Rainbow Mountain sits above Coal Kiln Canyon in the Lemhis.
- May 20, 2017
- Team:IdahoSummits group, with 22 people and 3 dogs
- Peak: Rainbow Mountain, 10,162'
- Stats: 4.9 miles, 2848' gain, 5:24 hour RT, Class 2
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
Driving out across eastern Idaho heading for the Lemhis, I spotted this rainbow. Significant, because the goal for tomorrow is Rainbow Peak with the IdahoSummits group. I got to camp a little bleary from driving. Then followed the chaos of Ruby, our puppy, wanting to meet everyone. Setting up camp with a dog that wants to explore is tiresome.
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The next morning was a little more settled. She still wanted to say hi to everyone (again), but she and I had already eaten, so I could handle the distractions. And thank you to everyone for putting up with her antics. Here, the group (in several more vehicles you can't see) have driven to the parking area at Coal Kiln Canyon. The kilns are still there. They were once used to burn local wood to create coal used in smelting the ore from nearby mines. |
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And then we were on our way. There was a road, but it was muddy. And all the sage brush looked so inviting! Soon enough, we left the sage brush and entered the forest, heading for the ridge you see on the right. That forested ridge would eventually give way to the snow you see up top. |
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Hup! There's the snow now! |
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The snow was pretty crappy- a slushy mix of 2-6" on top of something firm-ish underneath with occasional postholes, even with snowshoes on. And for extra fun, the slushy mix was trying to stick to my snowshoes. |
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It helped to follow the tracks. Somewhere up there, someone was breaking trail. |
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Above treeline, the snow was pretty thin on the ridge crest. And by the time we got there, our group was pretty spread out. But you'd have to work to get off route up here. |
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More folks coming up. |
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And then we were on top. We quickly bundled up against the wind while we waited for others. |
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| Lunch. |  |
Or looking at the views. |
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| Beaverheads in the background. |  |
Most of the group. A few are hiding here, and a couple were not quite to the top yet- notably, Torry, who was climbing for two. And she did make it! Then came a long descent on tricky snow. Those in my age bracket were trying not to throw out their back when their snowshoes slid unexpectedly (or at least that's my take on it). |
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| When we got back to the forest, we came upon these piles of wood. Many, many piles. Probably left from when the kilns were operating, about 1889. Seriously! |  |
| NOAA had predicted a chance of thunder, so it was nice that we were able to get back down without that. The thunder kicked in about 2 hours later. |  |
Map Other reports:
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