The bridge across the North Fork of the Boise River at Barber Flats has new restrictions on what types of vehicles can cross it. The Boise National Forest issued the restriction order on April 27, 2012. The date when the bridge will be repaired has yet to be determined.

Barber Flats Bridge Restriction Information

• Location: On the North Fork of the Boise River at coordinates 43.809076, -115.536255
• Bridge Restricted to vehicles 50 inches wide or LESS. Basically ATV and smaller vehicles will be able to use this bridge.
• NFS Restriction Order Number: 0402-03-40
• Link to the “Order”: http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5365459.pdf
• Link to the official story: http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/boise/news-events/?cid=STELPRDB5365922
• Link to map of bridge: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=217923343964080707607.0004bf278d1095a3ac66d&msa=0&ll=43.808022,-115.544415&spn=0.024095,0.055661

Interactive Map of the Area

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Comments
Hope this information is useful to a few people out there. I'd hate to get all the way out to the Middle Fork only to discover I couldn't drive my truck over the Barber Flats Bridge and along the North Fork of the Boise River. Leave a comment if you wish.

Thanks,

Want to try some wintertime rock hounding in Idaho? Hiking in the Owyhee desert is the perfect cold season get-away. How about blazing your own trail up peaks only but a few have attempted? All this and it's just a 1 hour drive from Mountain Home.



(February 2, 2012) This rock hounding trip was a long time coming. I've been eying this small but completely cool looking peak along the Owyhee Front for over 3 years. With obvious “volcano” looking characteristics, I was hoping to find some cool rocks. The hike was wonderful with brilliant blue skies and the usual solitude of the high desert.

The Hike
One of the problems in this area is finding a parking spot off Poison Creek Cut-off Road. Yeah, you can pull off the shoulder of this gravel road but one never knows how soft and gooey the shoulder will be until you get down there. So I decided to play it safe and park on the side of a double track trail heading almost straight towards Peak 4189.



My dog Addie and I headed south on foot along double track trail. Pretty simple walk that gradually climbs the further south you go. Once this trail ended, we headed off-trail straight towards the easily identifiable Peak 4189. Again, the grade is rather slight as it approaches the base of the peak.

Once at the base of Peak 4189, the climb gets steep and rocky. But it wasn't long before we summited out. The sweeping views from the summit are incredible even though the peak only rises about 500 feet above the plains where we parked. As usual, the winds on these Owyhee peaks were quite a bit stronger than down below.



The hike back to the car was mostly off-trail along 3 different dry washes. We explored a few man-made objects out there and followed a few game trails. Yep, there are still deer, antelopes and coyotes alive and roaming the Owyhee Front. Plenty of tracks and scat to prove it.

Hunting Some Cool Rocks
The rock hounding was a little disappointing on and around Peak 4189. There is an abundance of bright white quartz and some near clear chunks up there. But nothing I saw made me want to bring a specimen home with me.



Obviously someone found something of interest on the flanks of Peak 4189 as there is a mining claim marker up there. Because the claim marker was just lying on the ground, I suspect the claim is abandoned. I'm reasonably sure if I had made a real effort, I would have found some cool rocks but this was just an exploratory trip. In other words, there wasn't any “low hanging fruit” just lying on the ground. I'll be back for some serious rock hounding later in the winter or early spring.

GPS Track Map of the Peak 4,189 Rock Hounding Trip

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Peak 4189 Hiking Statistics
Total Distance of Hike: 3.56 human miles. About 20 Addie Dog miles
Elevation Gain/Loss: 553 feet
Average Slope of Entire Hike: 6%
Average Slope from Base to Peak: 20.1% in about 1/5 of a mile

The Land
The entire hike was done on public lands with a majority owned by the State of Idaho. BLM lands, as usual in the Owyhees, made up the ownership of the rest of the hike.



This is ranching land and the entire hike was done on the East Castle Creek Rangeland Allotment. Expect cow patties along any route you take from car door to the summit of Peak 4189. The predominate vegetation was unfortunately “cheat grass” with areas of sage brush.

The Rough Mountain Quad Topo Map show this peak has an elevation of 4189, while my GPS unit showed the (un)-true elevation at 4,140. I seriously don't know if my GPS unit is off by almost 50 feet or the 1992 Topo Map is wrong.


Thanks for visiting the Bondyweb,

(May 6th, 2012) What kind of cactus / succulent plant is this? Found the plant during a cross country, off-trail hike near the Prairie Cut-off Road. If you have an idea, it would be cool if you could comment or e-mail me what you think the plant is called.

I'm no stranger to discovering cactus type plants during my exploration throughout southern Idaho. I've found areas of wild prickly pear cactus, a plant I've been told doesn't exist in Idaho, just 45 miles to the south of my home. But this succulent type cactus is a new one to me.

• I found the plant at or near coordinates 43.275942, -115.513685, well off the beaten path.
• Plant has light green succulent type leaves and red flowers.
• Overall size of the plant was about 1 square foot in area.

See All 3 Photos I Took



What are these plants called? And are they common in this area if Idaho? Leave a comment or use my “Contact Us” form.

Thanks,

The Idaho Fish and Game folks are looking for your opinions. If you fish or call yourself an “Idaho Angler”, you can take a rather longish survey to help shape what our streams, rivers, reservoirs and lakes will look like in the future.

Survey Link:  https://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ifwis/portal/form/public-2011-idaho-angler-opinion-survey

It took me about 5-10 minutes to complete the Fish and Game survey but I think it's worth the time and effort. Head over to the link above and do your part to improve your Idaho fisheries.

Thanks,

A reader sent me a bunch of rock hounding maps and thought I'd offer them to other folks. I haven't been to most places on the map so head out there at your own risk. The maps look old but there is enough detail to get you close to these rock hounding places.


View or Download the map:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TPzPXubDfJGQDqDJySgw526nfPzJLJ6NInd71d_5HkY/edit?hl=en_US


Map #1 Includes:
- Succor Creek State Park area, Oregon ( 43.507209, -117.132446)
- Graveyard Point area, Idaho ( 43.566189, -117.023519
- McBride Creek area, Idaho ( 43.280840, -116.938668)

The maps legend indicates you could find:

• Agates with Saginite.
• Petrified Wood.
• Opalized Wood.
• Wangdoodle Opal.
• Queenstone.
• Leaf Imprinted Fossils.
• Jasper.
• Thunder Eggs.
• Animal Fossils...I think these are illegal to collect.

General Area Rock Hounding Map #1 Covers is shown below

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Use Map with Caution
I have no idea where these maps came from and no idea how accurate they are. They look genuine but old so use the information in combination with good maps, respect mining claims and private property. In short, do your research and above all be a good steward of our public lands.

Rock Hounding Data and Information Wants to be Free and Accurate
With this map and the maps I'll be placing on the BondyWeb.Com in the coming weeks, I'd like to improve upon them. You can help. You can be part of making this crazy hobby more enjoyable, more social and less frustrating. How? If you have a GPS unit that can record your travels:

1. Save the file and send them to me.
2. I'll overlay your travel on USGS “topo” maps.
3. I'll put the location where you found your cool rocks on the map.
4. I promise to make these new improved maps “open source”, free and easily available.

I know rock hounds are no different than fishers and hunters. We think (and maybe know) keeping your best fishing holes or secret hunting spots a SECRET keeps them uncrowded and the riff raff away. But sometimes it's important to give back and build a database of freely open and accurate maps we can all use. Let's start with this map.

Feedback Appreciated
If you head out for a day of rock hounding, please let me know what you found. Better still would be pictures and GPS coordinates so I could improve these maps. Leave a comment or use my Contact Us link if you wish.

Thanks,

(April 17th, 2012) An April 2012 fishing trip to Long Tom Reservoir started out with a short but semi-torturous hike in, loud neighbors but some great views. Unfortunately, this “close to Mountain Home, Idaho” fishing trip wasn't exactly stellar.

The Prep Work was Done
I was looking for an early season fishing trip and Long Tom Reservoir seemed like an easy and quick place to explore. With Google Earth and some USGS topo maps, I set my off-trail hike into the north side of this little written about body of water. With a few “way points” uploaded into my GPS unit, I was ready to go.
Shallow-canyon-longtom

The Hike
As usual, my ever-present Plott Hound dog, Addie was with me and we headed straight west into the sagebrush steepe. As anyone who has hiked in southern Idaho knows, there isn't any straight paths through the sage brush. And there are very few straight paths up, over and through this landscape of rocks, small cliffs and canyons that seemed deeper than what I saw on the maps.

Overall, the hike in was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. The shallow canyons seemed more like full-fledged canyons at least far as my lungs and legs were concerned. But the steeper than expected terrain also made for better scenery. I was glad to find a game/cattle trail down in the canyon that would take me to Long Tom and some fishing.



The Fishing
Obviously, without any roads into this area I was pretty darn sure I wouldn't see anyone else and I was right. Being the high water season, the banks were pretty steep but there were plenty of places to fish in both directions.

From Fishing Long Tom Reservoir

Being the first fishing trip in about 18 months, I still had some old fishing line on my reel and this caused some tangling problems. And the lack of recent casting experience might have resulted in a few errant lure throws also. But I got to go fishing.

Did I catch any fish? Nope! I did get a few bona-fide hits on my lure. And I saw a few glimpses of fish following my lure in towards shore, so I know there are fish in Long Tom Reservoir. So, if you have some time, head out there for some fishing.



Other Information

• There is road access to the southern end of Long Tom. I hiked that road last year and figured this year the chances of getting stuck axle deep in mud was pretty high this time of year. I was also looking for some good exercise that I wouldn't get by driving in.
• The water in Long Tom Reservoir is awful “white” and reminds me of glacial flour. Of course it's not.
• The place I fished wasn't exactly a peaceful place. There were a couple pairs of Canadian Geese making this section of the lake their home and were quite (and continuously) vocal about our presence in the neighborhood. Addie didn't enjoy racket anymore than I did.

View Larger Map

The Stats
- Road miles from Mountain Home: About 21 miles
- Hiking mileage: 1.97 miles
- Total Elevation Gain/Loss on hike: 575 feet
- Fish caught: None
- Enjoyment Factor: High
- Link to more pictures of this local fishing trip:  https://picasaweb.google.com/112532322025941965882/FishingLongTomReservoir?authuser=0&feat=directlink



The Local Environment
As far as I could determine, most of the land I hiked on was BLM lands. Apparently the lakeshore around most of Long Tom Reservoir is privately owned, but I saw no signs or fences during this hike.

I didn't see any trash/garbage along my route or even around the lake itself which is sort of surprising. Being BLM lands, cattle grazing is allowed in this area so there were plenty of cow patties to detour around.

I surprised 3 mule deer during this hike. And my dog got into the action chasing them for about 5 minutes before figuring it was useless trying to catch up to these swift animals.

Comments?
Hope you enjoyed my first story in well over 1 month. Hopefully I can get motivated to start posting more articles in the near future,  Comment away if you wish.