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New Maps Highlight Mountain Bike Trails In Idaho And The West

Screenshot MTB Project
/
BLM/MTB Project/International Mountain Bike Association
From the mountain biker's point of view on the Croy Creek Trail.

The Bureau of Land Management wants to get more people riding mountain bikes on 20 trail systems around the West. The agency has a new set of bike maps to show off those trails, including two in Idaho.

John Kurtz is the Outdoor Recreation Planner for the Shoshone Field Office of the BLM. He helped build the Croy Creek Trail system, three and a half miles west of Hailey. He says the new maps are a great way to plan out a ride on an unfamiliar landscape.

“[They] inspire people to get out and enjoy the trails, whether they’re in Idaho or wherever else in the Western United States, to highlight some more of the bike optimized trails that the BLM is associated with.”

The site also features the Discovery Hill Trail system near Salmon.

Kurtz says themaps include trail descriptions, elevation and even a tiny figure on a bike, riding through a 3D landscape that shows exactly what the ride will look like.

“It gives you kind of a perspective of riding the trail before you ever get there, so you have some idea of what to expect."

Kurtz says there are a lot more bike trails out there and the goal is to add more routes to the website in the future.

The project is a partnership between the BLM, International Mountain Biking Association and the Mountain Bike Project.

Find Samantha Wright on Twitter @samwrightradio

Copyright 2015 Boise State Public Radio

As Senior Producer of our live daily talk show Idaho Matters, I’m able to indulge my love of storytelling and share all kinds of information (I was probably a Town Crier in a past life!). My career has allowed me to learn something new everyday and to share that knowledge with all my friends on the radio.

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