Five Mile Creek

Dan and I both had things to do on Saturday, so we got an early start on a favorite hike in the Boise foothills, Five Mile Creek. We had been walking for half an hour or so, and had yet to get into the sunshine.

But it was not much longer. I showed Dan a 'secret' trail up onto the ridge, where we enjoyed the sun despite a breeze. And it quickly warmed up, especially considering that this was the middle of February.

Once on the ridge, you can see one of our goals for the day, the Big Rock. Even here there is a trail, but it has been getting thinner and thinner over the years.

We scampered up the rock (Hey, 4th class!) and had a snack. We were surprised to hear, then see, runners heading down the Mine road.

From here, we *finally* ran into snow on our way up to the ridge road. We went to the Ada county highpoint, where Dan subtly convinced me to help dig up the register. We never did find it, but there were other treasures.

Then we hiked back to the top of Five Mile Creek and caught the trail above the mine. We stopped at the mine and investigated, and also checked out an ancient pickup buried in the vines at the bottom of the creek.

Here's a map of our hike. Click for a bigger version.