Eagle Rock rocks.
- April 27, 2019
- Eagle Rock, 7500'
- 9.2 mi, 3916' gain, 5:25 car-to-car, Class 1 and a bit of 3
- Team: me
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
| It's not that far in miles to get to the Camp Creek trailhead, but it was a full two hours from my house. The trailhead elevation is 4040', so we were well below the snow line. If it's any consolation, there is a FS campground across the road, making an overnight stay quite pleasant. | |
The trailhead is on the wrong side of Camp Creek, and since the FS says this trail has no planned maintenance, I was guessing the bridge was out. So we walked south on the road for 50 yards, then scrambled up the hillside to find the trail. We found it right above the equipment dump shown on the map. That's Miners Peak on the right. |
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We had been wandering around in a grassy area, and also following some abandoned logging roads. We were looking for the "trail" when we found this moto track. Might as well..... Note that because this trail is not on the motorized vehicle map, motorcycles are NOT allowed here. But it was nice that they had cut out the downfall. |
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| About 100 yards later, the moto found the real trail, and we were off. Up and off. The views started popping almost immediately. Even if you only hike this trail for 30 minutes, it's worth it. |  |
| In places, the trail is extremely steep. The moto rider must have been skilled. At any rate, it doesn't take long to great views of the river and the back side of the Lick Creek range. |  |
| Nick Peak |  |
The South Fork is famous for its ticks, and today did not disappoint. This little bugger is as much of a signal of spring as my favorite spring flower, the trillium. |
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| Much of the hillside that we were climbing has rocks. |  |
And more rocks. Note little Ruby in the lower right corner, supplying some scale. |
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| Somewhere around here you get a glimpse of the summit, although you might not know that at the time. We didn't. |  |
We first hit snow at about 5900'. Mostly firm to hard, but with some holes. Amazingly, I was smart enough (or, at least, awake enough) to pack some gaiters. |
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The snow was spotty and we were able to dance around much of it. Okay, I see three rocks.... which is Eagle? (Hint: the one on the right). |
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Zoomed in. Hmmm. Even above 7000' we were able to stay mostly on dry ground. However, the final hillside was all snow. But firm (other than soft spots where it was thin or around submerged stuff). |
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| We circled around to the east looking for an easier route. There we found snow up to the last 50' or so of elevation. Also, signs of man. |  |
More signs of man. This is one of the anchors that once held the lookout in place. At this point, it was obviously not going to be an easy scramble, so I tied Ruby up to do some Class 3 exploration. |
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Looking up. |
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The logs you see here were probably a ladder once. I first tried the crack in the middle, but didn't feel secure in my (somewhat wet) hiking boots. So then I ducked through the hole on the right. |
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Standing at the base of the logs and looking up, it appears possible. But there is a big drop to the right, so any mistake was going to be either extremely painful or deadly. The summit is probably only 8 feet or so higher than this. sigh And I'm not sure I could do a mantle on an overhanging wall anyway (note the angle shown in the previous photo). So I climbed back down to where I took the previous photo and tried further to the left. That actually looked more possible, but now I was over about a 30' vertical to overhanging drop. Not today, thanks. |
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| So scrambled back down to Ruby and let her loose. Together we scrambled counter-clockwise around the rock looking for any possible access. |  |
This is the view from the north. I scrambled up to investigate that crack on the right, but it was across an abyss. It's easier to get to it from back where I started. But again, that crack is above a 30' drop. Here's one way up as seen at idaholookouts.weebly.com. Okay, time to head down. |
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But first we had a photo session. Lots to look at. This is Sister Creek Peak that John and I snowshoed a few years back. Lots more, but I won't bore you here. Go see! |
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| Down, down, down. This is looking back at the ridge we had traversed. Note the abundant snow, but (mostly) dry ground on the south side. |  |
On the way back, the trail was occasionally hard to follow. But Ruby did a great job finding it for me. Once below the snow, we were back on the moto tracks, so it was easy. Just another 2000' to drop. |
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| Still lots to look at. This is a zoom of Squaretop. Sort of gives a lie to the Highway 55 idea that McCall peaks are just rolling hills. |  |
| More sharp peaks. On the left, Mount Horrendous. In the middle, Tsum Peak. |  |
And there's the river again. I hope it's obvious how wonderful the views are on this hike. Well worth the (large) effort. |
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| Map |  |
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