Martin Mountain, Payette National Forest, Idaho

It was a beautiful Spring day here in Idaho so John and I headed down to the South Fork of the Salmon River to do a very low elevation mountain just off the Salmon River. See John’s trip report here and make sure to check out his map: http://www.splattski.com/2020/martin/index.html

The route started right on the South Fork, crossed the river, then proceeded slightly upstream on trails.

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The trails soon gave way to unmarked old logging roads so the going was relatively easy.

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I love hiking in these ponderosa forests, when heathy, they are relatively open and the huge ponderosa pine trees tower overhead. It creates amazing early morning lighting.

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After about 4.5 miles of relatively easy hiking with some bushwhacking, we found our summit. You can just make out John standing near the edge of the river canyon.

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I had hauled up my longer lens because I anticipated some long range views. After a quick photo shoot with the wide angle, I switched to this longer lens. These are some of the peaks off to the north.

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Through a gap in the trees, you can just make out Miner’s Peak which is much higher up in the mountain range.

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Here is an extreme digital zoom (sorry for the blur) of the peak through the trees so you can see the fire lookout on top of Miner’s Peak.

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Finally, on our way out, I spotted this nice elk rack. John being the veteran and crafty hiker he is, stepped over it and allowed me to lay claim. He then queried, “You are going to haul that out right?” Well of course I was! It was then that I realized how heavy they are….. and that John likely allowed me to make the find and it haul back to the car. The conversation over the last 2 miles back to the car quickly turned to horny hiker and big rack jokes with an occasional pickle quip thrown in!

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Here is an Idaho backcountry bridge for you. We both noted that the stream flow seemed much higher late in the afternoon as the melting snows high in the basin were coming down in the heat of the day!

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