The west fork of Alder Creek is in the beautiful Boise National Forest. It is mid-way between Placerville to the south and Garden Valley to the north. Placerville is a border-line ghost town from the 1800s and it's by-gone mining and logging prosperity. Garden Valley, with the south fork of the Payette River running through it, is internationally known for its white-water kayaking. The foliage and forest canopy of this trail has to be experienced to fully appreciate the beauty you will see from this trail. It is also a major ranging area for thousands of elk. The trail itself is well known to campers and hunters alike. This trail is in hunter unit #33 for those needing to research seasons and game.
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My wife and I ran this trail recently. Be prepared for extreme pinstripping for most of the trail. Those sections will not be fun if you meetup with someone coming the other way. It is one of the most beautiful trails we've driven in Idaho with the dense folaige, meadow areas and creek running alongside most of the trail.
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Dennis Clark was born in Los Angeles in 1942 and after 76 years of living in So Cal he moved to Emmett, Idaho with his wife Patricia, has four adult children with many grand and great grandchildren. He has loved the outdoors since his Cub Scout and Boy Scout days while camping with the family. He's an archer, hunter and fisherman but no longer wishes to harm animals. He has been involved with photography since the 1960's. He became more of a serious hiker in 2010 when he started Geocaching and has hiked the three tallest peaks in So Cal, Mt San Jacinto, Mt San Gorgonio and Mt Baldy, along with most of the lesser peaks in search of caches. Geocaching started his love for the USFS Trail system as he used the trails frequently to get to certain trailheads. He had a 2002 Ford Ranger 2wd and its amazing where that little pickup took him. In 5 years of weekly geocaching he was only stuck once in some Palm Springs sand. His 2016 Wrangler Sport Unlimited was purchased in 2015. He has become quite lazy in the hiking department as he can now drive to most locations. He's looking forward to posting some trails and don't hesitate to ask him for any help you might need.
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