BOISE, Idaho — Whether you love to hike, run or ride, Boise’s trails provide the community with a great outdoor experience. However, with the change in seasons and snowfall, those trails become muddy, which could cause long-term damage to those trails.
To help prevent damage to the trail, the Ridge to River provides an interactive map for trail users to find trail conditions and routes.
David Gordon, the division manager for Ridge to River, said with temperatures in the 40s and lots of cloud cover, the snow that Boise saw Tuesday morning, the trails are in good condition. However, Gordon said even though some trails are in good condition, they could become muddy once the sun shines through the clouds and melts the snow.
So, Gordon said it’s important to make sure not to walk on the trails in muddy conditions to preserve them for future generations.
"When you're traveling on a muddy trail, that's when the most damage to trails occurs. We see the most damage to our system during winter months, people are walking off the trail to avoid the mud, the trail becomes wider and wider,” Gordon said. “The wider the trail is the more erosive it becomes. So, there's a reason that we ask people to stay off the trails if they are muddy."
He continued with some tips for trail users.
“The rule of thumb is if you're walking on a trail, and it's starting to become so muddy that you're leaving tracks, or you find yourself walking off the trail to get out of the mud, that's the time to turn around,” said Gordon, “Being willing to look at routes as out and backs.”
Gordon said during this time of year, it's best to use the trail early in the morning when they are frozen hard, which is the best condition for both users and preserving the trails.
Now if you encounter short stretches of mud, Gordon said, “don't walk around it and make the trail wider, just ride right through it or walk right through it.”
The last piece of advice Gordon wants to give trail users is to check daily trail conditions on ridgetorivers.org or on their Facebook to know whether you should be on the trails during winter months.
Gordon said taking care of the trails during the winter months will ensure better conditions for the rest of the year.
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