This common Boise wildflower field guide is designed to help the hiker or nature enthusiast or amateur naturalist (like me!) identify 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 of Southwestern Idaho.
It provides basic information about each wildflower, photos of each wildflower taken almost exclusively in Camel’s Back Park and Ridge to Rivers, and 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 trail areas of the Boise foothills:
- Trails in and around Camel’s Back Park
- Trails in and around Hulls Gulch
- Trails in and around Military Reserve
Each area encompasses many trails. Below is a 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 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 (certain areas)
-
Military Reserve
- #22 – Mountain Cove Trails (#22A-C)
- #23 – Military Reserve Connection
- #26 – Three Bears Trail
Guide Contents
Boise Wildflowers (March-September)
List of Species Covered
- Aase’s Onion
- Alfalfa
- Arrowleaf Balsamroot
- Autumn Willowherb
- Ballhead Waterleaf
- Bare-stemmed Biscuitroot
- Bitterbrush
- Bitter Cherry
- Blue-Eyed Mary
- Cinquefoil
- Climbing Nightshade
- Columbia Puccoon
- Common Eriophyllum
- Common Fiddleneck
- Common Mullein
- Common Soapwort
- Common Sunflower
- Cornflower
- Crane’s Bill
- Curly Cup Gumweed
- Cushion Buckwheat
- Desert Madwort
- Douglas’s Dusty Maiden
- Douglas’s Brodiaea
- Elegant Rockcress
- Eyelash Plant
- Firecracker Beardtongue
- Fleabane
- Globemallow
- Golden Currant
- Gray’s Biscuitroot
- Gray Hawksbeard
- Hairy Wild-cabbage
- Hermit Milkvetch
- 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
- Penstemon
- Poison Hemlock
- Prairie Flax
- Purple Loosestrife
- Pursh’s Milkvetch
- Rabbitbrush
- Sagebrush
- Sagebrush Buttercup
- Sagebrush Mariposa Lily
- Salad Burnet
- Scarlet Gilia
- Scotch Thistle
- Showy Milkweed
- Silverleaf Phacelia
- Slender Phlox
- Spiny Phlox
- Spreading Dogbane
- Star Lily
- Sticky Geranium
- Strict Forget-me-not
- Sweet Clover
- Tapertip Hawksbeard
- Threadleaf Phacelia
- Valley Violet
- Watercress
- Woodlandstar
- Wood’s Rose
- Yarrow
- Yellow Salsify
Photography
I took almost all the photographs of wildflowers in Camel’s Back Park and Ridge to Rivers except in a few instances. The other photos 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.
- Ertter, Barbara. Treasures of the Boise Front: Online, 2023.
- 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.
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