If you expand your hiking to areas beyond the established trails, you can choose to explore and you may find some surprises.    Here are a few:

1. Mara Mountain

• gullies, hoodoos and craggy cliffs on the south side
• a gentle grassland hike on the north side
• a large cleft canyon on top

2. Bearcat Caves

• underground limestone caves in the Monte Hills, including one cave you can hike from end to end
• nearby viewpoints of the Salmon River Valley
• a loop route to the an old Petrified Forest

3. Red Plateau

• lava flows, arches, caves and fissures
• viewpoints and ridge walks

4. Lac du Bois

• grassland expanses above sagebrush slopes
• lakes, ponds, and uplands waterfowl, especially in Long Lake

5. Tranquille River

• slot canyons
• hoodoos, rock formations, lava flows, fossil beds

6. Bonaparte Plateau

• Skoatl Point
• sub-alpine meadows
• lake to lake hiking trails

7. Painted Bluffs

• a photographer's dream
• shapes and colors that belong to another planet

8. Forest Trails Surprises:

• chocolate lilies on Embleton Mountain
• pasque flower on Tod Mountain
• balsam root in the Upper Grasslands
• wildlife snags on the Barnes Lake Trails
• coyote dens in the Bachelor Hills
• cotton grass in the Trophy Meadows
• and  many more…..