Parks pack spring wildflower punch
Established in 1908 as Idaho’s oldest state park, Heyburn park south of Coeur d’Alene has more than 30 miles of trails. Day use costs $5. Pets must be kept on a leash. Courtesy photo
The 5,300-acre Mary M. McCroskey Memorial Park, 57 miles south of Coeur d’Alene, and is accessed by the 18-mile unimproved Skyline Drive that bisects the park and provides access to 32 miles of multi-use trails and views of the Palouse. Courtesy photo
Buttercups are one of the first flowers to bloom in the spring in North Idaho.
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Bartholdt
When wildflowers pop at Heyburn and Mary McCroskey state parks each spring, the southern slopes become a fireworks display.
Except for nearby bird song, the exhibit is silent and relegated to the ground.
“The wildflowers are tremendous,” said Ron Hise, who manages both parks.
Purple shooting stars, buttercups, balsamroot and fairy slippers begin to carpet the forest openings around the middle of April through May.
Although their campgrounds are closed, state parks remain open to hikers and bikers, and day-use areas — parking lots and picnic sites — have not been closed amid coronavirus fears.
So far, boat launches in Heyburn remain closed because its lakes are still 4 feet below summer levels.
“If we get warm weather, that could change pretty quickly,” Hise said.
Located 39 miles south of Coeur d’Alene, Heyburn was established in 1908 and is the state’s oldest park. It encompasses about 8,000 acres including three lakes — Hidden, Chatcolet and Benewah lakes — which take up about a third of the park’s area.
It has 30 miles of walking, mountain bike and horse trails, not including the paved Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes bicycle trail that bisects the park.
Mary M. McCroskey Memorial Park is a 5,300-acre park 57 miles south of Coeur d’Alene via the King Valley Road at DeSmet, or U.S. 95 at Skyline Drive between the communities of DeSmet and Potlatch.
Both parks are known for their spring wildflower shows, although Mary Minerva is at a higher elevation and access can be blocked by snow in April.
“The wildflowers come up a little later there, but it’s a pretty special place to view them,” Hise said.
Mary McCroskey State Park was named for the mother of local conservationist Virgil T. McCroskey, who bought the land and gave it to the state in 1955, maintaining it by himself until his death at 93.
McCroskey wanted a park dedicated to the frontier women of Idaho and eastern Washington because of the hardships they endured. McCroskey’s family had homesteaded near Steptoe Butte.
The 18-mile unimproved Skyline Drive bisects Mary McCroskey Park and provides access to 32 miles of multi-use trails.
State parks are open and their crews are clearing trails, doing spring maintenance, Hise said. Visitors are required to pay a $5 day use fee, or to have a state park annual entry sticker. Cars must park in designated lots, pets must be kept on a leash and social-distancing according to the governor’s order must be observed.
The Indian Cliffs Trail, a 2.4-mile loop, is Heyburn’s most popular and easily accessible mountain trail, and among the first places to see wildflowers, Hise said.
