Quality:
Distance: 9.6 miles, out and back
Difficulty: Intermediate
Riding time: 1.5-2.5 hours
Trail: Two-track dirt road
Season: Spring to fall

Getting there: Getting there: Ride or drive to the top of Lucky Peak Dam. Turn right and park in the first parking lot on the left after you cross the dam. The ride starts and finishes here.

The Ride: The Oregon Trail-Bonneville Point ride features a historical tour of a grassy knoll from which Oregon Trail emigrants viewed the Boise Valley for the first time after a long, extremely arduous and dusty trip across the Snake River Plain. The ride involves a fair bit of climbing -- an 850-foot vertical rise over 4.8 miles to the BLM Bonneville Point interpretive site. Begin the ride by crossing the paved road by the parking lot entrance and riding downhill on a gravel road for about 200 yards to a junction. Turn left and head for the foothills. At .3 miles, turn right at a junction next to the bluff. Now you're on the main road to the Oregon Trail. It descends and then climbs gradually along the slope to a bench above the river. At .6 miles, cross a gate. Continue on the road to a three-way junction at 2 miles. Look for the Oregon Trail concrete monument. To ride back to Boise along the Oregon Trail, go right. To reach Bonneville Point, turn left and climb the two-track road for about a mile until you reach a flat spot. At 3.3 miles, a side trail comes in from the left. This is a steep route back to the gate. Continue on the flat ridge for .7 miles; watch for the last 100-foot hill ahead. Stay to the right for the most gradual grade to Bonneville Point picnic area at 4.8 miles. Signs and plaques at the picnic area provide historical details on the Oregon Trail, the key route for over 300,000 emigrants in the mid-1800s. This site is accessed by vehicle via Black's Creek Road, just east of Boise on I-84. It's possible to rendezvous with your family for lunch here.

From Bonneville Point, cyclists can take a short side trip of 1.4 miles round-trip to an electronic complex. Return to Bonneville Point and cruise back toward Lucky Peak the way you came; it's 4.8 miles back down the jeep trail to Lucky Peak. It used to be possible to do a loop ride from Lucky Peak to Bonneville Point and back via Lydle Gulch. But the primitive road down Lydle Gulch has been posted for several years after landowners got tired of people trashing the place. It'd be nice to see that loop reopened to foot traffic and mountain bikes in the future.