STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Want some new horizons?

Check out the new Silver Lining Trail.

The Bureau of Land Management recently finished the 3.5-mile trail in the foothills bordering the east side of Hailey.

The trail climbs up Olympia Gulch from an access point near Keefer Park off of Laurelwood and Winterhaven streets. It makes its way up and over to a section of the Quigley Loop Trail and down into Quigley Canyon just beyond the Quigley Pump Park.

If you’re feeling ambitious, you can park at the Quigley Pump Park and follow the Toe of the Hill Trail connector that the Blaine County Recreation District recently finished to the Toe of the Hill Trail and beyond to Olympia Gulch. There you can follow the new trail up and over. The complete loop is about 5.5 miles.

The trail gains 1,320 feet in elevation. It’s open to walkers, runners, mountain bikers e-Bikers and horse people.

It’s not a trail you’ll probably want to do in summer as there’s absolutely no shade. But it should make a nice spring hike, as it traverses the sides of hills out of potentially boggy areas. And the views of Hailey’s maples and aspen during fall are stunning.

The Bureau of Land Management is also building two trails on the northern side of Bellevue’s Slaughterhouse Canyon to augment the Belle, Vue 1.0 and Muldoon Connector trails that were completed on the south side in 2021.