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       Squaw Creek canyon is located near Jump Creek canyon in the Marsing area and is about a fifty minute drive from Boise. This is an excellent canyon to go explore as a day trip. Tyler and I were able to drive there from Boise, get as far back into the canyon as it is possible to go without a rope, and return home in about five hours. The hike itself has a good trail to the canyon mouth, several caves, and many small waterfalls. You can even skip much of the hike and drive right up to where it is only a 10 minute walk to the canyon mouth. This is a very easy hike with few elevation changes. There are a few areas that take a taller person to get over a large rock (or at least some help from a taller person).

        I would suggest visiting during early to late spring (march to mid may). While checking a new canyon nearby in mid June (Wildcat Canyon) I drove by Squaw Creek and it appeared to have dried up. It is also VERY HOT in the summer, almost no shade! and rattle snakes abound! Visit in the spring!

Getting there: Tyler and I made two trips to Squaw Creek canyon in Late April and early May. If you have read the directions you can see it is a very easy place to find. When you make the turn off of the paved road you can't actually see the canyon. There is a very distinctive rocky hill just past the turnoff. When you make the turn there is a small hill. When your vehicle reaches the top you should have a view of the canyon (see the picture below). I would not recommend driving much past the hill if you are driving a small automobile. The stream crossing isn't too bad (see the picture below and to the right) but there are some rough spots on the unpaved roads where people have been stuck in the mud. After rain storms there are also some fairly deep puddles. Nothing a mid range SUV or Truck can't handle.

     This is as close as you can get in a vehicle to the canyon. There are remains of an old stone building that was once here. I have no idea what it actually was as only the first foot or so remains of the stone walls. It appeared to have a single room only with the door facing the creek.

     During the two trips Tyler and I made we saw no other cars or people past this point (nobody past the first stream crossing really). The first trip was on a weekday, the second trip was on a Saturday morning after it had rained much of the week. It was also threatening to rain on that day (which it did in spades just after we left) so I really don't know how use this place gets from other hikers.

     The actual trail to the canyon mouth is very clearly marked and easy to follow. The trail actually splits at one point with both of them ending up in the same place. I'd recommend the lower trail as the higher one forces you to go through a barb wire fence. Neither one has appreciable elevation gain.

     There is a good sized cave just as you start walking in that we did not get a chance to explore. The pictures here are actually the upper trail we took on the way back. We ended up making it back to the truck 15 minutes before a good sized hail storm started.

     Below is a picture of the mouth of the canyon. It looks like a very narrow canyon but it is relatively easy to hike as long as you don't mind crossing the stream now and again. Normally this is an easy stream to cross but most of the stepping stones were about 2-3 inched under water when Tyler and I visited.

     To the right side here is a great example of the differences in the water height. The picture to the upper left was taken April 25th. The picture below was taken May 3rd. You can see some of the stepping stones on the picture above are now under water in the picture below.

     This is as far as we came the first trip. See the rock Tyler is standing on in the picture on the upper right? He slipped and slammed his knee right into the rock so he was unable to go any further. I was disappointed at the time but I think in the end it was better as we were able to come back early on a Saturday and follow the creek much farther up than we would have that day. The creeks small falls were probably much better also due to the extra runoff.

     The water also seemed much more dirty during the second visit. I guess this is be expected... Increase the volume and runoff into the stream and sediment comes along with it.
     Tyler saw this cave the first visit and looked at me like I was an idiot because evidently I walked right on by and did not even notice it. As he was not keen to visit the canyon again after smashing his knee on the first visit I promised we would go to the cave this time around. As it turned out it was right in the canyon anyway and not much of a climb up. It goes back about 30 feet and looks like it has been used in the past as a campsite. Certainly large enough for one!
     Waterfalls! Ok, I am being generous here. These are small waterfalls to be sure. I did not get pictures of all of them but they all had one thing in common. All of them had a main fall then a smaller fall off to the side. You can't see it in the picture to the lower left but that fall had a little partner also.

     Other than the very first waterfall (the one in the picture to the left) it was easy to get around all of these. I especially liked the one that had the built in chair.

      Unfortunately I did not get pictures of all of the falls. A couple I could not get into a good position on the way up and just figured I would get them on the way back. Then I forgot. You get the idea though.
     Tyler hates it when I take pictures of him when he is walking in front of me so.. enjoy at Tyler's expense. It is amazing how green some areas were whereas some had no plant life at all.. water and rocks. Every time we turned a corner it was different.
     End of the Line! This is as far as we could go. The falls below are about twenty feet high and I could not find a way around them. You can get on to that big rock you see in the picture to the lower left and there is a clear trail but it ends with a twenty foot drop on the other side. In keeping with tradition both Tyler and I fell in here jumping across the creek as we were heading back.
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