| Welcom | About | Software | Links | Site News |
The mountains around McCall, Idaho are greener and wetter than the rest of Southwestern Idaho and are therefore much more biologically diverse. McCall was once a sawmill town but is now a smokejumper base and resort town, which leads to an interesting mix of ordinary people trying to earn a living and moneyed folks getting away from it all.
There's something for everyone here; roadless areas for remote backpacking, trails open to ATVs and motorcycles, winter snowmobiling along the Warren Wagon Road to Burgdorf Hot Springs, cross-country skiing at Ponderosa Park and the Little Ski Hill, motorboating and water skiing in Payette Lake, canoeing in the Payette River meanders and Upper Payette Lake, comfortable camping at Ponderosa State Park, and excellent downhill skiing and mountain biking a the Brundage Mountain Ski Resort.
Ponderosa State Park is on the shore of Payette Lake just a mile northeast of McCall, Idaho. You'll find family camping, hiking and biking trails, and a surprisingly diversity of terrain and habitag from dry sagebrush hillsides to old-growth Ponderosa Pine and Douglas Fir and boggy wetlands. In winter the trails and access roads become cross country ski trails.
The inlet of Payette lake at north beach unit of Ponderosa State Park is a deep, slow meandering stream perfect for beginning canoists. You can rent canoes here in the summer. The GPX map here is a short Canoe paddle to the bridge and back from the canoe launch.
Warren Wagon Road Twenty-Mile Trailhead and Upper Payette Lake, tweny miles north of McCall, Idaho. Upper Payette Lake is good for family camping, canoeing, fishing, and bird watching. A handicapped accessible trail goes from the main Payette River inlet to the Twenty Mile Creek inlet. Use this area as a base for a strenuous hike to twenty mile lakes, not shown on this map, or an easy day hike along the flat meadow portion of the twenty mile creek before the fork to the high lakes trail.
Josephine Lake is a small but beautiful lake, and one of the easiest alpine lakes to hike to, provided that you have a vehicle with high ground clearance.
The Loon Lake area map includes three trails; a difficult, all-day mountain bike ride from Burgdorf junction through Ruby Meadows to Willow Basket Creek and to Loon Lake, a moderately difficult trail down Loon Creek and then up the Secesh River to the Chinnook Campground, and an easy day hike directly from the Chinook campground to Loon Lake. (Mountain bikers can make a long loop out of these trails by including the section of Warren Wagon Road from Secesh Meadows to Burgdorf junction.) To reach Burgdorf junction turn on Warren Wagon road along the West side of Payette lake and travel about 25 miles north of McCall, Idaho. An easy, half-day loop trail starts and ends at Chinook Campground. Don't forget to soak in the Burgdorf hot springs. Burgdorf hot springs has been open since the mining days around 1870.
Just Northeast of McCall, Idaho, where the Lick Creek Road to Yellow Pine crosses Lake Fork Creek is where this trail begins. The trail shown is a 10 mile round trip, which is either an easy mountin bike ride or a long day hike, depending on whether you are a biped or a bicylist. We have seen the tracks of a mother bear and her cub on this trail. Don't be discouraged by the initial climb into the East Fork -- the trail soon levels out.