that with a little shoveling one could fashion a snow bridge to make an unofficial loop to add interest to these trails. |
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02/21/09 |
33 Sat. Grp. Ski: The group skied on the Anderson Mtn. Road (south of the Chief Joseph parking lot) to the clearcut that’s at the south extension of the Ander-Rich Trail. We looked at a site that would make a good location for a yurt. We all then skied north on the Ander-Rich Trail to the point where it hits the Richardson Ridge Trail. Cliff, Lou, Janis, Jay & Renee then skied down the Richardson Ridge Trail to a shuttle vehicle. Marlene, Bob & Nancy continued back to “CJ” on the Ander-Rich Trail. Marlene and Nancy also skied out the Picnic Meadows. |
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02/24/09 |
34 Sat. Grp. Ski/Work Day: Cliff, Joel, and Bob skied up the Buckhorn Trail past the “big meadow” on the William’s Cr. Trail to the point where the Buckhorn Trail gets quite steep. We were looking for a by-pass route around the steep section. After some exploring we determined that the middle portion of this section, being only about 15% grade did not need a by-pass. We located to approximate routes around the bottom and top steep sections. We only tied terminal flagging. The grade needs to be flagged at a later date. See a continuation to this project on 03/03/09. We found that the sun on the 1 or 2 inches of fresh snow made it stick like glue. Work time for three: 3 hours, travel time about 1.5 hours. |
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02/28/09 |
35 Sat. Grp. Ski: We skied the ungroomed Scooter and Shoefly Trails NE of Chief Joseph Pass. Cliff & Tim and dog “Casey” skied from Lost Trail Pass up the Gibbon’s Pass Road to the start of the Scooter Trail to avoid the groomed ski trails where dogs are forbidden. Marlene, Judy, Tawna, and Wendy had skied out on the groomed Timber Trail and arrived only slightly before Cliff, Tim & “Casey”. We waited awhile for Bjorn, Jay & Renee. They didn’t come so we headed out on the Scooter Trail to the big clearcut where we ate lunch. The snow in the trees was outstanding. However when we reached the Shoefly Trail we found that the south facing slopes were sticky and or crusty. We elected to take the easier route. At the bottom of the easier route we met Bob & Nancy and “Wiley” the dog. When we got to the Cabinet Cr TH we met Renee. They had taken the Meadow Trial down to the bottom of the groomed trails and then part way out on the Scooter Trail they had cut south down to Hwy 43 coming out just west of the Richardson Ridge TH. We were glad to be back together. |
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01/01/09 |
11 Thur. Grp. Ski: Cliff & Marlene, Renee & Jay, Roger, Nancy & Tim, Joel & Marla, Paul & Judy, Nancy, and Nathan skied up the Buckhorn Trail. Renee, Jay and Roger skied down to the Upper Aspen Loop. The rest of us skied up the William’s Cr Trail to the steep pitch. Nathan, Tim, and Cliff then skied down to the Upper Aspen Loop. We found that the snow was deep enough to cover hazards, but it was so light that we weren’t able to get up enough speed to make any turns. The rest of the group skied back down the Buckhorn Trail. Several folks skied down the road, while Cliff and Tim skied down the Meadow Trail to the William’s Cr. Road “Cut-off” to the Lower Aspen Loop TH. N |
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01/01/09 |
11a Thur. Grp. Potluck: We had a potluck at Renee’s. I may have missed someone but I remember that the following attended: Cliff & Marlene, Renee & Jay, Roger, Nancy & Tim, Joel & Marla, Paul & Judy, Bob & Nancy, Nathan, Doug & Sandy, Wayne & Tanya, and Anita. |
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01/04/09 |
12 Sun. Grp. Ski: Bob & Nancy, Wayne & Tanya, Cliff, Jay and Dave drove to Chief Joseph Pass. Jill and friend drove up from the Bitterroot. The parking lot was plowed. It was very cold about 5 or 6 degrees for most of the day according to the thermometer at the parking lot. Bob skied out on the groomed trails. The rest of us skied south on the Anderson Mtn. Road about 1.5 miles taking about 0:30 Min. Jill & Friend continued out to do some yo-yo skiing and Nancy and “Wiley” the dog returned to CJ. The rest of us skied down the Richardson Ridge Trail about 2 more miles taking about 1:20. We returned to CJ and skied out to the Cabin for lunch. |
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01/06/09 |
13 Tues. Pvt. Ski: Cliff & Wayne ski some of the roads off the lower Mukluk Trail. |
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01/08/09 |
14 Tues. Pvt. Ski: Cliff, Wayne & Tanya ski at Lost Trail Ski Area. |
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01/10/09 |
15 Sat. Grp. Ski: We skied the Shoshoni Meadows Trail. It took me about 30 minutes to ski 0.6 miles south up the Ridge Road to the Deep Cr. Ridge TH at the “Fire-line”. From there it took another 35 minutes to ski 0.7 miles, west up the fire-line to the point where it gets steep. At this point the Deep Cr. Ridge Trail (which accesses the Mukluk Trail) goes left and the Shoshoni Trail goes right. We need some blue diamonds with arrows here to indicate the fork in the trail. If one is on the left (south) side of the Fireline it’s not evident that there is another trail going right. It takes a minute or two to ski north to the edge of the Shoshoni Meadows. We usually ski north along the ridge at the top left edge of the meadow before we head down. It takes about 5 minutes to ski to this point from the Fireline. From this point the timing varies depending on the snow conditions. We ski down along the north edge of the Meadow to the “gut” in the trees at the lower NE corner that leads to the Lower Meadow. We usually ski along the right south edge of the lower Meadow to the SE corner where the Lower Shoshoni Trail starts. One can ski down the meadow anywhere, because the Lower Shoshoni Trail follows the Creek which marks the lower edge of this Meadow. The existing ski trail map does not show the Deep Cr. Ridge, or Upper Shoshoni Trails, but the Lower Shoshoni Trail IS on the map. The lower Shoshoni Trail follows the left side of the left fork of the head of Moccasin Cr. After a half mile or so the trail crosses the Creek and angles uphill 100 yards or so and ties into the switchback of an old road. It’s almost 0.7 miles to and it took 17 minutes to reach this point. It’s about 0.1+ miles up to the Lower Shoshoni TH. However at this point we continued on the road down the right side of Moccasin Creek on the old logging Road. I’m quite sure that much of the logging was done with horses, so I’m calling this road and its spurs the Horse-Log Trails. We ski down the road and cross the creek and climb up to the first spur to the right and then ski down to the Mukluk Trail and the Lower Mukluk TH. It took about 40 minutes to ski. This last leg took about 40 minutes. |
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01/11/09 |
16 Sat. Grp. Ski: This was a “last minute unplanned group ski”. We skied the North Moccasin Trail. It took me 1.5 hours (longer than usual) to ski 2.0 miles north on the Ridge Road to the North Moccasin Trail. This is the point where the Ridge Road bears sharply to the right and the William’s Cr. Trail takes of to the right. We ate some lunch and turned left onto the North Moccasin Trail. The snow was fairly good. The trail climbs somewhat and goes a miles or so before it starts to head downhill. It’s moderately steep but as long as no snowmobiles have been on it, it’s a nice trail in with good powder. It took an hour to ski the 2.6 miles to the “Meadow”. There is no sign here, but the trail forks. The left fork follows an old logging road 1.4 miles to the Leesburg Mine road a quarter of a mile or so from the Deep Cr Road Parking Area. The Right fork goes down a Meadow and around a rail fence 1.0 miles to the Leesburg Mine Road. We skied the right fork taking about 20 minutes to ski to the Mine Road. This is the first year since the early 1990’s that the Leesburg Mine Road hasn’t been plowed. Thus we had to ski about 0.6 miles along this road back to the William’s Cr. / aka Deep Cr. Road. Thus the miles are about the same. Our route had the advantage of more downhill. Diamonds need to be added and a trail cleared around the rail fence at the bottom of the right fork. Signs need to be added at the bottom of both the right and left forks and at the Williams. Cr. / Deep Cr. Road TH. |
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01/13/09 |
17 Tues. Pvt. Ski: Cliff Joel and Wayne skied the Shoshoni – Lower Mukluk route about the same as the January 10 trip. |
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01/17/09 |
18 Sat. Pvt. Ski: Cliff & Marlene meet Mark, Anita & Tony and “Max” the Golden Retriever, at Shoup Bridge CG. We skied up the Buckhorn Trail. Marlene skied back, but the rest of us skied down the William’s Cr. Trail to the Upper Aspen Loop. The snow was not too good – somewhat crusty on the steeps although the flat tracking was good. We skied out the Upper Aspen Loop and up the Left Fork (right going up) of the Meadow Trail to the Meadow TH. |
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01/18/09 |
19 Sun. Pvt. Ski: Cliff, Mark and Anita & Tony skied at Lost Trail. There wasn’t any new snow but we had a good time. |
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01/19/09 |
20 Mon. Pvt. Ski: Cliff & Marlene, Anita & Tony, Mark and “Max”. Drove to Chief Joseph Pass. We skied out on the Anderson Mt. Road trail to the “Big Meadow” and ate in the Sunshine. We skied back on the Ander-Rich Trail. We then drove to Lost Trail Hot Springs for a swim. |
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01/20/09 |
Tues. Pvt. Ski: Anita & Tony, Mark & “Max” Skied at Park Creek, west of Stanley on their way back to Boise. |
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01/22/09 |
Thur. Grp. Trip: Marlene snowshoed at Chief Joseph and swam at Lost Trail Hot Springs with the hiking group. |
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01/24/09 |
21 Sat. Grp. Ski: I think that this was the day that Cliff, Tim, Renee and Jay skied the possible “short-cut” to the Shoshoni Meadows and the Mukluk Trail. We skied south up the Ridge Road about ¾ of the way up to the Deep Cr. Ridge TH. However just past an old phone line path on the left we turned right onto an old road. We skied on this road less than 100 yards and then proceeded to climb at about 12% - 15% grade until we reached the Upper Shoshoni Trail 100 yards or so south of the “Upper Meadow”. It took me about an hour to cover this distance which is about the same as it takes when I take the normal route, although less strenuous. We will probably leave this as a roughly marked “un-official” trail. We skied north along the top (left side) of the Upper Meadow for a couple hundred feet and turned left. We skied approximately west dropping slightly and then climbing slightly for about an hour. We reached the Deep Creek Ridge Trail (aka Mukluk Trail) where it leaves the fireline at a “meadow”. We haven’t decided if this should be added as an official route or not. It does avoid a very steep climb where the Deep Creek Ridge Trail climbs around the south side of the fireline just south of the start of the Shoshoni Trail. It might be a better bicycle route. Here we had a quick lunch and skied along the approximate crest of Deep Creek Ridge. After about a mile (1.9 miles from the Upper Shoshoni TH), we reach the point where the Deep Cr. Ridge Trail is no longer cleared and the Mukluk Trail starts. In the Winter there is no evidence that the Deep Cr. Ridge Trail continues. So it appears that the main trail continues by dropping to the right (north). We will probably never open the Deep Cr. Ridge Trail for skiing, but it would probably make a good route for expert mountain bikers. This point is not currently marked, but would need a very large sign if the rest of the Deep Cr. Ridge Trail is ever opened. This last section of trail is very poorly marked with blue diamonds. This is NOT a good area to get lost in the winter, so marking this section of Trails will be one of our highest priorities this summer. I did tie some blue flagging ribbon with may help for this winter. After leaving the Deep Cr. Ridge we ski down several switchbacks of the Mukluk Trail. This section of trail needs some diamonds with arrows to indicate the sharp switchbacks. It took me about 40 minutes to ski from where we left the fireline, along Deep Cr. Ridge and down to switchbacks to an old road. At this point I think Jay & Renee were already at the vehicle. The Mukluk Trail now follows this old road. The road was put in originally, I think, for some “horse logging” in the early 1950’s or so. It’s fairly steep and not suitable for beginning skiers unless snow conditions are prefect and the beginners are able to ski before the more advanced skiers. It took me about 25 minutes to ski down to the vehicle at the Lower Mukluk TH. See some of my other report regarding some newly located beginner an intermediate trails in this area. |
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01/25/09 |
22 Sun. Pvt. Ski: Cliff, Jay and Tim skied up the Buckhorn Trail and down to the William’s Cr. Trail to the Big Fir TH. The section of the William’s Cr. Trail from the Buckhorn Trail to the Upper Aspen Loop had been skied quite a bit, so the snow wasn’t too good. However below this point the snow was generally excellent, especially on the right – more shaded areas. We were concerned that there might be rocks where we cross the creek to hit the old road that leads to the Big Fir TH. We were please to find the rocks fairly well covered. Cliff shuttled their vehicle and headed home. Jay and Time made another loop. |
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01/28/09 |
23 Wed. Pvt. Ski: I think this was when Cliff, Tim and Wayne skied the unofficial trail that starts on the north side of the road across from the Meadow TH. This is a shortcut down to the Upper Aspen Loop. We then skied out on the Upper Aspen Loop to the William’s Cr Trail and down this trail to the Big Fir TH. The snow wasn’t quite as good as last Sunday because we couldn’t get up enough speed. We then re-shuttled and skied the right fork of the Meadow Trail and clockwise part way around the Wapiti Loop to an unmarked cutoff to the main Meadow Trail. On the Meadow Trail at the William’s Cr. Road “Cutoff” we turned right and continued to Cougar Point. The snow in the logging cutover was excellent. |
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01/29/09 |
24 Thu. Pvt. Ski: Cliff, Tim, Wayne & Tanya ski at Lost Trail. We ski mostly in the trees to the north of the Sacajawea run. There was about 16” of new snow and it was about as good as I’ve seen. Marlene to Fairmont Hot Springs with the hiking group. On Friday they snowshoed at the Mt. Haggin XC Ski area on the way home. |
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01/31/09 |
25 Sun. Grp. Ski: We skied the Richardson Ridge Trail and some skied the Ander-Rich Trail. We ate lunch at the Gordon Reese Cabin. I can’t remember details. |
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12/09/08 |
01 Tues. Pvt. Ski: Cliff makes 1st ski trip of the season. Last weekend the road was treacherously slippery. If possible always use high clearance 4 wheel drive with studded tires. With the new snow and my studded tires it wasn’t too bad. The county was scraping the road above Cougar Point so it was good above that point. However beware because they don’t do any plowing on weekends. I stopped at the Meadow TH (see links at the top of the page) and found 8” of snow. I was optimistic. But that mood soon changed as I found some areas that hardly had an inch of snow and I hit several rocks and stumps. I skied the right fork of the Meadow Trail to the Wapiti Loop and back in my tracks. I did not ski the loop. This only took 40 minutes. I then drove to William’s Cr Summit where it looked like there was probably a good snowpack on the Ridge Road, but it looked like there was still truck traffic so it didn’t look like a fun ski. I drove 1.5 miles down the other side to the Lower Mukluk Trailhead. There was only 7” of snow, but I found it more consistent. I skied about 0.20 miles past two spur roads to the left and continued to about 0.25 miles to the road to the right, I’ll probably call Spur C. This road was opened last year for beginning skiers. I only skied a short distance, but it looked like this would be skiable. One skis out to a dead end and back. I then skied back to the 1st junction (I call it Spur A) and skied right east and immediately took another track bearing right marked with blue flagging. We may call it Spur B. It makes a counter clockwise loop back to Spur A. There were a few stumps and rocks on this loop. I then skied east on Spur A to the point where it gets steep and the new flatter (but still steep) by-pass starts. I then skied back to the Mukluk TH taking a total of 40 minutes. If I’d skied out the end of the Spur C (1st road to the right – west) Id have take over an hour. If you have “rock skis” you could safely ski the lower Mukluk Trail and Spurs A and C. To get proper exercise you’d want to make a couple of trips. Beginning skiers should not ski up the Mukluk Trail past the 1st road to the right as the main trail gets quite steep. Conversely, after we get another foot or two of snow this is a fun ski for more advanced skiers.
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12/16/08 |
02 Tues. Pvt. Ski: Cliff and Joel (& “Ibis” the dog) ski down the left fork of the Upper Meadow Trail to the “log fence” at the “big clear-cut” and across the unmarked “cut-off” to the Wapiti Loop. The cut-off feeds into the Wapiti Loop about ¾ of the way around. We then skied to the start of the loop and around the complete loop and then back up the “right fork” (left going up) of the Upper Meadow Trail. It took us just about 2 hours. There were still a few sticks & rocks in a couple of spots. |
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12/21/08 |
03 Sun. Pvt. Ski: Cliff, Marlene & “Ibis” ski the same route as last Tuesday, except not around the full Wapiti Loop. They harvested a small Christmas tree. Ski time about 1:20. |
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12/22/08 |
04 Mon. Pvt. Ski: Cliff & “Ibis” ski the “XC Ski Loop” at the Sacajawea Center. The “loop” is a route is a loop with bisecting routes in both directions, that was mowed extra low - located at the lower field, near the river. My skiing time on the “loop” was about one hour, making two trips on each trail. I expect that I covered somewhat over two miles. If the snow holds, I’ll GPS the route later. Total ski time including skiing down and back from the “loops”: 1:20. |
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12/24/08 |
05 Wed. Pvt. Ski: Cliff and Nancy and her dog “Wiley” skied the “beginner loops” at the lower end of the Mukluk Trail. Cliff’s Grand-dog “Ibis” was sick so she couldn’t come. Total ski time 1:25. |
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12/25/08 |
06 Thur. Pvt. Ski: Cliff & “Ibis” ski the “XC Ski Loop” at the Sacajawea Center. This time only one time on each track for 25 minutes. Total ski time 0:40. |
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12/26/08 |
07 Sun. Pvt. Ski: Cliff, Marlene & “Ibis” ski up the Buckhorn Trail to the William’s Cr. Trail at the “Big Meadow”. We then turned left and followed some tracks almost up to the top of the William’s Cr Trail. This was a very pleasant ski back in our skied tracks. There was 18” of snow at the Meadow TH. |
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12/28/08 |
08 Sun. Pvt. Ski: Cliff, Marlene & “Ibis and Micah & Shelley drive to Chief Joseph Pass. The parking lot wasn’t plowed so we parked on the south side of the highway with the other vehicles. We were going to ski the Ander-Rich Trail, but the new snow was so soft that we sank in over 2 feet. Fortunately several guys had skied out the Anderson Mtn. Road to Cabinet Cr. Thus we followed their tracks out about 2 miles. Our ski time out and back was about 2 hours. Leaving “Ibis” in the vehicle, we skied out to the Gordon Reese Cabin and ate lunch. I took me about 20 minutes out and 20 minutes back. |
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12/30/08 |
09 Tues. Pvt. Ski: Cliff and Joel (& “Ibis” the dog) skied from William’s Cr. Summit north on the Ridge Rd. two miles to the start of the William’s Cr. Trail. We used a pruning saw and hand saws to prune limbs from a proposed trail that will by-pass two very steep pitches on the William’s Cr. Trail. I wanted to open the “trail” enough so that we could ski it and evaluate it’s practicality as a by-pass. Counting rest stops it took me about an hour to ski up and about 40 minutes to ski back and we worked on the trail for about an hour. |
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12/31/08 |
10 Wed. Pvt. Ski: Bob & Nancy, Renee, Cliff & Joel skied up to the same trail as we did yesterday. Bob skied back to the Summit to get a vehicle and the rest of us skied down the William’s Cr Trail to the Buckhorn Trail at the Big Meadow and out to the Meadow TH where Bob was waiting for us. I think the by-pass will be ok once we clear and mark it. We discovered that another by-pass will be needed about 100 yard further down. This shouldn’t require much clearing – most just marking a route. Tanya also skied this route later in the day. |
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Continued above in January Section. |
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05/15/08 |
53 Sat. Pvt. Ski: Cliff and Tim skied the last day of the 2007/2008 Season. Go to: http://home.custertel.net/~ckeene41/skitriprpt07_08.htm for last years report. |
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07/23/08 |
01w Wrk. Day: Cliff joined FS employees (Jamie and ___) to do a condition survey of the Deep Cr. Ridge Trail (up to the Upper Shoshoni TH) and the Upper and Lower Shoshoni Trails. |
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07/29/08 |
01w Wrk. Day: Cliff & Nancy joined FS employees (Jamie and ___) to do a condition survey of the Aspen Loop Trail including the portion that’s co-located with the William’s Cr. Trail. Later Cliff & Nancy did recon on a route to by-pass the very steep top portion of the William’s Cr. Trail. |
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08/24/08 |
03w Wrk. Day: Cliff & Marlene worked on the Spur B (1st to left) of the Horse-Log Trail. |
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09/07/08 |
04w Wrk. Day: Cliff & Marlene did recon and. |
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09/07/08 |
05w Wrk. Day: Date = ? Cliff & Bob check out flag line on upper William’s Cr Trail. Make a few adjustment and GPS the route. |
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10/14/08 |
06w Wrk. Day: Cliff & Nancy cut limbs on Upper Aspen Loop. |
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Abbreviations Used In the Above:
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Cr. |
Creek. |
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Grp. Ski |
One of our scheduled group trips. Some may only want to read the group ski reports. Do a Find - Grp to do this. |
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CJ |
Chief Joseph Pass On Montana HWY 43 which actually starts in Idaho at Lost Trail Pass entering Montana at Milepost 1.0 at Chief Joseph Pass. |
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Mt. |
Mountain. |
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Pvt. Ski |
Not a group ski. Anyone that has an interesting trip should let me know and I'll add it. If possible indicate the snow depths and conditions. I keep track of the number of Grp. Ski and Pvt. Ski days that I attend with a number just before the Grp. or Wrk. Designation. |
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Rd. |
Road. |
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TH |
Trailhead. |
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Wrk. Day |
A day where we work on the trails, or scout out new trail locations or re-routes. I keep track of the number of work days separately from the number of ski days. |
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Word Count: 7,719 |
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Web Location |
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* Last revised on web: 1/ |
04/03/2009 17:45 PM |
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Previously revised on web: |
03/25/2009 18:25 PM |
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Home Page Location |
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Contact: |
Email
is: ckeene41-b4 followed by an @ and then yahoo.com |
1/ Items with an "*" were
added since previous revision.
Two ** indicate minor update between ski
reports.
