How to hike 3-10,000 Ft. + Peaks in a day? I had to be high

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Fritz

Trad climber

Choss Creek, ID

Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 21, 2013 - 08:52pm PT

Idaho's Lemhi Range. These are the three.
Sheep Mountain, 10,865 feet.

Trail Peak, 10,533 feet.

Big Windy Peak, 10,361 feet.

The evening before the "big-day" I car-camped at about 8,500 ft. to start getting high. Just before dark a mule deer doe posed in front of Trail Peak. Was it a sign?? or just a coincidence?

I was out of camp by 7:30 A.M. and drove up old mining roads to the Bruce Estate mine near Sheep Mountain at about 9,700 ft. Here I am pointing out my goal.

Sheep Mountain at right, from my first high-point above the old-mine. It looked like a lot of up & down.

Flowers, lichen, rock, & the summit of Sheep Mountain. A geology book that covers the Lemhi Range tells me the rock is a Devonian Dolomite, dating to around 400 million years ago.

Mountain Goat family. They did not run away quickly, but they were not friendly.

I made the summit in about an hour and twenty minutes of smelling flowers, looking at rocks, and enjoying the view. It is about a 1 1/2 mile hike with a net gain in elevation of around 1,400 feet, counting the ups & downs along the way.

There is a summit register. One person signed in last year, and I'm the only visitor so far this year. The wire is a left-over from a Forest Service fire lookout that once stood on the summit. Most of it has been cleaned up. Note the smoke from fires in the background.

View to the south, showing the next two peaks on my list, plus two of the biggest peaks in the Lemhi Range, Diamond & Bell Tower. If I stay high, it won't be a problem to hike Trail & Big Windy Peak.

OK! My hands are getting sweaty, and it's near dinner time. Much more "old-guy-hiking" to follow.

harpo

Trad climber

South Lake Tahoe

Jul 21, 2013 - 10:41pm PT

U can do Freel, Job's and Jobs Sister in about 6 hours. They r on the SE corner of Tahoe and they r all above 10000 feet elevation. Not much wildlife though.

survival

Big Wall climber

Terrapin Station

Jul 21, 2013 - 10:58pm PT

Way to step up you old dirtbag!

Now, off to Grand Teton with you!

rottingjohnny

Sport climber

mammoth lakes ca

Jul 21, 2013 - 11:34pm PT

Fritz...thanks for the adventure share..I don't blame the goats for running away...RJ

Fritz

Trad climber

Choss Creek, ID

Topic Author's Reply - Jul 21, 2013 - 11:34pm PT

On the hike back down to my car, I found more wild flowers and a profusion of fossils in the Devonian Dolomite.

Blue Flax. My wildflower book notes that it grows to 8,000 ft., but this was at about 10,500 ft.

Devonian Fossils. There is an obvious shell and I think?? the other stuff is corals and algae clumps.

When I arrived back at my SUV, I had an early lunch and looked for Magnetite crystals at the mine for a while. I found a nice specimen!

Then, it was time! I drove three very-rough miles to the south and parked at 10,000 Ft. near Big Windy Peak. (You can drive to the summit of Big Windy Peak, but I played fair (for an old-fellow) and parked a half-mile away at 10,000 ft.)

I then hiked an old mining road around Big Windy Peak over towards Trail Peak.

Old miners cabin on the way and a view into the upper Little Lost River headwaters.
I gained some elevation on the hike around Big Windy Peak, but I then had to descend a long way, before hiking up an old mining road that took me almost to the summit of Trail Peak. Of course there were more mines to check out along the way, but luckily I didn't find any desirable rocks.

I did find more great flowers and some good views. Phlox reclaiming an old mine dump.

Alpine Forget-me-not.

We are not done with the last two 10,000 footers! Stay-tuned!

Mark Hudon

Trad climber

Hood River, OR

Jul 21, 2013 - 11:39pm PT

Looks like a great hike, Fritz!

rottingjohnny

Sport climber

mammoth lakes ca

Jul 21, 2013 - 11:40pm PT

Fritz...you are a conneseur of remote idaho locations and the John Muir of Choss Creek...RJ

mouse from merced

Trad climber

The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.

Jul 21, 2013 - 11:46pm PT

"Still posting about your plhox, I see," he said somewhat sheepishly, not wanting to offend a man with a shepherd's crook sitting on his mantel.

Fritz

Trad climber

Choss Creek, ID

Topic Author's Reply - Jul 21, 2013 - 11:50pm PT

Thank you all for the kind comments. I am still somewhat bothered that the goats ran away from me.

They were really cute!

ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber

extraordinaire

Jul 22, 2013 - 12:44am PT

I open all your postz Fritz.

Wayno

Big Wall climber

Seattle, WA

Jul 22, 2013 - 01:45am PT

Once again, nice schist Fritz. I have always wanted to do some hiking in the Lemhi range. I may never, so thanks for the glimpse.

Jennie

Trad climber

Elk Creek, Idaho

Jul 22, 2013 - 07:59am PT

Great photos of the Lemhis, Fritz...thanks for taking time to post them

The Blue Flax close-up is spectacular.

Dirka

Trad climber

Hustle City

Jul 22, 2013 - 08:50am PT

Nice pics

Roxy

Trad climber

CA Central Coast

Jul 22, 2013 - 10:47am PT

My wildflower book notes that it grows to 8,000 ft.,

Wow, now that's a tall flower. Take that Jack's Beanstalk.

...kidding of course, thanks for sharing your good day out.

crazytom

climber

Maine

Jul 22, 2013 - 11:02am PT

Great pics!! Thanks for sharing!

nutjob

Sport climber

Almost to Hollywood, Baby!

Jul 22, 2013 - 03:16pm PT

The flowers, fossils, and geology make this an especially nice share. Thanks Fritz!

Fritz

Trad climber

Choss Creek, ID

Topic Author's Reply - Jul 22, 2013 - 05:42pm PT

Thanks all for your input. It took me a while to understand the comparisons of my hike with the recent trip report by the gent that hiked the Grand Teton. Glad I can offer up more pleasant fare.

As I worked along the long ridgeline of Trail Peak, my cranky left ankle was bothering me a bit, so I did not vist the most easternly summit, which turns out to be the highest. My GPS told me my high point was 10,519 ft., so I was 14 feet short of the true summit.

However, if I had pressed on, I would have worked past 5:00, which is just wrong. As it was, I barely made it back to my SUV by 5:00.

View off the steep-side of Trail Peak.

OK! On to Big Windy Peak!

I still had to summit Big Windy Peak on the way back. That wasn't real hard. The peak lived up to the Windy part of its name.

Then it was back down. View is to the North toward Sheep Mountain, and my car is a barely visible dot in the center of the photo.

Here's a view back towards Trail Mt. You can see the road at the left side of the photo that goes to mines just below the summit ridge.

Then I worked down through more mines. These were the principal mines of the ones on the mountain and were collectively called the Spring Mountain Mine. The one in the photo was "The Teddy". The chief years of operation were 1908-1931 and the main products were lead & silver ore.

Ore from the mines was hauled to a tramway that dropped to the bottom of Spring Mountain Canyon. The top of the tramway is still somewhat intact.

The map of the day's hikes. At altitudes above 9,700 ft. I put in about 9 miles with a total gain of about 2,900 feet. Couldn't have done it all, if I hadn't stayed high. My hikes are in brighter red, with roads in darker red.

Most of the roads are passable only in ATV's or smaller vehicles. However, the main Spring Mountain Canyon Road is fine for higher-clearance 4WD, and the road up Quartzite canyon marked with Forest Service signs, is steep & miserable, but passable for folks that don't mind beating up their high-clearance 4wd vehicles. (I won't be taking my Toyota 4-Runner up there again.)

Brandon-

climber

The Granite State.

Jul 22, 2013 - 05:52pm PT

Nice! Your threads are always top notch!

The tramway is really cool, I can't believe the miners were skiing such GNAR back in the day! :)

Fritz

Trad climber

Choss Creek, ID

Topic Author's Reply - Jul 23, 2013 - 10:56am PT

After reaching my vehicle, I drove down to a ridgetop campspot at about 9,500 ft. and settled in for the expected great sunset views through forest fire-smoke.

Sunrise through fire-smoke.

I think my "big day for an old fog" was sustained by my frequently thinking of the motto of The Decker Flat Climbing & Frisbee Club.

"The Higher You Get, The Higher You Get."

Best Wishes!
Fritz