Blackhawk on the River’s incredible winter recreation and scenery has been noticed! Video footage of Blackhawk has been used to create a stunning ad campaign designed to highlight the abundance of winter recreation found in McCall, ID by the McCall Chamber of Commerce.
On October 12th and 13th, NewWest.Net will present its 4th annual Real Estate and Development in the Northern Rockies conference. As the premiere business event in the region, Real Estate and Development in the Northern Rockies will feature a rich mix of presentations, discussions and networking opportunities, all designed to advance our understanding of the economic forces shaping our region and provide practical advice on how to navigate the changing market.
As part of this unique gathering of prominent developers, financiers, government officials, real estate agents, architects, attorneys, journalists and non-profit leaders from around the region, Blackhawk on the River will be hosting a pre-conference tour for conference-goers. This special one-day tour will feature Brundage Mountain Resort and Blackhawk on the River in educating industry leaders about the conservation efforts by McCall’s developers. Below is an overview of the event:
Idaho’s Open Space and Conservation Development
The Northern Rockies are known for incredible landscapes, and honoring this through ecologically sensitive conservation development is one of the most important trends to emerge over the last decade. Blackhawk on the River, near McCall, Idaho, is one project that shows how this can be done. Join this 2-day tour for a chance to experience first-hand this conservation-based development, walk the property, and discuss over an evening campfire and dinner with the local conservationists about how it all fits together. A tour of a new conservation development project at the nearby Brundage Mountain ski resort is also included. This tour includes meals, deluxe accommodations at Blackhawk, and optional transport to/from Missoula. Departs at 8am on Sunday Oct. 11th, returns at 4pm on Monday, Oct. 12th.
If you would like more information about attending this pre-conference event and/or attending the NewWest.net Conference in October, please click here for the NewWest website or go directly to the conference schedule page to read about this special tour in McCall!
Over the past few weeks, firefighters from the McCall smokejumper base have been training at Blackhawk on the River. The McCall Smokejumper Base started in 1943 with 5 jumpers and by 1947, the base had 50 member jumpers. Today, the McCall base has over 70 smokejumpers who help protect forests throughout the Western United States and Alaska. The McCall Smokejumper Base is one of only seven bases in the United States. If you would like to visit the base in McCall and get up close and personal with these dynamic firefighters, daily tours begin at 11:30am or 2:30pm!
The Special Olympics World Winter Games descended on Idaho in the month of February. The games featured over 2000 athletes from all over the world. Athletes were eager with anticipation of new experiences and spirited with alluring luster of gold medals.
McCall was one of the Idaho communities which hosted events during the World Winter Games. Athletes competed in snowshoeing at our own beautiful Ponderosa State Park.
The athletes, many of which trained on sand in their home countries and had never been on snow before, marveled at competing on the “real white stuff.” McCall enjoyed welcoming the delegations from Canada, Venezuela, Somalia and Bahrain to name a few. Thank you Special Olympians for the opportunity to put out the welcome mat. Please visit us again soon.
Blackhawk on the River real estate in McCall Idaho would also like to extend a warm welcome to our state athletes who will be competing here in McCall for the annual State Winter Games March 6th through 8th. The gentleman pictured here is Kirk Grogan, Idaho athlete and Special Olympics Global Messenger (photographed at a previous games at Tamarack Resort.) We look forward to seeing him in McCall in March. Also pictured is a shot of the Law Enforcement Torch Run, which helped kick off ceremonies for the World Games in McCall.
For information about Special Olympics of Idaho please visit www.idso.org.
McCall Magazine details the history of Blackhawk, highlights conservation efforts, and touches on recreational opportunities. Here’s a brief clipping from author Doug Copsey in the winter/spring 2009 edition:
At Blackhawk, winter is no time to hunker down indoors. The wagon rides of summer become sleigh rides, so you can get out and enjoy the beauty of Blackhawk under its customary blanket of snow; and for the more active, 12 kilometers of Nordic skiing trails criss-cross the property.
If you prefer to ski downhill, Blackhawk is almost exactly halfway between Brundage Mountain and Tamarack Resort-just a short 12 mile drive either way gets you to some of the best alpine skiing anywhere in the Northwest.
Blackhawk is a community that has to be seen to be appreciated. It literally has everything an outdoor enthusiast could want, from white sandy beaches along the river to dense forests and wetlands teeming with wildlife, even a natural hot springs just down the road.
Note:McCall Magazine is a semi-annual publication that explores the history, culture, activities and lifestyle that make McCall the newest resort location of the west.
Please send us an email if you would like a complimentary copy of this magazine mailed to you along with information about Blackhawk on the River real estate in McCall, Idaho.
Steam hovers over the large, transparent pool at Burgdorf Hot Springs, 32 miles north of McCall. It’s a rainy morning, and we’ve opted for these primitive springs as the perfect way to kick off our vacation. We’ve driven from town into the mountains, past quiet lakes still surrounded by snow, following rivers and creeks through corridors of spruce and fir to a lonely dirt lot. A wild-breed turkey has waddled over to greet us, followed by a caretaker who sports a tangled gray beard down to his sternum.
My twin 12-year-old sons, Dylan and Gabe, and my husband, John, and I are the only ones here. We soak in a vintage Idaho scene: horses grazing in the meadow beneath soft rain, cabins leaning into the tall grasses, the northern Rockies surrounding all of it. The boys take turns balancing, surfer-style, on an old kayak someone left at water’s edge, as John and I slowly sink into water heated by the earth to 113°, thinking, Yes, this is exactly the kind of luxury we had in mind.
I let out a sigh of relief. Because — and here is my confession — I expected, on this trip back to McCall, to be disappointed. Having read the press about McCall’s big growth spurt brought on by the opening of Tamarack Resort in 2004, I expected to find my old beloved mountain town, two hours north of Boise, transformed into something fancy and generic. Despite Tamarack’s recent financial woes, its development opened the flood-gates to sushi, spas, better cell phone coverage, and all the trappings of every other mountain resort town. I wondered and worried that McCall might not still be McCall.
THE LAKE, AND A RACE TO REMEMBER
I did not fall immediately in love with Idaho when I moved to Boise from Southern California in 1990, but my first visit to McCall sped up the process considerably. I had entered the McCall Mountain Triathlon, and as a friend and I made the drive from Boise into Idaho’s central mountains, she prepped me, “It’s gorgeous — the forest, the lake, the mountains — all of it … ”
The race was small town. A hundred or so athletes picked up packets at Lardo’s, a bar and burger joint. Just after dawn, we ran into the icy water of Payette Lake and submerged ourselves in beauty. Each time I reached for a breath, the sight of spectacular granite peaks over the water surprised me. The cycling leg took us along a ponderosa-lined road where I spotted whitetail deer among the trees. Then we ran on dirt trails until the course looped back toward town, where locals cheered us on from the backs of pickups. I didn’t win. (Probably all that nature-ogling.) But my friend was right. I was smitten.
Eighteen years, two Idaho native sons, and dozens of McCall visits later, it’s clear it was no passing crush.
The skies have cleared, and the boys and John and I lounge on the patio of Bistro 45, a locals’ wine bar and cafe with a super-casual vibe and retro board games for the borrowing. It’s one of a handful of restaurants in McCall’s tiny downtown, a cluster of shops and hotels right on the lake and less than 2 miles from spectacular Ponderosa State Park. If anything has changed downtown, I think to myself, it’s so subtle I don’t mind at all.
When our sandwiches come, Gabe, who has heard my triathlon story a hundred times, suggests we do our own version. “Burgdorf counts as the swim,” he says.
John says, “We should take the chairlift and bike down Tamarack mountain.” I’m in. We’ll top it all off with a river paddle, I suggest, as the third leg of the race. No one argues. We all carbo-load on grilled panini.
THE MOUNTAIN
The next day, we check into a cottage at Tamarack Resort. We’re here to find out what The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have been so excited about, why Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf were inspired to pony up funds for a planned hotel here, and — more recently — how the ambitious resort has had to scale back its plans in the face of a hurting economy. We stand atop Tamarack mountain, feeling out of our league. The steep slope disappears into a pile of boulders and then who knows what. John asks the question on all of our minds. “People ride down this?”
A man pedals past us and then drops off the ledge. The wheels of his muddy bike hopscotch from one boulder to the next. John reaches in his pocket for the trail map. At dinner the night before, we were certain we were a “blue” family — not mountain-biking experts, but relatively fit, and gutsy, Idahoans. Certainly we could handle blue-designated terrain. Now John points us to the “greenie” run, and we follow. I make generous use of my brakes.
Waterfalls rush down gulches lined with spruce, fir, and the signature tamarack, and the air is pungent with the scent of recently melted earth. As I careen down the trail, much of the scenery turns into a vibrating blur, but up ahead the boys wait for me where the forest opens. On one side rises the incline of the Payette River Range. On the other lie the curve of Lake Cascade and the Salmon River Mountains beyond the valley. I’m reminded of how huge this rugged country is, and how many mountains are beyond the ones I can see.
That night we dine on seared elk medallions and delicate scallops at Morels Restaurant — it’s hard to object to fancy new restaurants where the food is as good as this — then soak our battered muscles in the hot tub on our resort cabin’s deck while staring up at the crisp starlight, grateful for clear skies. In the mountains, you never know what season June will be, and tomorrow we take to the river for our final leg of the “race.”
THE RIVER
Thousands of miles of whitewater tumble down from the central Idaho mountains, so it’s no wonder my boys have ridden far more rapids than roller coasters in their lifetime. Today Dylan sits in front of me in a double ducky (an inflatable kayak for two) on our favorite day trip, the Cabarton stretch of the Payette River. We love this stretch because the current slips away from the road and into lush forest, offering a sense of solitude that’s rare on a day trip anywhere.
On past Cabarton trips, Dylan has been in the raft, and we’re both aware that just around the next bend is Trestle, the longest class III rapid of the trip. As we curve around the canyon wall, the railroad bridge spanning the river comes into view and the current quickens. “Hole is on the left?” Dylan asks in a dry, whispery voice.
“You paddle hard, and I’ll steer,” I answer. There’s a glassy pool after the rapid, but June is not ideal swimming weather.
For a moment, the calm clarity of our plan is lost in the chaotic force of white-water and adrenaline, but then Dylan plunges his paddle into each huge wave just as it’s about to overwhelm us, as if he were a pro. I’m relieved when, out of the corner of my eye, I see the gaping reversal slip by.
“That was huge,” Dylan yells. And we laugh as the final waves lift and then release us. We all pull onto a sandy beach where we rehash our various versions of surviving the Trestle Rapid.
After our picnic on the shore, the boys toss stones in the river, and John and I lie on warm boulders looking for eagles and listening to the rush of the rapid. I recall the post-race high I used to feel back during my triathlon days, thinking, This beats it by a mile. An orange raft from the outfitting company rounds the corner carrying another family. We wave to one another as boaters always do on rivers — kids, parents, river guide — all of us wearing that particular aren’t-we-so-lucky-to-be-here grin. And I notice that even though McCall now has fancy restaurants and spas and plush hotel rooms with lake views, I’m happy to share this big, wild place that really does still feel like home.
[From Sunset Magazine, June 2008]
A world championship medal is coming to Ludington.
Dave Maclean of Hamlin Township took a bronze medal at the Masters World Cup skiing championships in McCall, Idaho, Monday.
Maclean medalled in a 10-kilometer freestyle or skate race for skiers from age 45-49.
There were 42 other skiers in the race and they all started together.
“I got a good start, I was in probably fourth place at the start and shortly after the start a group of four of us kind of broke away from the rest of the group,” Maclean said. “For the last probably seven k, there were just four of us together in the lead who kind of took turns changing places until just before the finish and then it was kind of a sprint between the four people.”
Maclean finished 3.4 seconds behind winner Jen Francois Duchampt of France and 1.7 seconds behind Kent Murdoch of the U.S. Maclean’s time of 24.02 minutes was fast, but he said it’s difficult to figure out personal records in a sport with such variable conditions.
Maclean also raced in a 30k race Sunday and placed 13th.
Today he will race in a 4×5k relay, representing the United States with
three other skiers. He also will race in a 45k race on Friday, but prefers shorter races.
“The relay, it’s going to be a pretty tight group with the Russians, the Italians and the Americans,” Maclean said. “Especially the Russians. It should be a pretty exciting race. The 45k, I’m not real excited about. But the pressure’s kind of off. After the relay, I’m going to relax and have some more fun.”
The medal caps a remarkable season for Maclean, who has finished in the top five of most of his races and even won the VASA race in Traverse City Feb. 9.
“It feels great, it’s pretty exciting,” Maclean said. “There’s quite a few Michigan skiers out here, because as far as anybody can tell it’s the first medal that anyone from Michigan has won.”
McCall, Idaho— The Swiss-based World Masters Association announced today that its annual Masters World Cup event, sponsored by Blackhawk on the River and held in McCall, Idaho March 1-7, 2008, has more than doubled its average for registrations, breaking previous records with over 1,200 expected participants from across the globe. The Masters World Cup 2008 marks its first visit ever to the western United States, and returns to the United States for the first time in a decade (last U.S.-hosted event was Lake Placid, NY in 1998).
“We’re proud to host an event with such international presence here in Idaho’s backyard and are very excited to witness an unprecedented turnout for the World Masters Cup,” said Sima Muroff, principal of Blackhawk Partners, LLC, developer of Blackhawk on the River in McCall, Idaho. “We’ve always believed our local ski areas rival the best on the planet and clearly the word is out about the exhilarating skiing conditions in McCall, Idaho.”
Drawing an average of 1,000 competitors and up to an additional 1,000 spectators every year, the Masters World Cup travels to a different location and nation each year. Three individual races plus national team relays are held with skiers grouped in five year age/gender categories for all individual races. Skiers annually range in ability from former Olympic and World Championship medalists to beginner/intermediate masters with no competitive backgrounds.
Although a number of the early USA entries include likely medal-contenders, J.D. Downing, U.S.A. National Director to the World Masters Association, stresses that the vast majority of MWC2008 participants from North America will be average skiers simply taking advantage of a unique chance to ski in an international event on “home” snow.
“There are always a few former Olympians and ‘elite’ master skiers in the various age groups, but the overwhelming majority of folks at the Masters World Cup are people that have no interest in medals. They take part because the event is an incredibly fun opportunity to ski just with your 5-year age group peers in a serious of wave starts on courses perfectly designed for master skiers. There’s a week-long series of ceremonies, social gatherings, plus loads of non-racing kilometers of trails in the McCall area to enjoy on the ‘off’ days. The MWC2008 really is going to be the perfect ski vacation.”
Current registrations already have earned the MWC2008 the distinction of fielding the largest USA contingent ever to take part in a Masters World Cup. USA registration already spans more than 22 states with skiers ranging in age from the minimum 30 years to the first-ever USA skier in the M13 category — 90 years young! Beyond the strong USA turnout, an additional dozen nations have confirmed registrations.
For skiers interested in logging more kilometers than on race day, numerous nearby trail systems surround the McCall city center offering up to 100 kilometers of additional XC options within a 5-30 minute drive. The MWC2008 Organizing Committee will offer daily shuttles (separate fees may apply) to other ski locations for skiers without access to a vehicle while in McCall.
On March 4th –a day that is scheduled to be a hiatus in the competition—Blackhawk will host a “rest day” and open house for participants and spectators. The public is invited to enjoy 12 Kilometers of private Nordic trails located on Blackhawk property. Blackhawk will also be hosting a blog on their website (www.blackhawkontheriver.com) that will include an event “scrapbook.”
Recently released statistics by the National Association of Realtors show that sales of second-home vacation properties continue to set record levels, with 1.07 million closed transactions in 2006 . This is the fourth consecutive year of an upward trend in this market segment, with 850,000 in 2003 and 1.02 million in both 2004 and 2005. This trend continues despite the decline in both investment properties and primary residence sales in 2006. “Vacation-home buyers are making lifestyle choices and purchasing for their own enjoyment; investment-home buyers are seeking rental income and portfolio diversification” said David Lereah, Chief Economist for NAR.
New lending programs are being introduced to further satisfy the demand created by the second-home market. Lot loans are now available to multi-million dollar levels, with limited documentation and no-verification programs, and programs for investment properties and refinances. Construction loans are also being tailored to this market, the most popular being one-close loans based on appraised value, and including closing costs and interest reserves.
The newer property types are becoming increasingly popular in resort settings. Lending sources are now available for fractional ownership properties, bringing traditional loan programs to what has previously been a cash-buyers market.
Taken from Mountain Mortgage’s Fall 2007 Newsletter
It is easy for land developers to promise their buyers open space as an amenity for the future. Those developers will deventually go away, however, after which the future of the open space is thrown into doubt. The developers of Blackhawk, however, have decided to carve their pledge into stone, and they should be commended for it.
The Blackhawk development is now underway five miles south of McCall along a scenic stretch of the North Fork of the Payette River. In return for buying a lot or home, customers are promised a variety of “extras,” such as an equestrian center, community lodge, hiking and biking trails, and groomed Nordic ski trails. Those are all well and good, but over time an equestrian center can fall into disrepair, a community center can be converted into a mansion and sold, and maintenance of trails can wither away due to neglect. These are the risks of buying into a so-called planned development, in that the maintenance of the amenities is largely up to the homeowners once the project sells out.
Not so with tbe Blackhawk Wildlife Preserve, which totals 152 acres of the project’s 1551 acres total and stretches nearly two miles along the North Fork of the Payette River. The promise of leaving these acres as pristine habitat for wildlife is not made with fingers crossed, but in writing and in partnership with the Payette Land Trust. The Blackhawk developers have signed a legal and binding agreement with the trust placing the land into a conservation easement, which means there is nothing they or their successors can do to take it back.
Of course, the motivation to set aside the land for wildlife habitat is not entirely alturistic. Much of the land cannot be built upon due to wetlands and flood plains. And, the developers receive a substantial tax break for their action. Nevertheless, Blackhawk is the first large project in Valley County to draw a line around part of their land and declare it off-limits forever. It is a grand gesture and should serve as a challenge to those now building planned communities in the region and others who are contemplating such projects.
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