Join Idaho Trails Association, Leave No Trace, and Kula Cloth for a collaborative webinar to learn how to escape the crowds and find Idaho’s hidden hiking gems. Idaho is one of the last places in the country where you can still find true wilderness — but it’s beautiful landscapes are being discovered faster than ever. As destinations like the Sawtooths, City of Rocks and White Clouds Wilderness areas grow more crowded each year, knowing where to go to avoid the crowds becomes more important than ever.
Join the Idaho Trails Association for a rare behind-the-scenes look at the quieter corners, overlooked landscapes, and wild places that still feel undiscovered. Through a photographic journey across alpine basins, forested ridgelines, and lesser-traveled backcountry, you’ll learn how experienced locals find space, spread out, and experience Idaho beyond the busy trailheads.
Discover what ITA loves about these places, as well as what they wish didn’t get left behind. Hear firsthand stories from trail crews about what they see after peak weekends, the subtle changes shaping beloved trails, and why some of Idaho’s most beautiful places are more fragile than they appear. Leave with a deeper understanding of how solitude is found — and how thoughtful visitors can help keep it that way.
Our Panelists:
Barbara Sammut, North Idaho Program Coordinator
Barbara grew up in Michigan and earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering from Marquette University. Her love for hiking began while studying abroad in Cape Town, where she spent her free time exploring the trails around Table Mountain. After graduating, she thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, sparking her passion for long-distance backpacking and earning the trail name Forklift. Soon after, she followed her trail partner to North Idaho, where she quickly felt at home.
In 2024, she completed the Appalachian Trail and joined ITA, eager to give back to the trails and advocate for public lands access. Barbara enjoys backpacking year-round, creating videos for her YouTube channel Forklift Hikes, and especially loves contributing to ITA’s Women in the Wild program and inspiring youth to get outside and discover the outdoors.
Pam Bond, ITA Board Member
Pam is proud to call Idaho her home of nearly 20 years now and there is nothing she would rather do with her spare time than explore its many trails and wild places. She enjoys organizing and growing ITA’s Women Only Weekend (WOW) program that aims to empower women by teaching them trail maintenance skills.
Pam also enjoys contributing to the ITA’s Trail Master presentations and webinars, which topics range from backcountry cooking to footcare to Leave No Trace Principles.
TBD, Leave No Trace Educator
We’ll discuss the principles of Leave No Trace to help us protect Idaho’s hidden gems for generations to come.
Allison Tapert, Director of Chaos and Fun at Kula Cloth
Allison Tapert is the Event Coordinator at Kula Cloth and has hosted nearly 700 classes through Kula Academy. She’s climbed a few mountains, thru-hiked sections of the PCT and JMT, skated on wild ice, jumped into cold alpine lakes for absolutely no good reason, and spent countless nights in tents laughing way too loud with friends.
She’s passionate about the outdoors and somehow ended up talking to strangers about backcountry hygiene—a plot twist she never saw coming. But the universe has a funny sense of humor, and so does Allison. She’ll cover how to go, where to go, and all the important (and slightly awkward) things you should know to keep trails pristine for generations to come.
