Located at the Baker Lake trailhead, the Osberg Ridgeline Trail is one of the area’s premier mountain bike rides. It also makes for an outstanding hike, especially in midsummer when the wildflowers are at their peak.

The trail honors Gloria (Moore) Osberg, whose hiking guidebooks introduced generations of locals and visitors to the Wood River Valley’s trail system. In 1987, she and co-author Anne Hollingshead published Day Hiking in Sun Valley. The first guidebook of its kind for the area, it covered 70 local hikes and quickly became a favorite thanks to its innovative three-ring binder format. Individual trail pages could be removed, slipped into a protective plastic sleeve, and carried on the trail. In 1995, Gloria followed with Easy Hiking Near Sun Valley, another successful guide that focused on shorter hikes for families and people with disabilities.

Gloria first came to Sun Valley in the winter of 1957 to work as secretary for the Sun Valley Ski Club. After spending time in Europe, she returned to the Wood River Valley, eventually working for the Ketchum Ranger District while becoming a charter member of the Thursday Hikers. Those experiences gave her an unmatched knowledge of the local trail system and inspired her and Anne Hollingshead to create their landmark hiking guide.

Gloria’s commitment to conservation went far beyond writing. She donated the copyrights to both books to the Idaho Conservation League, ensuring that every future sale would help protect and improve Idaho’s public lands and trails.

In 2011, the U.S. Forest Service, Wood River Land Trust, and Idaho Conservation League renamed Trail #147—formerly the Warm Springs Ridge Trail—as the Gloria Moore Osberg High Ridge Trail in recognition of her contributions.

Two years later, volunteers from the Idaho Trails Association and the U.S. Forest Service transformed what one local mountain biker had described as a “death march” into one of the valley’s premier ridge rides. Fittingly, part of the project was funded by royalties from Gloria’s guidebooks through the Idaho Conservation League.

Gloria passed away in 2018 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease, but her legacy lives on high in the Smoky Mountains, where every hiker and mountain biker who follows the Osberg Ridgeline Trail benefits from the passion she devoted to the trails she loved.

Sources:
The Ancient Skier (Summer 2012)
Visit Sun Valley: “A Day in The Dirt with Sun Valley’s Osberg Ridge Trail”
Idaho Trails Association