Adventure Planning Tools

I was able to photograph elk and other wildlife after finding this watering hole on Google Earth. I have never seen it on any map though.

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I recently gave a presentation to a small group of campers at Henrys Lake State Park in Island Park. It was a challenge because the “amphitheater” there consisted of half a dozen benches in a semi-circle and two picnic tables. There was no shelter, no power, no screen, hence, no PowerPoint. What could I do? My wife suggested that I could talk on, “Island Park, Yellowstone’s Best Kept Secret” emphasizing all the things there are to do in Island Park. After mulling that over for a while, I decided it could work and that is what I did, despite a threatening storm.

I started off though, discussing general ways to find wonderful places to go using maps. Maps are a great tool and an obvious starting point to discovery. There are a wide variety of types of maps available and each map has a specific purpose. Things outside that purpose may not show up. For instance, a Forest Service travel plan map is black and white and only shows the roads on the forest. It is the closest thing to a World is Flat map. Get outside the edge of the forest boundary and the world doesn’t exist.

I reminded the group that maps cannot show every feature out there. They are strong on their purpose, but otherwise may only show enough for you to be able to navigate. There are times when specific items do not get included on maps for safety, resource protection or other reasons. I can think of two places right here in Island Park like that.

If a road or trail or facility is decommissioned, it no longer exists in the eyes of the resource managers and will often not be included on maps. We have found several great places in Grand Teton NP by looking at very old maps.

Finally, pay attention to the symbols on the map. You may find lots of cool stuff that way such as wetlands, mines, lookouts, and rentable Forest Service cabins.

Maps are just the beginning though. Often times, nothing beats an actual photograph—the satellite view—such as that provided by an app that can be on your phone. Obviously, Google Earth Pro comes to mind although Google Maps works pretty well too. These are free programs. I have the Google Earth app on my phone and also the laptop version on my computer. The satellite view can help you find things that just don’t show up on maps. For instance, one year I was interested in a particular spot in Grand Teton NP. It was a seemingly great piece of elk habitat and I suspected I could do some photography there—if I could find some water. The map didn’t show any water so I turned to Google Earth and methodically searched several square miles of habitat—and I finally found water. I set up a blind at that site and was able to photograph elk, moose, deer, and a great gray owl, over numerous visits. It also works to find places you may have seen in photographs. For instance, I once saw a screen saver depicting a moose in a pond with the Teton Range in the background. At first, I thought it was a composite and didn’t really exist. Then I started hunting around, shifting angles of view, zooming in and out, and changing my perspective up and down. Finally, I found it. While I haven’t caught a bull moose in the pond to this point, I have had some great adventures there with elk and black bears.

Another program on my phone is called OnX Hunt. This is another map program and there are many similar ones. They are all subscription-based and mine costs around $35-40/year. There are many things you can do with these apps. You can choose the satellite view like Google Earth, topographical maps or a hybrid between the two. You can easily mark locations, use custom symbols, save similar locations to custom folders (say a folder for Wallows), track your hiking trails, look up private land ownership and much more.

Relief from the crowds is still possible if you just know how to find it. Properly using maps, Google Earth, and OnX Hunt or a similar program will help you to find unique and interesting places that others are not using or, at least not using as heavily as the known and popular places. 

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Help Idaho Wildlife

When we traveled across the state in October 2017, most of the vehicles we saw using the wildlife management areas did not have wildlife plates. Buying wildlife plates is a great way for non-hunters and hunters alike to support wildlife-based recreation like birding.

C'mon folks, let's help Idaho's wildlife by proudly buying and displaying a wildlife license plate on each of our vehicles! 

See below for information on Idaho plates. Most states have wildlife plates so if you live outside Idaho, check with your state's wildlife department or vehicle licensing division for availability of state wildlife plates where you live. 

And tell them that you heard about it from Nature-track.com!

Wildlife License Plates

Great news! as of 2024, there are three NEW designs for license plates. They still are bluebird, cutthroat trout and elk, but they are beautiful.

Idaho Wildlife license plates provide essential funding that benefits the great diversity of native plants and wildlife that are not hunted, fished or trapped—over 10,000 species or 98% of Idaho’s species diversity. Game species that share the same habitats (such as elk, deer, antelope, sage-grouse, salmon, trout) also benefit from these specialty plates.

No state tax dollars are provided for wildlife diversity, conservation education and recreation programs. Neither are any revenues from the sale of hunting or fishing licenses spent on nongame species. Instead, these species depend on direct donations, federal grants, fundraising initiatives—and the Idaho Wildlife license plates.

Both my vehicles have Bluebird Plates. I prefer the bluebird because the nongame program gets 70 percent of the money from bluebird plates, but only 60 percent of the money from elk and trout plates - 10 percent of the money from elk plates supports wildlife disease monitoring and testing programs (to benefit the livestock industry) and 10 percent from cutthroat plates supports non-motorized boat access.

Incidentally, in 2014, the Idaho Legislature denied the Department of Fish and Game the ability to add new plates or even to change the name of the elk and cutthroat plates (very specific) to wildlife and fish plates, a move that would have allowed for changing images occasionally and generating more revenue. It would seem that they believe that we Idahoans don't want a well funded wildlife program.

I think it is time we let the Legislature know that Idahoan support wildlife funding and that we would like to see these generic plates come to fruition.