Google continues to amaze with Google Maps and its big brother Google Earth as it adds more and more features to discover the world — and even your own backyard. As a newcomer to Idaho and the Northwest, these features have been an immense help to me in getting to know this great state and this beautiful region in the past four years. I've learned so much that I am often able to help...read more

Although I enjoy bicycling on the Nampa greenbelts and mountain biking in the local mountains, I've only ridden on the Boise River Greenbelt once, and just a portion of it.

With the fall leaves rapidly loosening their grip on the trees and the sun shining brightly enough to make it almost warm, my brother Jason and I decided to tackle the greenbelt Sunday afternoon and see how far we could get...read more

I've written before about kayaking in the Snake River and up in McCall before my workday began as examples of how close our recreational opportunities are here in Idaho. But there are also things to do nearby in our neighbor to the west — a region sometimes referred to as far eastern Oregon.

I had planned to go with my brother and parents up to McCall for a few days of flatwater kayaking...read more

A couple of the activities I really enjoy in Idaho are flatwater kayaking and river tubing. Idaho has an abundance of natural venues for both. But last week after getting invited on a whitewater rafting trip down the Payette River with my brother and his co-workers, I decided to try out the big leagues.

We signed up a dozen people at Cascade Raft & Kayak, just a few miles north of Horseshoe...read more

Since moving to Idaho, I've learned what a typical Idaho trail is like and the importance of being prepared in case you get lost.

Case in point:

I was up in McCall recently for a family reunion and took a hike above Upper Payette Lake. After reaching the summit of a mountain, the rest of the relatives decided to return to the lake while my cousin and I decided to continue on to Granite Lake...read more

I never thought I could get lost in Canyon County, but last summer it happened.

After getting into flatwater kayaking for the first time in the lakes around Stanley, McCall, and Bend, my dad, brothers, and I decided to try out the Caldwell-to-Notus stretch of the Boise River. We put in at the north end of Caldwell and enjoyed a calm paddle a couple miles down the river. But then the river forked...read more

Be careful what you say. Someone might listen.

Five weeks ago, I wrote about leeches in the pond at West Park in Nampa in a blog entitled "I almost waded barefoot into a leech-infested pond." It was about how I was ready to wade into the incredibly muddy pond to retrieve a lost Frisbee golf disc when a Wal-Mart employee on break stopped me and showed me all the scars on his leg from...read more

Cheers to the Wal-Mart employee on break who stopped me from wading into a leech-infested pond. I was playing disc golf with my brother in West Park in Nampa this afternoon when my attempt to curve my disc around the duck pond instead landed it in the middle.

I already had my shoes and socks off and was about to brave the murky depths when a friendly Wal-Mart employee materialized and advised me...read more

For Memorial Day weekend, my rock climbing buddies and I took a 1,000 mile road trip to Devils Tower (map). I discovered a few things from the experience.

1. Devils Tower is enormous. That's not exactly unexpected, but it's still surprising how tall the 1,300-foot tower looks amidst the rolling Black Hills of northeast Wyoming. "We're going to climb THAT?"
2. It's a one-of-a-kind tower. Devils Tower is composed of phonolite, a rare rock named for the unusual ringing sound it makes when struck. It also reflects sound waves extremely well, making it possible to hear climbers talking a thousand feet away on the cliff face when you're standing at the tower's base. Ninety percent of phonolite in the world is found in Devils Tower and the nearby Missouri Buttes.
3. Scientists still can't agree on how the tower was formed. It's definitely volcanic, and geologists refer to it as a monolithic igneous intrusion, which I believe is Indian for "no clue either."
4. The local Indian tribes have varying folklore regarding the tower's formation. The stories generally involve kids being chased by a bear, at which point the Great Spirit lifts them toward the sky on a rising tower. The massive columns in the tower are said to have been formed by the scratch marks from the bear's claws. That's one big grizzly. Several tribes still consider the tower sacred, and most rock climbers agree to a voluntary climbing ban during the ceremonial month of June.
5. It's very entertaining to watch 30 climbers from around the world navigating their way around each other on the same climbing wall. It's like a giant, badly-choreographed dance that somehow works out in the end. And it's not unusual to see someone beaned by a falling rock or rope. Fortunately, all the climbers wear helmets.
6. Phonolite may look like granite, but it climbs like the basalt Black Cliffs near Lucky Peak Reservoir. It lacks the quartz that gives granite grippy texture, making Devils Tower an even harder climb than it looks (only two in my party of four made it to the top).
7. One of the most popular climbing routes, Durrance, can take 7-9 hours on average to complete. That's a full day's work, and no smoke breaks.
8. The Black Hills are beautiful in spring. The countryside encircling Devils Tower looks like a collision of France and the American Southwest. The meandering Belle Fourche River and scattered groves of pine and broadleaf form idyllic green meadows, contrasting with bright red hillsides and giant rock towers.
9. The average stay at Devils Tower National Monument is 45 minutes. As cool as the tower is to look at, you can only gaze at it for so long. Most of the tourists I met had stopped at the tower during their travels between Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore. Only 1 percent of visitors to the park each year are there to climb.
10. Prairie dogs have hypnotic powers. Much to the bewilderment of us Idahoans who saw little difference between prairie dogs and rock chucks and wished we could have brought .22s for target practice, every other tourist in that parked seemed completely fixated on stopping their cars in the road and jumping out to get pictures of the little vermin. Even the South Dakotans. Don't they have prairie dogs there?
11. "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was definitely not filmed on location.

One of the great things about Idaho is the ability to enjoy outdoor activities, even on work days. One day last year, I found myself kayaking around a beautiful mountain lake north of McCall in the early afternoon, and by evening, I was back in my cubicle in Nampa. Today I hit a closer destination, the Snake River, before work.

We put in upriver from Givens Hot Springs, and fought against an opposing...read more

With the warm season upon us, it's time for road trips. And being Idahoans, many of us like to exercise our Second Amendment right and may consider taking a firearm along with us for personal defense as we travel in other states. But whether you're carrying open or concealed, make sure you know the firearms laws of every state you'll be traveling through. And make sure you either call...read more

It's early spring, and that means the foothills around the Treasure Valley are green rather than their usual shade of brown. It's a great time to go walking, hiking, mountain biking, and photographing at elevations around 3000 to 4000 feet while we wait for the snow to finally melt off the mountain tops. And with daytime highs predicted in the 60s this week, it's a great time to exercise...read more

With the mercury in the mid 70s and just a light breeze blowing, Sunday afternoon was a great time to take up a new hobby: frisbee golf. And Nampa has its own course. It's located in West Park behind West Middle School near the corner of Midland and Lone Star. It's a 9-hole, well-marked course, but watch out for picnickers. My opponents and I came close to braining several people with our...read more

I decided to opt out of the $30 waterproof kayaking backpack, but the little bottles of backpacking soaps, sunblock, and insect repellant were too cheap to pass up. And the discount beef jerky, stuff sacks, and campfire cookware definitely caught my eye. That's just a sample of the bounty I discovered in Sportsman's Warehouse in Nampa, which is expecting to close its doors for good by the...read more

Be careful what you wish for. Although human teleportation, if ever possible, is in the distant future, it's fun to imagine the ability to travel to any part of the globe almost instantaneously (limited only by the speed of light: 670,616,629 mph). But aside from the technical problems of breaking down your entire body into digital code and transferring it to another teleporter where it's...read more

When it comes to popular mountain ranges in Southwest Idaho, the Boise Mountains and surrounding ranges that make up the larger Rocky Mountain chain get the bulk of the business. The Owyhee Mountains, despite the fact that they form the entire southern and western borders of the Treasure Valley, remain largely untouched.

From a distance, the Owyhees look beautiful in the summer when the evening light...read more

It's often said that freshmen can gain 15 pounds during their first year of college due to their increased intake of alcohol and fast food. But the same can happen in the workplace with the availability of candy, homemade treats, Girl Scout Thin Mints, snacks, and office party leftovers.

While I can't blame every one of the 20 pounds I've gained while working at the Press-Tribune (despite...read more

There aren't many sporting competitions where spectators are allowed on the competition floor, up close with the competitors to cheer them on without guard rails, bleachers, or boundaries to keep them at bay. But that's the nature of the annual Boise State Buck Off Climbing Competition. Just watch out for people falling from the sky.

This past Saturday was my first time as a participant....read more

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The panorama of the new printing press on the front of today's paper was made possible with a high-resolution SLR digital camera and Adobe Photoshop CS3. Our photographer Charlie stood in a position in the center of the pressroom where he could see the entire press, then rotated slowly as he captured five photographs of the press from one end of the other, overlapping each...read more

I just got a free 12-inch sub from Port of Subs, and the fact that it didn't cost me a dime made it all the more tasty. It was Port of Subs' way of rewarding me for buying their subs 12 times over the past couple years. All I had to do was remember to bring in my Port of Subs reward card each time to get it stamped and signed, and the 13th sub was free. I've found these reward cards to...read more

Facebook, like many other social networking Web sites popular these days, has become widespread, making it a useful tool for connecting with friends. It's even found an application in the business world for connecting with clients and interviewees. However, along with Facebook come the many users that spend hours a week sending each other messages, playing games, answering quizzes like "Which...read more

Beware of Windows 7's Starter Edition. When new software is developed, it usually builds on the backs of older software, bringing with it improved functionality, repaired bugs, and more bells and whistles to entice you to give up your old software and fork over cash for an upgrade. Sometimes it fails. But it's bewildering when a company that has developed an operating system used by the vast...read more