Potlatch Canyon Trail is located just south of Helmer, ID on Forest Rd 1963. The entire route is paved. The first half mile(?) along the river is a paved path and highly accessible for disabled individuals and small children. There was a tree down across the path, but I was able to go under it without much effort. There was also a lot of cow dung on the path, but again this was fairly easy to avoid. There are many benches and seats along this hike, as well as informational posts to explain what you are looking at if you are not nature knowledgeable.

The path stays close to the river for quite some time before leaving it briefly to head uphill. The trail returns to the water, giving you one last chance to cool off before you go through the bog and up onto the ridge line. The views from elevation are not the greatest, but there are some spots where you can see out through the trees and across the mountain range. While the trail does narrow down and at some points become quite overgrown, it is still easy to keep track of with good signage indicating the proper way when options exist.

I do believe that this is a moderate trail when you do it when the temperature is not in the 90’s. It took me roughly 2 hours and 10 minutes to make the loop, which included quite a few stops for photo ops. As far as wildlife goes, all I was able to see was some squirrels and a few birds. I did see a few notices that a mountain lion had been spotted in the area, but I never saw or heard anything to suggest I was being stalked or anything. To make this small kid friendly, I would stay on the pavement and perhaps turn around when it ends. For older kids I think it would be fine to do the whole loop. If I were to do it again, I would head up the hill at the picnic table that sits at the juncture of the two parts of the loop.

I think that this trail would be great in spring or fall. Wildflowers seem to be quite abundant, and I think that the fall colors would be splendid. As it was, it was all nice and green, which is definitely appreciated. I would make a point of doing this hike at least once if you live within an hour or so of here. It is worth the couple hours walking.

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