The Project

Idaho offers world-class options for the adventurous during any season: dawn patrol before work in the winter, rejuvintating spring river boating, all-day mountain runs in the summer, spinning down single track through guilded stands of aspens in fall. The only limitations seem to be your fitness level and one's Personal Time Off account balance.

Longer than it is wide, Idaho stretches the length of both Washington and Oregon, crossing several ecosystems as it gains latitude. Deep canyons cut through the southern desert rhyolite, alpine peaks rip across the belly of the state, and lush forests blanket the northern mountains. With 4.7 million acres of wilderness area and an additional 12 million acres of roadless national forest, Idaho has more public land than any other state in the lower 48. That's more than 26,000 square miles, an area the size of the state of West Virginia. It’s no wonder Idaho is known as the Wilderness State.

Weaving 900 miles through the heart of it all is a loose patchwork of single-track fire and paved roads collectively dedicated as the Idaho Centennial Trail (or ICT) in 1990, the state’s centennial anniversary. The trail has been hiked continuously a handful of times, but bypasses the true jewels that the gem state has to offer.

Strong believers that adventure is where you find it, the team will pioneer a variation of the ICT during a 15-day multisport south-to-north speed traverse of Idaho in the summer of 2011. The 840-mile route will forge a new line through Idaho's most beautiful and wildly diverse sections while leveraging the natural efficiencies of the terrain, utilizing packrafts, mountain bikes and fastpacking techniques. Instead of hiking the high alpine desert, we will run the Bruneau River. Instead of hiking through the Frank Church—River of No Return Wilderness, the team proposes to paddle both the Middle Fork of the Salmon and Selway rivers. Before finishing at the Canadian line, the expedition will cycle the Stateline National Recreation Trail. Each of these sections is worthy on its own. Put together, these adventures will truly test our skills and raise the bar for multisport travel.

Stay tuned to hear more about our training and route strategies as we near the 2011 trip departure date.