This basic Boise wildflower field guide is designed to help the layperson and average hiker identify over 80 of the most common native and non-native wildflower species found in Camel’s Back Park, Ridge to Rivers, and the surrounding Boise foothills. It is based on seven years of identifying wildflowers in Camel’s Back Park and Ridge to Rivers.
It provides:
- Basic information about each wildflower.
- Photos of each wildflower taken almost exclusively in Camel’s Back Park and Ridge to Rivers.
- Trails and trail areas where each wildflower can be found.
Key to Trail Areas
The guide identifies wildflowers in Camel’s Back Park and Ridge to Rivers in three specific trail areas of the Boise foothills. The three areas are:
- Trails in and around Camel’s Back Park
- Trails in and around Hulls Gulch
- Trails in and around Military Reserve
Each area encompasses a number of trails.
Complete List of Hiking Trails
Below is a complete list of hiking trails for each trail area.
-
Camel’s Back Park
- #34 – Hulls Pond Loop
- #35 – Goldfinch Trail
- #35A – Redwinged Blackbird
- #36 – Red Fox Trail
- #36A – Chickadee Ridge
- #37 – Owl’s Roost
- #38 – The Grove
- #40 – Camel’s Back Trail
- #40 – 15th Street Trail
-
Hulls Gulch
- #0 – Hulls Gulch Interpretive Trail
- #4 – 8th Street Motorcycle Trail
- #24 – Sidewinder Trail
- #28 – Crestline Trail
- #29 – Lower Hulls Gulch Trail
- #39A – Kestral Trail
- #39 – Red Cliffs Trail
- #42 – Fat Tire Traverse
-
Military Reserve
- #20 – Ridge Crest
- #20A – Bucktail Trail
- #22 – Central Ridge Trail
- #22A – Central Ridge Spur South
- #22B – Central Ridge Spur North
- #22B – Freestone Creek Trail
- #22C – Mountain Cove
- #23 – Military Reserve Connection
- #23A – Elephant Rock Loop
- #25 – Eagle Ridge Trail
- #25A – Eagle Ridge Loop
- #26 – Three Bears Trail
- #26A – Shane’s Trail
- #27 – Cottonwood Creek Trail
- #27A – Toll Road Trail
A map of all trails can be found on the Ridge to Rivers website.
Best Trails to View Wildflowers
Here is a list of the best trails in each trail area to view native wildflowers.
-
Camel’s Back Park
- #36 – Red Fox Trail
- #36A – Chickadee Ridge
- #38 – The Grove
-
Hulls Gulch
- #0 – Hulls Gulch Interpretive Trail
- #4 – 8th Street Motocycle Trail
- #24 – Sidewinder Trail
- #28 – Crestline Trail
- #39 – Red Cliffs Trail
-
Military Reserve
- #22 – Mountain Cove Trails (#22A-C)
- #23 – Military Reserve Connection
- #26 – Three Bears Trail
Guide Contents
Boise Spring Wildflowers (April-June)
Boise Summer Wildflowers (July-Sept)
-
Pink Flowers (9) UNDER CONSTRUCTION
-
Red Flowers (3) UNDER CONSTRUCTION
-
Orange Flowers (2) UNDER CONSTRUCTION
-
Yellow Flowers (13) UNDER CONSTRUCTION
-
Blue Flowers (6) UNDER CONSTRUCTION
-
Purple Flowers (6) UNDER CONSTRUCTION
-
White Flowers (9) UNDER CONSTRUCTION
List of Species Covered
- Aase’s Onion
- Alfalfa
- Arrowleaf Balsamroot
- Autumn Willowweed
- Ballhead Waterleaf
- Bare-stemmed Biscuitroot
- Bitterbrush
- Bitter Cherry
- Blue-Eyed Mary
- Blue Mountain Buckwheat
- Cinquefoil
- Climbing Nightshade
- Columbia Puccoon
- Common Eriophyllum
- Common Fiddleneck
- Common Mullein
- Common Soapwort
- Common Sunflower
- Cornflower
- Crane’s Bill
- Curly Cup Gumweed
- Cushion Buckwheat
- Douglas’s Dusty Maiden
- Douglas’s Brodiaea
- Elegant Rockcress
- Eyelash Plant
- Firecracker Beardtongue
- Fleabane
- Globemallow
- Golden Currant
- Goosefoot Yellow Violet
- Gray’s Biscuitroot
- Gray Hawksbeard
- Hairy Wild-cabbage
- Hoary Aster
- Hooker’s Onion
- Hot Rock Penstemon
- Jim Hill Mustard
- Klamath Weed
- Large-flowered Collomia
- Larkspur
- Longleaf Phlox
- Longspur Lupine
- Lupine
- Miner’s Lettuce
- Mock Orange Syringa
- Narrow-leaf Collomia
- Nevada Pea
- Nineleaf Biscuitroot
- Oregon Checkermallow
- Oregon Grape
- Pale Evening Primrose
- Prairie Flax
- Purple Loosetrife
- Pursh’s Milkvetch
- Rabbitbrush
- Sagebrush
- Sagebrush Buttercup
- Sagebrush Mariposa Lily
- Scarlet Gilia
- Scotch Thistle
- Showy Milkweed
- Silverleaf Phacelia
- Slender Phlox
- Spiny Phlox
- Spreading Dogbane
- Star Lily
- Sticky Geranium
- Strict Forget-me-not
- Sulpher Buckwheat
- Sweet Clover
- Tapertip Hawksbeard
- Threadleaf Phacelia
- Watercress
- Wand Mullein
- Wild Buckwheat
- Woodlandstar
- Wood’s Rose
- Yarrow
- Yellow Crazyweed
- Yellow Salsify
Photography
All photographs of wildflowers for the guide were taken by me in Camel’s Back Park and Ridge to Rivers except in a few instances. The few photos by others are from Creative Commons, Wikimedia Commons, or are sourced.
Bibliography
- Anderson, Richard M., Jaydee Gunnell, and Jerry L. Godspeed. Wildflowers of the Mountain West. Utah State University Press, 2012.
- Earle, Scott, and Jane Lundin. Idaho Mountain Wildflowers. Farcountry Press, 2012.
- Kavanaugh, James. Idaho Trees and Wildflowers: An Introduction to Familiar Species. Waterford Press, 2009.
- National Audobon Society. Field Guide to Wildflowers: Western Region. Knopf, 2001.
- Ridge to Rivers. Native and Rare Plants. Online: 2017.
- Utz, Jamie, Michael Pellant, and Jessica Gardetto. A Field Guide to Plants of the Boise Foothills. Healthy Hills, 2013.
- Bureau of Land Management & U. S. Department of the Interior. Common Wildflowers of Southern Idaho. Bureau of Land Management, 2019.
- Idaho Department of Fish & Game. Idaho Species. Online: 2020.
