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Rock Creek Preserve Offers Taste of the True West
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Saturday, June 10, 2017
 

STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

A Western tanager flits through the air above rolling hills of sagebrush dotted with arrowleaf balsamroot, magenta-colored monkey flowers and fragrant yellow lupine.

A blue camas nods in the gentle breeze while six-inch trout swim nearby in a crystal clear creek.

The 10,400-acre Rock Creek Preserve is an unfettered landscape of meadows and buttes, sage grouse leks and rock outcroppings west of Bellevue and Hailey.

A couple roads, a few telephone poles and an old barn and corrals dating back to the 1920s are all that remind you that you’re not in the middle of wilderness.

Shoshone Indians wandered through the area during their seasonal journeys.  Beaver trappers trapped here. Miners looked for lead, silver, gold and copper on the hillsides. And Oregon Trail pioneers once drove covered wagons over the Goodale Cutoff, which remains marked by a few white markers.

Now representatives of The Nature Conservancy and the Wood River Land Trust are inviting the public to come out and hike, bike and ride horses through the area.

There are a few designated hiking trails for hikers, primarily near the barn and Hatties Gulch area, as well as many other footpaths etched by hunters over the years. And horseback riders and bikers are invited to ride along the Rock Creek and Glendale roads, both of which are dirt, as well as roads leading off them, such as that along the East Fork of Rock Creek.

The University of Idaho has 150 cattle on the range as students and faculty study the impact of cattle in high desert terrain. That only seems to add to the ambience.

Half of Idaho consists of public lands—much of which is grazed by cattle, noted Toni Hardesty, state director for The Nature Conservancy. “So anything the researchers learn here can be used to educate cattle grazers throughout the state, which should benefit the land.”

Rock Creek was homesteaded in the early 1900s by miner George Stewart, his wife Ella Mae and their eight children, said Patti Lousen, who researched the history of the area for the Land Trust. They were joined by eight more families, including the Schmidts, who raised cattle and sheep, and the Tews, who moved cattle between Rock Creek and Black Butte north of Shoshone from 1943 to 1963.

Part of the Tews family lived in “Cowboy Camp” at Rock Creek between 1927 and 1934.

Harry Rinker, who developed the elegant Golden Eagle subdivision north of Hailey, purchased the ranch in the 1980s with the idea of building a town there—possibly, in conjunction with the owners of the nearby Diamond Dragon Ranch.

But a couple years ago he and his family sold the ranch to The Nature Conservancy and the Wood River Land Trust for a fraction of its fair market value. A conservation easement now protects it for the enjoyment of wildlife and recreational users.

Snowmobilers occasionally groom the road during winter, allowing access by snowmobilers, cross country skiers and snowshoers. And hunters make good use of the area in fall.

Five beavers that were deemed troublemakers were relocated to Rock Creek Ranch last year to help restore stream and riparian efforts. As natural engineers, they are building dams that create ponds and retain sediment, increasing water tables, reconnecting flood plains and improving water quality in the process.

“Rock Creek flows year round so it’ provides good winter wildlife habitat,” said Clark Shafer, director of development for The Nature Conservancy. “We’re trying to restore it following years of degradation by cattle.”

“It’s an entire drainage so you have a landscape that’s all encompassing, that’s not impacted by downstream water users,” added Keri York, who works with conservation easements for the Land Trust. “I think it’s neat that we can preserve an area that people once homesteaded. Hopefully, we’ll have some signs up that will better identify the hiking trails by next summer.”

One morning Shafer drove out Glendale Road south of Bellevue, continuing on it as it turned to dirt past the last of the ranch houses overlooking Poverty Flats.  To the left, he noted, was Magic Reservoir—which he could see if the hills of sagebrush weren’t blocking them.

When he reached Rock Creek Road, he turned right. An old jeep trail marked by telephone poles sat to the right along the East Fork of Rock Creek. It provides a nice eight-mile loop for bikers, as well as access for hiking and hunting, Shafer said.

While hikers can poke around nearly anywhere, there is no motorized use off county roads like Rock Creek Road and Glendale Road, with the exception of jeep roads like the East Fork. Small signs remind motorists of the restrictions.

Shafer passed a barn and corrals built in the 1920s. There is some pretty good hiking behind the barn, he noted, but he continued on.

A few minutes’ drive past the barn, he turned to the left. A couple more minutes and he stopped. His passengers got out and passed behind a sign that restricted motorized access onto a trail.

They walked up the hill, past white and pink phlox to a viewpoint looking over a landscape of tall native grasses, gullies and creeks. Off in the distance to the right was 8,800-foot Kelly Mountain, which looms over the plain offering a view stretching to the Jarbidge Mountains south of Twin Falls.

The trail led past outcroppings, through gullies and along creeks shaded by cottonwood.

“This is amazing,” said Marie Gallo, a Belgian now living in Hailey. “Such wide open space. The true west.”

“At first glance, some might look at this and think it’s just a whole bunch of nothing. But it’s the sagebrush steppe and it’s full of wildlife and plant life,” said Mike McKenna, of the Wood River Land Trust. “And once you really look at it, you find it’s full of magic and wonder.”

SIDEBAR

The Rock Creek Preserve can be accessed in one of three ways: Glendale Road south of Bellevue takes drivers to Rock Creek Road and the heart of the ranch.

Or, drive out Croy Canyon Road west of Hailey, turning left onto Rock Creek Road.

Rock Creek Road can also be accessed from Highway 20.

The Wood River Land Trust and Nature Conservancy are currently creating maps and signage to aid people in enjoying the area.

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