A late season hike and snowshoe on Jumbo Mountain gives a great perspective on the Soldier Mountains.
- November 20, 2005
- Trip start 6:15am
- Hike start 9am @ 4980'
- Summit:8216', in 3.5 miles
- Team: Dave, me
- Back to the car at 3pm
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
| I've been interested in exploring the Soldier Mountains for some time, but had never been up the South Fork of the Boise River to get a good view of them from the north. So Jumbo Mountain seemed like just the ticket. |  |
The trail up Jumbo Creek is easy to follow at first, but after some super-steep switchbacks, it moved into the snow zone. At this point, we just followed the creek as best we could. But we were still hiking. |
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| Once the snow got deep enough for snowshoeing, the going actually got easier. And the views, if not the elevation, were breathtaking. |  |
| After walking into a large herd of elk, we crossed their tracks many times as we cruised the summit ridge. Here Dave works on his tan. |  |
It was hard work snowshoeing in breakable crust and powder. But we made it to the top in just over three hours. It was about 50 degrees, and not a breath of wind. We sat down on our packs, had a long lunch, and simply stared at all the surrounding peaks. |
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| Then it was time to head back down. The southern faces were starting to corn up, making the snowshoeing a bit slippery. But it was still a whole lot faster than going up! |  |
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