By Reader Staff
Eight years after the idea took shape, the first phase of the Honey Badger Project is officially complete.
Project partners celebrated the opening of the new 3.2-mile non-motorized trail in Kootenai County south of Lake Pend Oreille with a public ribbon-cutting on July 2, marking a major milestone in one of the largest collaborative trail projects undertaken on Canfield Mountain in recent years.
Built through a partnership between the U.S. Forest Service, Lake City Trails Alliance and Northern Rockies Trail Project, the trail connects the top of Canfield Course to Trail 29, featuring singletrack, sustainable design and views overlooking Hayden Lake, Coeur d’Alene Lake and the surrounding landscape.
Future construction is planned to add approximately 10 additional miles of non-motorized trail, 12 miles of new motorized singletrack and several miles of 50-inch-and-under OHV trail, creating a more connected and sustainable trail system that serves a wide variety of recreation users.
The ribbon-cutting celebrated years of work that began long before construction crews arrived on the mountain. Lake City Trails Alliance and Northern Rockies Trail Project combined grant funding, volunteers, and professional trail crews to complete the work using North Idaho-based organizations and employees, keeping investment in the local economy while expanding recreational opportunities on public lands.
Northern Rockies Trail Project Board Chair Emily Strizich, of Sandpoint, said the trail represents something larger than a new recreation opportunity.
“It’s easy to celebrate the finished product. It’s a little harder to appreciate everything that happened before today,” she stated. “Years of environmental review, planning, fundraising, design, permitting and coordination led to months of flagging, clearing, shaping and building on the ground. Every section of this trail represents people who showed up, solved problems and kept the project moving forward. We’re incredibly proud our crew had the opportunity to help build something this community will enjoy for decades.”
As additional phases move forward, project partners ask visitors to help protect the investment by respecting designated trail uses.
The newly opened trail is designated for non-motorized recreation. Visitors are encouraged to stay on designated routes and avoid creating trail braids or shortcut trails, which accelerate erosion, damage vegetation and increase long-term maintenance needs. Motorized users are asked to remain on trails designated for motorized use.
