Hikers tackling the Idaho Centennial Trail may have to update their maps in the coming months.
The roughly 900-mile trail runs from Nevada, stopping just shy of the Canadian border, all the while traveling through high desert, craggy mountains and lush forests.
About halfway through, in the Frank Church - River of No Return Wilderness, hikers face an obstacle.
“So, you get to Big Creek and you hope that it’s safe to cross,” said Hailey Husband, the trail program coordinator for the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation.
Big Creek can be treacherous during spring snowmelt or even after a big rainstorm, Husband said.
“There’s just a lot of times that high water makes that super unsafe and the bummer part about that crossing is there’s no way to walk upstream a little bit and go somewhere else,” she said.
That’s because you’d have to backtrack up a mountain to find a safer crossing under the current route.
Officials are proposing a nine-mile detour along the Milk Creek and Monumental Creek trails where there’s an existing bridge.
Husband said the existing route along Lookout Mountain Ridge will still be open, though.
“The Forest Service still has an obligation to maintain Lookout Mountain Ridge as a trail, so it’s not like that trail would be taken off the map or people would lose access to it.”
The Idaho Centennial Trail was officially established in 1990 using a network of existing trails and in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.
In a news release, IDPR said the Salmon-Challis National Forest, which oversees the area with Big Creek, supports the planned reroute.
State officials are seeking public feedback on the proposal before Parks and Rec board members make a final decision.
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