APRIL NIBJ: Tubbs Hill a main attraction

COEUR d’ALENE — Tubbs Hill is a priceless treasure, but numbers also show just how well-loved and well-used it is year-round.

A trail counter installed in July 2022 on the popular hiking hill on the shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene tallied 387,027 visitors to the 165 acres in 2024. The peak day was July 4, when 6,474 make the trek up, down or around the city-owned land.

Tubbs Hill, which is home to ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, Western white pine and larch tree, has a trail system that leads around, to the 2,500-foot summit and down to the shoreline. It continues to attract locals and visitors who run, walk and hike its trails summer, fall, winter and spring, and has been the subject of a book, "The Treasure Called Tubbs Hill" by Scott Reed.

David Taylor, president of the Tubbs Hill Foundation, said 2024 was a good year and once again, the numbers bear this out.

850 feet of realigned trail constructed

40 white pine seedlings planted

1 yard of old cinder blocks removed

4 sections of Main Loop Trail reconstructed or adjusted to reduce erosion and safety concerns

1.2 miles of brush trimmed on trails

50 days of Tubbs Hill Ambassadors roaming the trails to provide information to hikers

5 active osprey nests on the hill

2 public cleanup days with many large bags of trash removed

135-plus Friends of Tubbs Hill participated in 25 trail related projects with a documented 423 hours of volunteer time, calculated to be worth $12,792.

"This year was a productive one for the foundation, as several report articles will require significant efforts to keep it clean," Taylor wrote in the Foundation's annual report. "Fortunately the Coeur d'Alene Parks Department was able, with our support, to make major repairs to existing trails and add an additional entry point. These efforts along with the formal and informal cleanups will continue to be required to keep up with the visitation."

The Foundation also worked with the city and volunteers to create a new trailhead next to the Museum of North Idaho, with a bench, map and signs. A series of interpretive signs about Tubbs Hill are planned this year.

Despite so many people leaving footprints on Tubbs, it remains in good health.

"Tubbs Hill is a special place," wrote Jessica Bryant, Foundation board member. "Many of us grew up exploring the trails, rocks, and beaches. Others found them later in life. We've had adventures and misadventures. We've discovered things about ourselves and the natural world. "We've fallen in love."

    Visitors begin a trek on Tubbs Hill.
  

    A youth leaps off Tubbs Hill toward Lake Coeur d'Alene in a previous summer.