Zach Parris can name a few people who likely owe their lives to Ride on Dads, an organization he started about two years ago that raises funds for prostate cancer research through outdoor sporting events.
On Saturday, his nonprofit will host the second Ride on Dads Scavenger Hunt at Pebble Creek Ski Area from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. to raise funds for the Salt Lake City-based Hunstman Cancer Foundation.
In 2021 — the nonprofit’s first year — Ride on Dads raised more than $27,000 toward the foundation’s cause through the scavenger hunt, a bicycle tour in Lava Hot Springs and a rodeo event in Pocatello. Parris has set a $30,000 fundraising goal to benefit the foundation with this year’s events.
Aside from raising money for research, Parris also strives to raise awareness about the importance of men ages 50 and older getting regularly tested for prostate cancer. Parris explained one in nine men will get prostate cancer. He said several men whom he encouraged to get screened for prostate cancer have tested positive early and gotten treatment before their cancer became advanced.
“We’ve saved some people’s lives in the past seven or eight years just doing this,” Parris said, adding screening requires an expensive and simple blood test. “I know we’ve made an impact.”
Parris has stage-four prostate cancer. He got tested at the suggestion of his urologist in 2008, when he was 51, and he tested normal. Four years later, Parris was tested again and was diagnosed with aggressive cancer. He’s had his prostate removed and underwent 38 rounds of radiation treatment, plus additional clinical trial treatments. But his cancer spread into his bones.
While in Salt Lake City getting treatment, a friend who knew Parris was an avid cyclist suggested that he ride a 140-mile tour to benefit the Hunstman, called the Huntsman Sportsfest. Parris assembled a team of local cyclists, and together they raised between $6,000 and $7,000 per year over the course of seen years.
When the ride was moved to a virtual format in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he and his wife, Tami, decided to create Ride on Dads and raise funds on their own, requesting that all of the funds they raise go to prostate cancer research.
“We decided we were going to do some events in Idaho,” Parris said. “There are a lot of people in Southeast Idaho who go to Salt Lake City for cancer treatment.”
The cost of entering the scavenger hunt is $40. The first 125 people to register receive a Ride on Dads beanie. Participants will receive a list of clues directing them to various locations throughout the ski hill, where they’ll find tokens. For example, Parris said one of the clues last year was, “Get yourself up to 7820 where the sun shines aplenty.” It referred to the elevation at the top of the Sunshine Lift.
Tokens will be entered into a drawing for a host of prizes, including gift certificates, handmade jewelry, a mini bike, skis, snowboards, art and a toboggan.
A lift ticket is required to reach token locations. Go to https://hope.huntsmancancer.org/rideondads to register or sponsor someone.
In addition to the scavenger hunt, Ride on Dads sponsors a bicycle tour fundraiser in Lava Hot Springs in June, called Tour de Lava.
In September, Load ‘Em in the Dark Cattle Co. donates a portion of revenue generated from a team roping event at the Bannock County Event Center to help Ride on Dads support cancer research. Parris said September is also Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.
We’re not talking about fancy clothes or jewelry. I’d say, “Hey sweetie pie,” I was hoping the extra sugar would encourage her to jump on board with my idea. “Would you like to go cross-country skiing up at Kelly Canyon?”
“Nope,” she replied. “I’m waiting for some new snow.”
So lately, I’ve been going without her. She did have a point. While there has been plenty of snow in the backcountry to ski on, it has been hard and icy lately. That is until the most recent storm that passed through last Sunday and dropped about 3 to 4 inches of new white stuff.
So, I approached her again on President’s Day with the sweetest, most pleasant voice I could muster. (Since it’s out of my usual character, it kind of strained a vocal cord.)
“Hey sweet Julie, you want to go cross-country skiing up at Kelly’s?”
“How much new snow did they get?”
“I think about 3 or 4 inches.”
“OK.”
YIPPEE!
I dropped her off at the skier drop-off near the resort lodge, parked in the lower lot where the snowshoers and cross-country skiers park, and hiked up with her to the last ski lift.
From there, we skied up to the Y Junction and on to the Morgan Summit warming hut. With a fresh topping of powdery snow on top of a hard-packed base of almost 2 feet, the skiing was fast and pleasant.
At the warming hut, we paused for a snack and fired up the wood stove in case someone else was following behind us.
From the warming hut, we followed the marked route to the Pine Loop Trail. The route had been groomed and skied in the past but was now covered over with fresh snow. In some places where the wind had blown the snow around, the groomed path was only a memory. Not to worry, there are blue diamonds on the trees to mark the way.
After a few initial ups and downs, the Pine Loop Trail is mostly easy skiing. The route takes you through a deep forest of fir and occasional pockets of aspen trees. From the Morgan Summit warming hut, the Pine Loop Trail covers a little under 2 miles. It’s about 2 miles from the ski lodge to the hut (all uphill), making for about 6 miles altogether there and back. A map can be found on the Idaho Falls Ski Club’s website and also in the local guidebook “Eastern Idaho Sweet Spots.”
We experienced super quiet while skiing the Pine Loop. It was fun guessing what critters made which tracks in the snow. One small rodent had its sad tale told in the snow. You could follow its tracks for 20 or 30 yards, then the tracks abruptly stopped where a set of wing marks were made in the snow, left no doubt by a raptor descending from above. The bird of prey caught its breakfast.
We skied back to the warming hut, and then down the hill from Morgan Summit. Ours were the only tracks on the road except halfway down we came across fresh moose tracks trotting up ahead of us. The tracks weren’t there on the way up the hill. We could see where the moose must have heard us coming and left the road and continued up the hill and out of view. I imagined the giant standing off the road peeking behind a tree and spying on us as we skied by.
With each new snowstorm that passes by in the next few weeks, conditions should improve for cross-country skiing in the region.
Jerry Painter is a longtime East Idaho journalist and outdoorsman.
Can you fly with a gun? Yes, but there are rules and regulations that you must follow. Some set by the government and some by each individual airline. We’ll cover some of the regulations … but first, if you’re new to the gun world you may ask the question: why would you want to fly with a gun?
I see three reasons right off:
1. You’re flying somewhere to hunt.
2. You’re a competitive shooter and flying to a match.
3. You want to have a gun for self-protection.
It doesn’t matter what the reason, the rules are the same. When you get to the ticket counter you have to declare that you have a firearm. They will ask you if it is unloaded and locked in a hard container. They will then have you sign and date an orange “Declaration Card” which is later taped to the gun box. In Boise, you will then be directed to go down to the left to have TSA check it out.
The firearm must be locked in a hard sided container. Many pistols come with a traveling case. For rifles, you will have to buy one. Forty something years ago Frontier Airlines would rent you a case for $20. The first time I flew with a rifle I was headed to Texas for a deer hunt. The ticket lady told me that if I didn’t bring it back that they’d keep my $20. She said if I wanted to keep it, she’d go get me a new one in a box.
Now, there are a plethora of gun cases to choose from. Most are lined with foam to protect your scoped rifles. These types of gun cases work fine but all that you can fit into them is your guns and maybe a knife or two. So you’re paying the airline for one bag that only has your guns in it.
Seven years ago I discovered a gun case made by Explorer that had no inner foam. They utilize a canvas carrying case. At first, I didn’t like it. I thought that’s stupid, it won’t protect my scope. But I used it on a trip to Alaska for a brown bear and duck hunt and fell in love with it. Here’s why.
When you go on a hunt, you have to take a ton of gear. Clothing — pants, shirts, base layers, coats, gloves, etc. etc. Then your guns, ammo, optics, knives, camera, maybe waders and the list goes on and on.
With my foamless case I could lay shirts/pants on the bottom, lay the canvas case on top with the guns in it and then lay more clothes on top. Wow. This was almost like having an extra bag of clothes. Plus, I could put my binoculars in the case and they’d be padded.
I fell in love with this concept of luggage. It is the only one like it that I’ve seen on the market. But what if you already own an expensive gun case and can’t (or don’t want to) buy another one? It just hit me while I’m sitting here typing but I guess you could remove the foam out of your existing case and be set. That’s better than flying a luggage half full of foam around the country!
So, if you go the above route, I’d recommend getting a canvas gun case to put your gun in to stick in the case. Plus, you can carry your gun around in the canvas case when hunting. For a pistol you can lock it in a smaller case and put in your unlocked suit case.
Some gun cases have holes for two locks. My Explorer case has holes for six locks which is a pain because Delta requires you to have a lock in every hole. You don’t want a real long necked lock because a thief may be able to pop open the closures on the gun case and be able to stick his hand into your case and pull something out (plus TSA will ding you).
On the other hand, I like longer necked locks to ensure that they can be locked. To alleviate any problems with TSA I carry a baggie of washers. I put a few on the backside of the neck of the lock and then lock the lock in place. Then, even if a thief opens the clasps on the case, he cannot pry open the top. I started doing this years ago.
I always carry 1-2 extra locks in case one malfunctions, which would be a disaster. I’ve never had a problem until … the other day. TSA wanted to open my case to inspect it upon arriving at their booth and for some reason the key wouldn’t work. No biggee. I let them cut the lock since I had an extra one.
What about ammo? Some airlines say ammo has to be in the original container but here is an excerpt from the TSA website:
• Small arms ammunition (up to .75 caliber and shotgun shells of any gauge) must be packaged in a fiber (such as cardboard), wood, plastic, or metal box specifically designed to carry ammunition and declared to your airline.
• Ammunition may be transported in the same hard-sided, locked case as a firearm if it has been packed as described above. You cannot use firearm magazines or clips for packing ammunition unless they completely enclose the ammunition. Firearm magazines and ammunition clips, whether loaded or empty, must be boxed or included within a hard-sided, locked case.
• Please check with your airline for quantity limits for ammunition.
You can carry your ammo in the original box but over time, a factory cardboard box starts to deteriorate. I just discovered some lightweight plastic containers called Ammo Buddy made by Clamtainer. That’s what I use now. They’re also great to carry extra ammo while backpacking or packing into elk camp. I would classify them as somewhat water resistant, at least as compared to a factory cardboard box.
As far as I can tell TSA doesn’t limit you on how much ammo you can carry but airlines seem to set their own limits. Delta allows up to 11 pounds and in the past United has told me they allow 10 pounds.
Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.
There are four main means of transportation people use to cover the 10 miles of snowy road to Granite Creek Hot Springs in the wintertime: snowmobile, sled dogs, cross-country skis and fat tire bike.
Last week, my friend Joe Hill and I chose fat bike.
Although we are both avid cyclists (Joe owns the Sled Shed ski and bike shop in Rexburg), neither of us owns a fat bike. So, we rented bikes for the day. Many bike shops in the area rent bikes. Joe picked up a pair from the Outdoor Resource Center at Brigham Young University-Idaho, and we met early in the morning in Ririe for our drive to the winter trailhead a few miles south of Hoback Junction, Wyoming.
I have been up this beautiful mountain canyon a few times in the summer, but this was my first winter visit. The road is left unplowed in the winter and open only to snow travel. From trailhead to hot springs is about 1,000 feet of elevation gain, but there are several ups and downs both directions. The views along the way are typically spectacular with mountains in the distance and a pretty stream at the bottom of the canyon. Many sections of stream were frozen over with nearly a foot of ice.
If you talk to most fat bike riders, one of the biggest worries is the condition of the snow on the planned route. The week prior to the ride, the temperatures were bitter cold, hovering between minus 10 and 15. But when we decided to ride, the temperatures climbed to 30-plus degrees. If the snow is too soft, tires sink in and wheels feel like they are riding through glue.
At the trailhead we found scores of snowmobiles lined up in a large parking area. Most were commercially guided machines to take clients to see the sights. Near the trailhead and up a hill is a large barn announcing sled dog tours for hire.
We parked and sat for a minute discussing what to wear and not wear on the ride. The truck thermometer said it was 35 degrees. I was worried the snow was going to soften up and make riding challenging.
We dressed like we were cross-country skiing with several layers. I started riding with a beanie on under my bike helmet and a buff over my face. There was a slight breeze that made things chilly.
As we started down the road, there was that initial thrill you get of starting off on an adventure. We found that riding on the outer edge of the road proved to have the most solid snow. In the middle, snowmobiles had churned up the surface, making fat tires sink in. I noticed that the sled dog teams also chose the edge of the road.
After about a half-mile, which included a steady uphill section, we stopped and peeled off a layer of clothing. I also took off my beanie and buff. Despite shedding layers, I could still feel my under layers getting damp with sweat.
“I can tell I haven’t been getting much riding in this winter,” Joe said as we ground up another hill. Add to that a new baby that doesn’t sleep through the night and his fitness was not where he would like it.
Riding a fat bike over snow is a novel experience. We putted along at about an average speed of 7 to 8 mph. We stopped about every 15 or 20 minutes to snap photos and eat snacks.
After about an hour and 20 minutes, we came to Granite Creek Falls. We stopped and walked down to the creek and took photos. A couple was sitting in a natural hot pool on the other side of the creek below the falls. Unfortunately, to use that hot spring, you must walk through the frosty water.
The developed hot springs are about another 10 minutes of riding up the road. Here, the Forest Service operates a pool with changing rooms and benches. There is a caretaker on-site to take your $8.
At first we were the only ones in the pool, then a group of people who arrived by sled dog joined us in the pool. One talkative woman said they were a group of Rhodes scholars doing a travel trip as part of their program. She listed off several other trips they had taken in the area: Yellowstone National Park’s Old Faithful, the National Elk Refuge, cross-country skiing in West Yellowstone, Mont., riding the gondola at Snow King Ski Resort and marching around downtown Jackson, Wyo.
The typical reaction to seeing a person enter the pool was first an expression of uncertainty that quickly turned to smiles and, “Oh, this is nice!”
After a bit more than 30 minutes in the pool, we dressed, walked past the curious sled dogs and began riding down the road. By this time (early afternoon) a few things had changed. The snow was a bit softer and our bikes were acting more squirrelly and a strong head wind also fought against us. We had one major thing in our favor — the way back was mostly downhill. It ended up taking only about an hour to return back.
After my first go at fat biking Granite Creek, this trip might make the annual regular winter trip list.
Last week, I did two solo trips — one near Kelly Canyon and the other at the South Valley Trails area south of Victor.
At Kelly Canyon, I began skiing up the road headed toward the Y Junction. About a quarter of a mile up the road, I came to a snowshoe trail called the Big Slot. I reached into my bag of tricks and pulled out my climbing skins. It was just the thing when there’s no one there to tell me “that’s a dumb thing to do.”
Climbing skins come in all widths and lengths, and I purchased these several years ago from Black Diamond for my skinny skis. What happens is it basically turns your cross-country skis into snowshoes (only generally better). Once when skiing up to the top of Kelly Mountain near the warming hut, I put a set on my daughter’s skis. Her comment was, “This feels like cheating.” She was used to going up hills with lots of zig-zags and extra effort. With climbing skins on, we both chugged our way up the hill in half the time.
Last week, I skied up the Big Slot gully over the snowshoe tracks. I removed the skins after arriving at the Buckskin-Morgan Ridge. From here, I followed ski tracks along the ridge and down to the Morgan Summit and the upper warming hut that is there. If you’ve never tried these trails, they are worth doing. It may help you to bring along a map so you won’t get lost. There is a map of the trails in the local guidebook, “Eastern Idaho Sweet Spots.”
After a snack in the hut, I skied to the Hidden Vista Overlook and on to the Hawley Gulch Overlook. These trails offer an extra loop with some nice scenery. From Morgan Summit, I returned back to the parking lot via the road down.
My second adventure was a solo trip up the little canyon off the regular groomed trails at the South Valley Trails area.
This area features cross-country trails, fat bike trails, snowshoe trails and sledding hills. The parking lot is near the Mike Harris Campground. One of the loop trails goes through the Mike Harris Campground.
I headed up the groomed trail on the road from the parking area, then turned off on a self-groomed trail (not on the trailhead map) heading up a canyon and following a small stream.
The route turned out to be adventures in stream crossings with the previous skier bravely finding snow bridges across the stream. I liked the texture of the snow on this non-groomed, unpacked trail. Most of the time the stream was no wider than a yard or so and 6 inches deep, but I still didn’t want to make a splat in the running water. I guessed I was following an alpine-touring skier heading up into the hills looking for turns. The skier was obviously using climbing skins, but I stubbornly decided to make a go of it on my waxless skis. There were a few times when the going got steep, and I had to resort to side-stepping.
I only managed to sneak up into the canyon about a mile or two before it was either put on the skins or turn around. The way had narrowed to the point that sidestepping was not going to be an option. I opted to turn around.
The return trip was a zoomer, with a couple awesome crashes, due to unexpected dips or branches reaching out and grabbing me.
As I neared the junction with the groomed trails, I met a couple coming up the trail who asked about the way ahead.
“Adventures in stream crossings,” I said.
The woman was ready to turn around, but the guy she was with persuaded her to keep going “at least until it gets dicey,” he said.
Personally, I enjoyed the adventure of skiing through the deep forest on a self-groomed trail and wondering if the snow bridges were going to hold my weight over the stream below. I figured it wasn’t a life-and-death situation. At worst, I’d get a bit wet and probably embarrassed when I met other skiers. Being embarrassed is not a new thing for me.
Jerry Painter is a longtime East Idaho journalist and outdoorsman.
The snow squalls, the rapidly dropping temperatures, and the whip of a Wyoming wind have filled the air on this late December day.
At the bottom of a short and at times stout boot pack on the south side of Teton Pass, a bunch of wooden planks stick out of the snow near a group of trees.
It might as well have been a beach for Dave, Dan and Walker Bender.
With a beautiful swell on hand, the gettin’ is good.
It’s hard to imagine a better setting to catch the white wave.
Powsurfing, “the perfect combination of skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing,” according to Dave Bender, is done by simply standing on a very stiff all-wood board and turning down a slope.
There are no bindings (although there are foot grips), there’s a leash to keep the board from sliding down the mountain, and powsurfers are meant to be used with soft boots.
Even snowboard boots are built too stiff to take advantage of the surf.
Walker Bender takes his first steps up the bootpack to go for another round of turns on Teton Pass.
“You look at the shape and it’s way different than taking your bindings off of a snowboard and trying to ride it down the mountain,” said Bender. “These things are tailored and perfected for just soft boots.”
One of the sweetest parts for Bender isn’t limited to the copious amounts of bindingless turns on the way down.
The moments that have tended to stand the test of time better than others are the smiles on the faces of those who have seen the light of powsurfing.
“I’ve taken close to a hundred people out on their virgin ride on a powsurfer and I get a very similar reaction every time,” said Bender. “The smiles at the bottom of the hill, after their first run, I wish I had a camera for every one.”
Bender has seen nothing but youthful exuberance on the faces of those that have got it good.
“All reactions point to the youth, I hear a lot of this is taking me back to when I’m 12 again or this makes me feel like a little kid again,” said Bender.
What does a 12-year-old think about powsurfing then? Just by the way he surfs, one can tell how highly Dave’s 12-year-old son Walker rates it.
Even with the snow both flying and falling all around him, Dave’s veteran style cannot be obscured.
The ability to share the surf is something that keeps Dave thankful.
“It’s a pretty special thing, and I’m pretty grateful for my health and the ability to be doing it,” said Dave.
You best believe that while catching the winter swell is a favorite of the Benders, it is just one of the activities that they share and excel at as a family.
“As a family, mountain biking has been a huge part of our lives,” said Dave. “We mountain bike a lot, we skateboard a little bit, we do some backpacking too.”
The rhythm with mountain biking is distinctly similar to that of powsurfing for the Benders. Dave likened it to the source of all the fun.
“Mountain biking kind of complements the snow ‘cause we’re riding the same mountain slopes that we do on a powsurfer and a snowboard,” said Dave. “The flow, looking around these mountain bike trails, they are built like a river.”
“It kind of goes like water does down a mountain,” he added. “It doesn’t make sharp turns, it goes in a really flowy line.”
Walker has clearly taken to this belief with the energy one would expect from a kid his age. It’s apparent not only in his powsurfing, but also in his biking and snowboarding.
In summer of 2020, Walker stepped to one of the classic Teton Pass freeride test pieces, the notably large and exposed “Canyon Gap.”
“Me and my friend Bennet went up and we were thinking about it,” said Walker. “Bennet went first and so I just got motivated to send it, it was a lot easier than hitting it by myself.”
Walker Bender follows through his turn under the proud eyes of his father Dave.
After stomping it (of course he did) Walker took it in stride according to Dave.
“It’s about a 30 something, 35-foot gap, and he’s getting it good,” said Bender. “He’s doing it with no hands and taking his feet off his pedals and doing all these knack-knacks and can-cans.”
Being in the right environment certainly never hurts.
“The trail system here helped on by Mountain Bike the Tetons and TVTAP in the valley is incredible,” said Dave.
The way the Benders’ lifestyle works is due to capitalizing on the chance to build with a degree of flexibility.
The Benders homeschool their children, which allows them to spread lessons through the year and make time for outdoor fun.
“We’re homeschooling so when I’m at work the kids go to school, bang some lessons out, and when I’m off it’s pretty much recess,” said Dave. “We got a pretty good schedule.”
The Bender clan talks over some different Grassroots boards during a pre-bootpack break. For Dave (left), Walker (center), and Dan (right) discussing shapes and styles was the second most common topic of conversation, of course after the quality of the surf.
That great schedule is why we were able to meet up at two in the afternoon on a Thursday. Dave and his brother Dan have put on some small demos around the area, not for any company, but the love of the surf.
Through his personal relationship with Grassroots Powsurf founder Jeremy Jensen, Dave gets some boards that may or may not have made it up to Grassroots’ high standards.
It’s not a “why do this” but more of a “why not do this” for Bender.
“I don’t have any stock in the company but he’ll send me some boards and I’ll take people out and put on some demos, usually just kinda word of mouth with people from work, hockey, or the neighborhood that are interested in powsurfing,” said Bender.
Bender and Jensen met while working a cafe and riding together at Snowbird in the winter of ‘97-’98, but lost touch not long after.
“We rode together a bit at Snowbird as acquaintances for a few years,” said Bender. “I called Jeremy and reconnected with him, I still keep in contact with some buddies from Utah and I got his contact information and rekindled that relationship.”
Bender is very loyal to Grassroots not only through his personal connections, but personal experience on their boards.
“I had tried this powsurfer up on Teton Pass, it was like a dog trying to run away from its owner,” said Bender. “I couldn’t stay on the thing. I tried it again a couple of years later on a Grassroots board and I stepped on it and powsurfed the whole way down Telemark Bowl without falling.”
I had to give it a good try, and I ended up with the exact same experience that Dave had. I didn’t fall once that first run, and there were arguably some of the best feeling turns I’ve ever had. Hitting the ground running.
The distinct level of purity in a non-metal-edged wood board without bindings is apparent from the bootpack to the blower turns.
Softboots, like the ones you would take out on a blustery day to snowblow or shovel, are best for the surf.
Powsurfing is also ideal for avalanche danger days, where any unexposed slopes can yield at least a few waves.
“If the avalanche danger is high you just go to the little neighborhood hill and session it,” said Bender. “You think you’re going to be there for thirty minutes and half the day’s slipped by.”
The Benders have even gone on splitsurf adventures (a powsurf board that splits a la splitboard) with Grassroots’ Jensen, a day remembered fondly by Walker.
“There was this one day up Taylor, Mr. Jeremy (Jensen) came out and we skinned up Taylor, went off the backside,” said Walker.
He described the day’s snow using a name that I will use more often.
“It was a bit thin at the top, but it got better as we went down,” said Walker. “It was so fun, it wasn’t super steep, it was great hippie-pow.”
Dave elaborated on the label.
“We call it hippie-pow, that low-angle shallow snow,” said Dave.
Some of the best turns can be had where you least expect them, and Dave knew that I had a tough job ahead of me with writing this report.
“You’ve been on the board powsurfing, it’s hard to articulate how much fun it is without sounding like a kook,” said Dave with a good laugh. “I call it the fountain of youth.”
Ever since he found it, Dave won’t ever let it go.
“This place is home, I’ll probably die here,” said Bender. “The winter is what made it stick really.”
I love the show season. And if you’ve been reading any of my articles lately then you know I’ve been flying around the country hitting the Dallas Safari Club Convention & Expo, the Safari Club International Convention and the mother of them all, the SHOT Show.
Even though I love the big shows, I have to admit. I’ve been stretched out thin. Between giving seminars at all of them and working the shows from daylight to dark, maybe flying in late to one of them at 2:30 a.m. and getting up some mornings at 4 to write articles covering them — I was drained by the time I flew home from the last one on a Saturday night at midnight. Only to have to get up at 3:30 to fly out again for two and a half weeks on Wednesday morning.
But now it’s time for some more relaxing type of shows. Gun shows! I don’t think that I’ve ever been to a gun show that it didn’t have something that I couldn’t live without. Gun shows have something for everyone.
If you need a brand new rifle, shotgun or pistol have no fear, you’ll find it there. Want an old M1 Garand? Saw a collection of them today. What about cowboy pistols? Yep, you’ll see a plethora of them.
Then there’s always a few vendors with a ton of old Army gear. Then if you’re looking for knives, you’ll find a ton of them. A lot of old school leather handle knives on up to some modern ones that are good for … I just don’t think their use has been discovered as of yet.
Knives that fit into my hunting world, I usually don’t see too many of them — although today I did.
And who isn’t infatuated with old lever actions? There are always a few tables of them that I have to stop and google over. The old lever action has to be the coolest rifle ever designed, doesn’t it? They’re the gun that won the West and still win the heart of any true westerner. I shot a cinnamon bear a few years ago with a Henry’s Golden Boy 45-70. That made for a beautiful picture with the brass lever action laid on the cinnamon bear.
If you need some décor for a mountain cabin, I don’t know how you could do better than hit a gun show and grab a box full of old-school ammo boxes to set up on a shelf. I saw a guy that had a whole box of old ammo boxes for sell today.
Usually at every gun show I can find at least one deal on a couple of boxes of ammo that I need. But one word of caution. I’d advise against buying any ammo reloaded by some individual local. Years ago I bought some at a Nampa Gun Show and it nearly blew the firing pin back through the end of the bolt. It was protruding out the back of the bolt. Little Tommie’s forehead would have been the next stop. So only buy reputable ammo.
One thing that I really like to stumble upon is a unique local dealer. One year at the La Grande gun show I met a guy that sold imported knives from Finland. They were unique. The handles were made out of reindeer horns. He had a mushroom knife that had boars’ bristles on the end of the handle to brush dirt off of your mushrooms as you gathered them.
Today I met a young man named Justin that owns Dakota Prairie Ammunition. They manufacture ammo, of course. I’m going to be testing some of his ammo. I love helping guys that are just getting their feet on the ground and many times you’ll be able to meet a new fledgling company at your local show.
Some upcoming gun shows in Idaho include: The Amoureux Homedale Gun Show on Feb. 19 and 20 and The Boise Gun Show at the Ford Idaho Center on March 5 and 6.
So don’t just set around the cabin bored this winter. Get out and hit a gun show. If nothing else I always see a few old-time books that I can’t pass on. Have fun.
Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.
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.
If you read any writings that are 50 years or older, anytime they wrote about winter there was a dark foreboding sinister feeling portrayed about it. There were cliches like they were entering into the winter of life and you knew they were about to die. You could almost hear the creepy music playing in the background.
As a kid, I didn’t have a lot. When I was 8 years old I’d pull on two to three pairs of socks and cram my foot into my already tight pair of cowboy boots. My toes would have zero circulation. I’d be shivering like a cartoon character.
Even up until after college I thought I was decked out if I had a set of red one-piece Union long handles. Of course they were made out of cotton and we now know that cotton doesn’t wick away moisture. In those days everyone advised wearing wool because it wicks away moisture and you’d survive even if you got wet. But the downside, wool itches.
Fast forward 50 years. Now suddenly a big percentage of people can’t wait for winter! You have to wonder, what caused this big shift in the paradigm? Here’s my explanation. Now we have a ton of fun winter outdoor activities. Skiing, snowboarding, ice fishing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, cross country skiing, winter camping, sledding, ice skating, varmint hunting and who knows what else?
And I think the thing that allowed this change is the availability of new winter clothing that the market offers. Let’s list some of those items from the toes on up.
FOOTWEAR
Manufacturers offer moisture-wicking socks from medium weight on up to thick. Thirty years ago, there was a trend to wear a thin pair of polypropylene socks under your regular pair. This did two things.
1. Wicked away moisture.
2. The socks slid on each other so you didn’t get a blister.
Now there’s a design of boots to fit your every activity. As a kid, I never heard of waterproof boots, but now, nearly all of them are waterproof. (Although in a meeting with marketing guru Ethan Peck with Garmont boots last week at the SHOT Show he told me that sometimes he likes non-waterproof hiking boots because they are better at wicking away moisture. Never heard that before but it makes sense.)
You can get various heights of boots according to how much snow you’re going to encounter. You can also get varying degrees of insulation in them, according to how cold it is or how sedentary your outdoor activities will be. When snowmobiling or ice fishing you may want some Sorel Pac type of boots.
If you’re new to Idaho and haven’t used gaiters before, you need to get a pair. They’re a plastic like/canvas deal that zips up around your ankle and extends almost up to your knee. They clip onto the string on your boots and prevent snow from coming in over the top (curse of all curses).
BASE LAYERS
According to how active that you’re going to be but you can get light, medium and heavy weight base layers. Most are made out of polypropylene and some of silk. These are a must have in cold weather. Don’t get cotton. Remember the old saying, “Cotton Kills,” said because cotton gets wet and clammy.
For pants, it’s nice to have something that is water resistant. It may be cool looking in town but you don’t want your pants skin tight. You want them a little baggy. For a shirt, wool is great but I usually end up wearing some kind of a cotton shirt (flannel, etc.).
If you’re new to Idaho, you need to learn how to layer. You don’t want to wear just one jacket like an oversized Eskimo jacket. Otherwise, you get a little warm hiking and you have to tough it out or pull off your monster size jacket and freeze.
Maybe wear a decent fleece jacket and then a bigger coat over it. That way if you get warm you can just pull off your bigger outer jacket and strap it on your backpack. For a jacket you want one that goes past your waist to block the wind and contain your body heat. And talking about wind, you want one that is windproof and water resistant. And never, never buy a coat without a hood. Otherwise, wind will whip down your neck as well as snow and rain. I always wear a cap. Throw the hood over it and the bill sticks out and protects your face/glasses against the rain and snow.
A gaiter is nice to wear around your neck to keep wind from whipping down your collar. For head cover, everyone now wears some kind of sporty beanie. For extreme weather, Katy bought me one years ago that is four-layers. It’s the ultimate.
Then of course you’ll need some good waterproof/resistant gloves or mittens. You can also supplement with hand warmers to stick in your gloves or pockets.
Well, I could go on for a while but this list ought to at least be enough so you’ll live to make it back to town alive and be able write me some hate letters to the editor pointing out some item I forgot to include!
Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.
I’m blaming a major bout of sentimentality on the fact that it was the middle of the week and I was the only one for miles around in the Kelly Canyon area.
Once I cross-country skied past the resort, I had the place to myself. The only sound was the swishing of my skis and a bit of puffing as I skied up to the Morgan Summit warming hut. All that quiet got me thinking of past winter visits to the area, back before all my kids had moved away and my dog was still alive.
I paused at the warming hut long enough to fire up the woodstove and chew on a Christmas Clif bar, a gift from a daughter.
I sat in silence and remembered talking my dog into an overnighter skiing up there years ago (before all the “no dogs allowed” signs) “to test out a new tent in the snow.” My dog Sunny was game for any outdoor activity no matter how flimsy the excuse was to get us out there. We slept about 50 yards from the warming hut, but in the morning cooked our breakfast inside the hut. I couldn’t resist the table and chairs inside. About the time we finished with breakfast, I heard voices nearby and suddenly the hut was invaded by half a dozen college students “checking out the trails” early in the morning. They came from places all around the West and even Texas, where snow was a new experience to them. Sunny was happy with all his new friends.
After my Clif bar was gone, I decided to go the distance and started skiing down the Pine Loop trail and then on down the Hawley Gulch Trail (about another 4-mile loop). The Hawley Gulch trail turned into an adventure when I had to do some route-finding. There were no previous tracks to follow, and snowmobilers had attacked the area leaving 2-foot-deep ruts to avoid. The route is marked with blue diamonds on trees, but they always seem hard to find at critical junctures. Fortunately, I’ve done the route several times and never felt too lost.
The snow last week was nearly ideal for backcountry cross-country skiing.
Where the trail connects with Hawley Gulch there is a large slope that flows down to a small footbridge. As I looked up the slope, the memory came rushing into my mind of my oldest son deliberately bombing down the hill on cross-country skis at Mach speed. He did a complete somersault disappearing into a soft spot. He slowly rose from the snow, dazed, moaning with a bloodied face. It’s always later that you think of the foolishness of it when we still had an hour of skiing to return to cell service.
Farther down the trail last week, I popped out on the road next to a sign that says Poison Flat. As I skied up the road, I passed the spot where years ago I paused during a ski trip with Sunny. “Sunny look up, turkeys.” A flock of 11 turkeys hurried across the road and up into the woods maybe 30 yards in front of us. Sunny never looked up. He had his nose buried in the snow sniffing turkey tracks, as if to say, “Dude, check out these amazing smells of all these turkeys.” I relished the sights, Sunny relished the smells.
Where the road reconnects with the Y Junction, I finally heard other humans during last week’s ski. Two women skied up the road and past me on their way toward the lower warming hut on the logging road. They nodded as they passed, one woman chattering non-stop.
By the time I had zoomed back down the road to the ski resort, cars were starting to arrive for day skiing. My stomach was telling me it was time to get home for lunch.
Next time I plan to bring along some pals to adventure with to avoid slipping down into that deep hole of sentimentality.
Jerry Painter is a longtime East Idaho journalist and outdoorsman.
