For my sweetheart, this is a must-do trail every winter.
We showed up on a Tuesday and had the Buffalo River trail in the Island Park area all to ourselves.
Julie likes the trail “because it’s pretty.” That seems to be a thing for the ladies. I will admit, with the sun shining, the bluish river flowing and the thick, snowy woods, the trail is a beaut. It’s also flat. That makes it a great trail for a group of mixed levels of experience.
The trail begins just out of the parking lot of the Island Park Forest Service Ranger Station just south of Pond’s Lodge. The access couldn’t be easier.
The trail is a “Park ’N Ski” trail, meaning that skiers/snowshoers are asked to purchase and place a Park ’N Ski sticker on their windshield for the winter season. The money goes to pay for the cost of grooming the region’s ski trails. Three-day permits can be purchased for $7.50 and annual permits can be purchased for $25. Find the permits online at the Idaho Parks and Recreation website.
The 2-mile trail makes a big loop just south of the Buffalo River on the east side of Highway 20. If you’re looking for some more mileage after doing this trail, drive a quarter of a mile north to Pond’s Lodge and park just south of the lodge’s parking lot at the Moose ski trails. This trailhead connects into a series of trails continuing along the Buffalo River and over to the Island Park Reservoir dam area with options to do several miles of varied terrain.
The Buffalo River trail is set up as a self-guided nature trail with occasional factoid signs along the way talking about the geology, local animals, waterfowl, fish, etc. We found that we usually had to scrape the snow off the signs in order to read them. A long section of the trail parallels the river. We were hoping to see some water birds in the river, but the only birds we saw were off in the distance downstream west of the Highway 20 bridge.
The Buffalo River is a shallow river a few miles long that flows in a southwesterly direction and connects with the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River just south of Island Park Reservoir. This mellow river attracts anglers hunting brook trout and canoes looking for a mellow place to paddle during milder weather months.
We did see a few moose tracks in the snow, but it was a day for all the critters to be somewhere else.
Yellowstone National Park has updated its backcountry reservation system to allow people to do it all online.
Beginning this spring, visitors will be able to make advance online reservations for backcountry permits at www.recreation.gov.
The park said moving to an online system allows backcountry users to check availability in real time and receive instant confirmation when reserving a trip.
Starting March 1 through March 20, the system will offer a lottery system for backcountry permits.
From April 1 to April 24, people will be able to reserve single reservations online.
Starting April 26, people can reserve additional reservations.
After April 26, the remaining permits will be available for reservation on www.recreation.gov.
Walk-up permits will be available on a first-come, first-served basis up to 48 hours in advance. Walk-up permits cannot be reserved online. Fees apply for all backcountry sites.
“Early access lottery and general permits will account for approximately 75 percent of permits issued for the season,” Yellowstone National Park said in a news release. “The remaining permits will be available as walk-up permits.”
So it sounds like if you want to get that prized backcountry campsite for this coming summer, you’d better get online this spring.
Yellowstone offers more than 1,000 miles of trails and 293 designated backcountry campsites, the park said. Permits are required for all overnight stays in the park’s backcountry.
Jerry Painter is a longtime East Idaho journalist and outdoorsman.
