Hi all,

Lucky Peak is open and accessible now. As part of the Boise River Wildlife Management Area, the gate at the bottom of the road (Highland Valley) opens in April and closes in November each year. Exact dates are available online through Idaho Fish and Game. Once the gate at the bottom is open in April, you can drive to within 200m of the actual peak and there is a walk-through gate there to let you access the peak.

This year, the waterbars are lower than last year so it’s a bit easier to navigate than last year. You definitely still need high clearance to avoid scraping (at least 8.5 inches, and this varies by car manufacturer whether this will be enough or not. For reference our toyota RAV4 and Subaru Outback can drive the road without scraping this year).

There are no very deep ruts, thankfully!

I always let folks know that this is a narrow dirt road (one way traffic) and it has plenty of steep drop offs. Depending on your comfort with driving on these roads, you might evaluate whether you feel able to drive the road on your own. You should be comfortable accelerating to avoid skidding/backsliding on steep corners, and you should feel comfortable backing long distances in case you encounter another driver coming the other direction.

This time of year, also please be wary of pulling off the road, as vegetation touching the bottom of your vehicle could very easily start a fire.

Other than that, you can come up any time of year that the weather is good, whether IBO folks are there or not.

As far as observing bird banding, we start training of our songbird crew tomorrow, and our station will be open daily through the fall. You can see the dates of IBO’s various Lucky Peak projects (songbirds, hawks, owls) here: https://www.boisestate.edu/ibo/science/lucky/#when-to-visit

If you plan to visit with a large group, or if you want to camp out overnight, you need to arrange with us ahead of time: https://www.boisestate.edu/ibo/science/lucky/fallvisitors/

Hope that’s helpful to folks!