Idaho Adventure: Part Two

August 25-31, 2021

Day 1

Day 1 got off on a bit of a rocky start. Since I was behind the ball on getting my GeoSpot working and figuring out the website portion, once Madeline got home with Wanda, I started packing the car and getting the vehicle layout the way I wanted it for driving. And in the meantime, Madeline was youtubeing some videos on how the Spot worked. When I was done with the car, we watched the videos and better understood how it worked and how to navigate the website. After that, my coffee was ready and the gas station address was put in and I hit the road. I had a couple hours of day light to drive, but as soon as I hit the western side of the twin cities, it was dark and there was road construction. Seemed about right and it felt like the construction zone took forever to get through, it wasn’t too slow but seemed like there was a lot of miles in it. After that it went back to normal driving and not busy out, since it was 9:30 pm on a Wednesday. But then I got to the first gas station….Pulled into the pump and put my card in and bypassed pin..didn’t work. Hmm. Put the card in again and tried a pin…didn’t work. Got in the car and pulled to a different pump, thinking it was a pump issue. Put the card in and bypassed pin…didn’t work. Put the card in again and tried a different pin, in case I forgot what it was…didn’t work. This is the card I am supposed to use for this entire trip. SO, I went into the station and tried the card again in there and it seemed like it was working, but I guess a prompt came up for the cashier saying the card was declined. (Well, that’s not good) She asked if I was from out of state, which I was. And she said, yeah they sometimes get declined if out of state. So, I took out another card (same bank) and it worked. I was able to gas up and get on my way, but I knew what I was doing first thing in the morning. It’s dark out and I kept squinting and Madeline has a pair of “yellow” shaded glasses in the car, I thought I would give it a try. I couldn’t really tell if they helped with the glaring but everything was maybe brighter and yellow. But one big thing that I noticed that was nice, since my eyes were covered I was able to keep the AC going without the air blowing right in my eyes and drying them out. I think that was the squinting I was having. The rest stop I stayed at is in North Dakota, this one was a little different than other ones, since it was between the hwys. It didn’t bother me, just meant that there would be double the traffic coming in and out. Got there and pulled everything out of the back and put into the front two seats and started blowing up the air mattress in the back. Put the sleeping bag in place and ended the day at 12:30ish. 

Day 2

Woke up in the car with a light sprinkling rain. It was a nice soothing morning, but I thought I should check the weather. Good thing I did because that was just the front of a larger storm that was coming, so I rushed out of bed and was running around the car to get the things out of the front seats and put into the back before I get to wet. After that was all squared away, I was able to recollect myself to make the phone call to the bank, all and all yes, the card was declined since it was out of regular area, but it was reactivated and able to use again. Note: for trips like these I like to have two reliable cards to use and some cash too. This way you have options and keep moving forward and, in my case, if neither card would have worked, I had enough cash to make it to the next day to call the bank and also enough to get home without any trouble too. At the first gas station, the cashier was very kind and let me have a free coffee. This seemed like it set the tone for the morning. It was somewhat of a boring drive through ND and MT, but there but I didn’t have any problems or crazy drivers on the road, so that was nice. Second gas station picked up dinner for later and had lunch before I left (extra sandwich from last night). Next gas station had dinner. Back on the road and again and ran into a construction zone, which after having a speed limit of 80 and being completely stop on the hwy seemed like it took forever to get through. Finally got to the last gas station of the day and noticed it was really hazy looking out at the mountains. I stop one of the employees and asked if that haze was from the CA fires. He replied “Some of it is but there is also a fire maybe 2 hours NW of here too”. Great, I wasn’t too worried about that fire since I had to drive 5 hours south yet, but was a little concerned about the visibility once I get to some of my peaks. But I am out here and it will be what it will be. Finished gassing up and was off to the rest stop I would be staying at for the night. I had service at the rest stop so I was able to make some calls to check-in and work out some more bugs and fine tune the Spot notifications. Had my salad kit for dinner and the views were nice and watched the sunset over the mountains. It’s always a little eerie when you are the only one at a rest stop, but as the night goes on more vehicles pull in and park making it not seem to bad any more. Ended the day at 11:00.

Day 3

The day started at 5:15 with the routine of organizing the car, along with some overnight oats breakfast. It’s still pretty dark out at this point, so I made some coffee, started a phone call with my dad (since its just before 6:00 back home) and hit the road. Granted the service was kind of spotty throughout the valley south of Butte, MN. (So, in route planning I had thought I picked hwy routes to all the destinations) Just over an hour of driving I the road ends up turning into a gravel road (S-324)! This is the portion of the road that is taking me from MT to ID. Although there was a spot at summit there that would have been a cool place to stay for the night right on the border. At the end of it, I was only driving on the gravel road for 30 min, so that wasn’t too bad. After that the drive was pretty easy going to the next gas station. I have mixed feeling about the drive from Challis to Stanley tho, you follow a river most of the way between some mountains and there were camp sites pretty much the entire way through. But there were a couple down sides, one, you are between two mountains so there is no cell service and there are no radio stations to listen to. And two, it is a two-lane road with lots of curves, so if a camper or slow vehicle gets ahead of you there are very chances to pass. After all that and you drive through Stanley you can see the Sawtooth National Forest. I arrived at the trailhead around 11:30 and it was packed. I ended up taking the last spot and I had maybe 2’ or so on both sides of me, it was tight. I got out made my lunch and talked with people getting ready to go up and others from there way down. Lucky for all of us, I noticed that there was no more smoke in the air and everything was clear skies. Started getting my pack together and noticed some people were leaving, so that was my chance to back out of my spot and get into one that was a little more spacious, where I could actually open my doors all the way. I made sure all my straps and accessories were secure on the pack and I hit the trail around 1:00. Note: make sure you are confident on how you left your vehicle, 3 minutes in to the hike I turned around to make sure I locked the car, it was but I wasn’t sure if I did. The first 2-2.5 miles were typical hiking, mostly just woods and trail. At half way I was still in the wood portion and I took the pack off and had a little break, I didn’t realize it at the time but I had miss read the topography map until I talked with some people on the way down. I had thought that this break point was the crest of the hike and everything was down hill from there, nope. The people let me know that it was actually all uphill from here and even steeper, uh oh. I loaded up and started on my way again and just around the corner I crossed over Iron creek and I saw the mountain they were talking about and just how higher I needed to go. The next 2 miles were switchbacks all the way up, and the first portion was mainly wood again until you get to Alpine Lake area. I decided to keep on trekking, because I thought if I stop and take off the pack, I didn’t think I would want to put it back on and keep moving. From Alpine Lake to the top, the trail wasn’t really steeper but the switch backs were tighter together. Even though it was a little bit harder of a climb, you didn’t really notice it as much because you had glimpses of the amazing views of Alpine Lake. But I got to the top, I took out my phone to see how much further I had to go, maybe a ¼ mile or so, and I thought let’s see if I get any service here. I did, just a little mental note for later. The hike continues and I finish with a couple of guys on the north east rock, that is kind of peninsula like, at 4:45ish. I take my pack off and start looking at some of the site that are on the rock. I found a spot that was tucked in behind some trees and took out my tent to start setting up. I have the tent laid out and staked in and it’s kind of tight, putting the poles in and notice that as it goes up the small tree branches are pushing up against the side of the tent pretty hard. At this time, I realized I have to move to a different location, again. (This happened on a previous trip where I set up a tent and then found a better spot to be.) I talked with the other guys and they said that they had seen another (larger) site just south and down from the cliff we were on. I go down and look at it, and yup it was a much larger space in the open and very “beach” like. I go back and un-stake the poles and bear hug the tent, instead of re-folding, and walk it down and finish setting up camp. By the time I finish setting up and getting water for dinner and the next morning, I was finally able to sit down and relax around 6:20. A quick water/snack break I ended up going back that ¼ mile to give a check-in Facetime with Madeline, since I could. If I were to guess for service, if I was able to see the town on Stanley, I would have enough service for a call. A short 30 min facetime and I am back at the tent getting my food together and head back up the cliff to have dinner with the two guys I met at first camp site. There was a nice little rock shelter to place your stove in as a wind break, it was very windy this day on the lake. (Note: it is very difficult to eat out of Ziplock when the couscous didn’t absorb all the water, very liquidy. I used the same amount of water as the practice at home, but I think the heat retention wasn’t as good and the patience to wait longer was hard too.) I ended up talking and eating with them for just over an hour and the sun was starting to go down over the mountain at 8:00, there was maybe a good 30 min to an hour left of good light. Packed up the food and trash, and pulled them into a near by tree. Got back to my site and spent the last little bit just watching it get darker out and to the tent I went. Now the first part of this wasn’t fun, since it was so windy out, it had blown in a ton of dust and everything in the tent was covered. I found a bunch of rocks to place at the bottom of the rainfly to help block any more from coming in. But maybe next time it is that windy out I should orientate the tent so that the mesh portion of the is on the back side to maybe avoid this from happening again. Around 2:00 I wake up and get out of the tent and wound-up taking pictures for half and hour. I am glad I had a tripod for this, because me just holding the phone steady for enough exposer was impossible. It was really cool at night, able to see everything fairly well. There was a half-moon out this night so it wasn’t too bright and you were able to see a lot of stars too.

Day 4

Day 4 is a free day. So, I slept in until 7:00 and sat and took pictures until 8:30, but in this time there was a curious fox that was walking and smelling around, he was maybe 10’ away from at the closest. I headed up the cliff and had breakfast with one of the guys that was up at the time. The chipmucks in this area are very nosey, they will climb all over your supplies and scratch at your food bag and they come back often. I planned a short hike that was just over 1.5 miles, starting at camp site down along the eastern edge of the lake all the way down to the southern tip of the lake. It was a fun little hike that started with a small switch back and rode the edge of the lake along the mountain. The trail was narrow and steep on both sides of it, looking up at the mountain and looking down toward the lake. From this high up, I was able to see all the different colors of green and blue at the coast line and dark blues as the lake dropped off into the deeper waters. As I rounded the southern end of the lake, there were more campsite there. From there I was actually able to see my bright orange tent all the way across the lake, it was pretty small though. From there the trail continued on but I decided to turn back around and start heading back. Maybe half way down the switchbacks again, there is a nice big rock that is perched above the many other rocks looking over the lake. I wish I would have found that rock sooner, because I believe that was the spot to be, to sit down and take in all the views and let the sun keep you warm in the cool breezes blowing over the lake. But the first half of the day was over and I needed to get packed up and head back to the car. I ended up leaving just before 1:00 and within the first 5 mins I ran into a large school group on their way to the lake. There was maybe 30+ of them in the group. I was back in the cell service area and I had checked in for half an hour. I made it to the Alpine Lake trail before the school group caught back up to me on their way down, from here I played leap frog with them most of the way down. Finally got back to the car and surprisingly, the parking lot was even more full than the day before. I packed up and hit the road and there were even more vehicles parked along the road. I took the same roads back to Challis but from there the road was nice to Borah Peak Trailhead. There is a cool portion of it, driving though some rock cliffs though. Driving up to the parking lot I had service until about 100 yards from it. The lot was pretty full when I arrived, but I found a spot and started prepping for dinner and getting Wanda ready for another night. Things were starting to pick up at the parking lot as more and more people were coming back from the summit. Talking with some of them, they had said that the summit took them about 12 hours, there and back. And that if you take it nice and slow you shouldn’t have any problems. The sun was starting to go down and dinner was cool enough to start eating, so I took it and went back down the road and found service along the wood fence just past the last campsites, and had dinner and facetimes until dark. Day ended around 9:00.

Day 5 Summit Day

 The day started at 6:20, and it was a cold morning clocking in at 42*. It was still dark out at this time but could see a little bit. Got into my hiking close and had breakfast and packed up my gear for the day. I started on the hike at 7:20. In my head I kept thinking slow and steady and you will make it, slow and steady. The first portion was pretty easy, just steep and in the wood mostly, pretty much switchbacks the whole way here. On the way up I talked with a man that was on his way back down, he had only gone up to the first ridge for a morning sun rise and breakfast then had to get back to his farm. I continued on and there is a small wooded half circle with shade just at the edge of the tree line, where I had placed my extra 2-liter bottle in case I needed it on the way down and so I didn’t have to carry it all the way to the top. The next portion started with more switchbacks, but you could see the next ridge you had to get to and I think I could see where chicken-out ridge was. At this point I came up with something for hiking poles, “Hiking Poles are the handrail of the mountain” because who doesn’t use the handrail at home after a good leg day work out. I got to the first ridge at 10:30. From here you can see the entire route up to the ridge, just taunting you since you can see the finish but its still 1.5-2 miles away. From there to chicken-out ridge the trail was a little bit of a breather compared to the first portion, but it was still a gradual climb. Just about to chicken-out I talked with some more people and they said that there were two routes to chicken-out. 1) You can stay on the ridge and kind of horse ride the ridge, or 2) stay a little lower and go around the ridge. Previous reads said that the ridge was the way to go. The third portion, Chicken-out started at 12:00, I put my hiking poles away and took out my gloves. I climbed up and over the first two rock ridges and as I was straddling a rock and looking down both ways, I was thinking chicken-out ridge was no joke and that this is stupid and that there has got to be a better way to do this. Sitting there looking around and I found it, I found a “Cairn”. It was just a matter of how to get to it, I had to scale down the rock face and hug the wall as I made my way to the cairn trail. This cairn trail went around the east side of the ridge and circled back to the center of the ridge. From there I crossed over to the west side, instead of the ridge ride again. This got me to the end of chicken-out ridge, but is ended at let’s call it a rock slide area, so I climbed rocks back up to the peak of chicken-out and found a rope that helped you climb down the rock faces to a nice landing at the peak of “rock slide” area. 12:45. Now that Chicken-out is behind me, looking ahead it looks like it could still be another mile to go. You can still see the trail all the way up, but it’s still pretty high up. The fourth portion was relatively easy at first, walking the shoulder along the next ridge. As I walked along and started up the last steep uphill, the trail became even worse. The trail is filled with little pebble like rocks and loose dirt, it seemed like every few steps you took you slide back down another foot. You end up losing the trail as you keep climbing up, a little trick to help is to look back down the mountain because you can see the from above to make sure you are either on the trail or help guess which way the trail goes. After several times of slipping down the trail, I went off trail and scrambled over larger more steady rocks which seemed to be a little easier to me. But the further you went up the rocks became too large to scramble again, so I ended up getting back onto the loose trail to the last little landing before the peak. It’s about 100’ away now and you can see the mountain stop climbing. Making my way to the peak you start to get this large sense of accomplishment, and you get over that last ridge and begin to see the horizon. 2:21. I made it; I can see for days. 360* views, the skies are so clear and every direction seems like a green screen and shouldn’t be real. A couple more steps ahead and there I found the “Mount Borah 12,662 ft” plaque. It was a grueling 7 hour and 5,301’ elevation gain hike to the summit but it was worth it to accomplish such a feat. It was what all the prep work and training was for.  After a snack, pictures, facetimes and some Summit Wine, it was time to start heading back down. 3:20. After last checks to make sure I didn’t forget anything and a water check, about half a platypus left. The fourth portion was actually pretty fun, there was no one behind or in front of me so I rid the pebble slides as far as I could and started a brisk pace. I thought about it and it took me 7 hours to peak, so I have 5 hours to get back down to hit the 12-hour mark, uh oh. Climbing back up the rope at chicken-out was way easier that climbing it down, and chicken-out was quick knowing the path and going around. However, after finishing the ridge, I was hitting the water a lot harder than the way up because I ran out of water. 4:50. The hiking is becoming easier the further I came down and started to do a light jog, I had thought instead of taking longer it would be better to be a little more exhausted but get to my water drop quicker. Jogging in the flats and riding the slide, I finally got to the water drop. 5:30. I drank more water than I should have at this point because I still have maybe 2 hours left until I get back to more, but I was getting tired and a blister was starting to form on my heel. The only thing from here is just to keep on moving, I slowed down the pace but still kept it a little upbeat. I knew I short on water again so I had to come up with a way to manage and conserve it. Just under 2 hours left and I have quite a bit of power left on my phone, so I turned on some music and used song durations to determine my water consumption the rest of the way down.  This last portion required a lot of mental strength, even more tired and had to keep thinking about how to take steps on the steep slope because I could feel that blister just getting bigger and bigger. I break through the tree line and I can see Wanda, I can see her so I think it’s ok to hit the water a little harder now. One drink, two drinks and on the third it ran dry, made it back just in time. However, as soon as I passed through the zig-zag gate, there was a guy that had stopped me and wanted to know about the trail, along with some other off topics items for another 20 min before I could get to the car to get more water. But I got there, took in a lot of water and changed into some better driving clothes, because the day wasn’t done just yet. I was back on the road and in cell service at 8:30. Checking in with Madeline and she had kindly booked me a hotel in Idaho falls, since I left that for same day booking incase weather changed any dates, she also ordered me some Applebee’s to-go once I get to town. It’s another 2-hour drive to get there. It is getting dark out now and I talked with my parents most of the way there, but it is quite a scare when a deer turns its head at you on the shoulder when you are flying by at 70+ mph. It’s easy to forget that there is wild life roaming around the baron plains along the drive. I arrived at Applebee’s, but I was 10-15 min early. Note: there is a slight ETA difference from the car gps compared to google maps, the car gps had an older speed limit listed. Got my food and checked in, 10:30. After some car organizing, cleaning up and eating, the day ended at 11:30.

Day 6

I was a tossing and turning night all night, but it was nice to sleep in till 8:00. It was a nice and easy morning, with continental breakfast and a slow gathering and organizing the car for the final drive home. This drive was nothing but a little boring, there was one highlight though. The drive on the outskirts of Yellowstone was scenic. Looking back at the route, I didn’t realize it but I drove right through Big Sky, MT and the drive down from there along the river was very picturesque. After more driving and more driving, got to the last gas stop (10:00), filled up, got some more coffee and aired up the mattress. I went on my way and was getting close to the final stop of the day, but I wasn’t too tired yet and with some Hamilton playing I pressed on because I knew the Oriska rest stop was only an extra hour away and I knew that rest stop already. Arrive at rest stop at 12:04, ended the day at 12:15 (1:15 home time).

Day 7

Started the day and left the rest stop at 7:00. This is the final stretch and a race to get home. Only one gas stop today, I changed it and went to a Fleet Farm. I stopped and picked up oil change supplies, because Wanda will definitely need one once I get home. When I got to the Twin Cities, these was just about the worst driving I had on the whole trip. There was lots of construction and very “aggressive” drivers, one second you check your blind spot and its clear then the next someone is zipping up really quick when I am changing lanes and all you hear is horn. But I made it through and got home at 1:15. The rest of the day and the next couple days is unpacking, cleaning and catching up on sleep. 

In total there was 2,941 mile and 48 hours driven, 5 states, 1 Highpoint and 19 miles hiked. 

Time to think about the next adventure!!