Recovery Hike on Ridge to Rivers Peggy's Trail in Boise

Today we hit the trail closer to home with a recovery hike.  For us a recovery hike provides time on the trail without so much mileage or vertical elevation.  It gives you the benefit of being out on the trail while allowing your aches and pains from the day before a bit of a rest.  In my case that just amounts to tired and achy feet.  It seems that the rest of my body including calves, gluts and back are just fine the next morning.  However, my feet (toes and heels) seem to require a few days of recovery to feel good again.  I realize some of the is based on my boots and the amount of time I spend climbing and descending.  Anthony seems to think it is all part of being a hiker and eventually my feet will find their balance too.  They may still be tired at the end of the hike but hopefully some of these other issues will improve over time.

Peggy's Trail (#76) - Ridge to Rivers is located in Boise.  From State Street turn onto Pierce Park Lane and head North, then NE up into the foothills, road curves to the right past the intersection of Pierce Park and Cartwright Road, continue to trail-head parking lot on right.  This trail starts from the Polecat Gulch parking lot just across the street.  This area is very busy with mountain bike riders, hikers, dogs and runners.  This is a single tracked trail (double tracked in some spots) with little or no shade.  We noticed that there are some old roads that cross this trail, so make sure to follow the numerable signs.  Right from the start you climb a steep little hill to the ridge. Once on top you wind along the ridge for a little bit until dropping down the back side where the trail traverses it's way back up the valley. It is almost as if you have stumbled upon a little oasis with a stream running through the canyon.  Jay made sure to take a dip in two sections where the trail crossed paths with the stream.  As we were only doing a short hike (6.2 miles with 890 feet of elevation gain) we turned around just after 3 miles and did not continue up the trail as it traverses along the hillside for a little while before entering a rocky canyon. Our understanding is that this rocky section will junction with Sweet Connie's Trail and then you can continue your way up to Bogus Basin Road. Since we did this hike as a short out and back we will have to save a longer hike and more exploring for another time. 

We hit the trail this morning around 8:00 a.m. and it was about 48 degrees.  With no shade in sight and temperatures rising fast we were thankful that we hit the trail bright and early.  I think if we visit the trail again any time soon I would vote for even an earlier start (we do have headlamps you know).  We were surprised at how busy the parking lot was even at 8:00 a.m.  This trail is obviously not a hidden secret as it was very well populated during our hike both directions.  The wild flowers were not as plentiful as they were during yesterday's hike but I still managed to capture a few with my cell phone camera.