Boise unveiled a big Foothills trail this spring. Is there room for more like it?
In the nearly three months since Ridge to Rivers opened its two newest trails in the Boise Foothills, the routes have been busy.
Hawkins Loop and Harrow Trail, tucked behind the slopes about 7 miles up Bogus Basin Road, boast a brand-new paved parking lot, freshly laid trail and panoramic views of gentle hills.
At nearly 6 miles long, the main loop is one of the longest trails added to the Ridge to Rivers system in recent years, traversing an otherwise untouched 393-acre reserve that overlooks the city.
As Boise grows, city and trail officials said it’s becoming more of a challenge to secure parcels like the ones that make up the Hawkins Range Reserve. Does the future of Ridge to Rivers hold opportunity for any similar-sized trails?
Hawkins Loop offers city views
The city announced the opening of Hawkins Loop and Harrow Trail in early May. Gordon said at that time, hikers and cyclists could still encounter elk who’d made their way down from the mountains for the winter. Because the reserve is an elk calving range and winter wildlife habitat, the trails are closed from November to May, and dogs must be on leash between May 1 and June 15.
The trailhead features paved parking — including room for horse trailers — a vault toilet and a picnic area set back in a nearby stand of trees.
The 5.7-mile loop — which can be abridged to 1.8 miles by taking the nested Harrow Trail partway through the route — is a mostly flat trek.
“Not everybody has the ability to go out and walk or ride or run 5.7 miles,” said David Gordon, Ridge to Rivers executive director, in an interview with the Idaho Statesman. “So the smaller loop, the Harrow loop, the idea behind that was providing an experience for people that’s much easier to bite off for some people.”
The main trail begins with a gentle descent toward a creek bed before hugging the edges of the ridges, heading farther from Bogus Basin Road until you’re surrounded by rolling hills.
Both routes are directional, meaning all trail users must travel counter-clockwise. In recent years, directional trails have become more common in Ridge to Rivers as trail managers try to mitigate skyrocketing traffic and reduce conflicts between trail users.
At various points, Hawkins Loop winds past towering granite formations that, at times, offer the only shade you’ll find on the trail. As you progress on the route you’ll see more of Boise’s skyline revealed to the southeast.
Most of the trail’s 450 feet of elevation gain comes as you near the end of the hike, but the ascent is gradual.
Are other big trails in the works?
Though the trail was completed earlier this year and work began in 2022, the Hawkins Reserve project has been in the works for some time. Boise Parks and Recreation director Doug Holloway told the Statesman in an interview that the city acquired three parcels in 2015 for about $1.1 million using existing open space levy funds.
The 40 acres closest to the road, called the Berry property, came first for $300,000. Next, the city acquired 200 acres of land from the Idaho Humane Society for $200,000. The final property — and the reserve’s namesake — was purchased from the Hawkins family for $650,000.
Because of how open the reserve is and how sweeping its views are, Gordon said it’s unlikely Ridge to Rivers will add more trails to the area.
“We would love to be able to connect it at some point to Sweet Connie, but that would be through private land and we do not have that permission at this point,” Gordon told the Statesman. “That’s something that we’d love to see in the future, but a lot of pieces of the puzzle would have to fall into place.”
Holloway said Ridge to Rivers hopes to connect all of the land between Idaho 21 to Idaho City and Idaho 55 to McCall via trails. He said the organization is about 60% to 70% of the way to that goal.
But the work is becoming more challenging. Since the city acquired the Hawkins properties in 2015, land prices have risen exponentially.
Ridge to Rivers finds landowners hanging on to property
In the past, Ridge to Rivers established many of its trails through private property with perpetual easements, philanthropic land donations and “sweetheart deals” under market value. That doesn’t seem to appeal to many private property owners now.
“Landowners are more interested in just hanging on (to their properties),” Holloway said. “They’re not highly interested in selling, they’re not highly interested in easements.”
Holloway said the city recently lost out on 60 acres of Foothills land that the owner sold to an individual who plans to build a single-family home. He said the city plans to approach the new homeowner to see about an easement deal.
“The landowners we’ve been talking to about potential (trail) connections have not said, ‘I’ll never sell to you,’ but they’re more apt to say, ‘We’re just sitting tight right now to see how things go,’” Holloway told the Statesman. “The good thing that we’re seeing is a lot of those properties aren’t going up for sale. They’re just holding on to them at this point in time.”
In the meantime, Holloway and Gordon said they’re focused on other projects, like improving accessibility and weather hardiness on existing trails. They haven’t given up on possibility of adding more major expansions like the Hawkins Reserve.
“You get opportunities for new exciting trail connections or entirely new trails every every few years, and right now we don’t have one on the horizon,” Gordon said.
