Idaho Boundary Trail

[Rooster Cogburn]

Here is something new -- and hard.  The Idaho Boundary Trail circumnavigates the state of Idaho for 2400 miles.  It includes portions of the Idaho Centennial Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, and Hells Canyon.  Plus a lot of other empty country.  It is 50% dirt road with the remainder being trail or imaginary trail.  The route has been ground truthed and is documented in great detail by the two guys who came up with the idea and survived attempts in 2012 and 2013.

As a bikepacking route, the trail needs some modifications to get around the Wilderness Areas and the too-crazy-to-try bits. Scott and Eszter have already staked out some of the evil areas along Montana-Idaho border (http://topofusion.com/diary/cdt-2014-diary/).  The blog associated with the Idaho Centennial Trail (http://idahocentennialtrail.blogspot.com/) may provide some advice on how to navigate that messy area along the northeast leg.

Who is willing to take first crack at this on a bike?

Try these links for starters:

http://fultek.com/ibt/IBT%20Hiker%27s%20guide%202015.pdf
http://www.fultek.com/ibt/
http://www.trailjournals.com/about.cfm?trailname=14919

[chrisx]

note to self:
better take a look at this one

what a grand loop

[caseygreene]

Nice. Haven't seen this before.

[Rooster Cogburn]

2400 miles would be a lot of work for someone to research and develop detours around the wilderness areas and sections where the trail is not feasible on a bike.  But what if making the route bikepacking-friendly was a group effort by the likes of us?  Split it into 200 to 400 mile sections, assigning pieces to those most familiar with the terrain and then report back after a year.  And then Casey could spend a long weekend at the office slapping it all together and working his mapping magic! 

I could do the Lewiston to Ontario section justice.  Anyone else?

[NT]

Very cool.

[evdog]

I like it - divide and conquer!