Tom and I have a long backpacking trip planned for later this week so we talked Craig and Susan into joining us for a warm up hike. I last climbed Boulder Mountain in 2018, check that report out here.
Ruby and Dakota were not with us today because we started off this adventure on our mountain bikes. Therefore, Susan agreed to take Ruby’s role as Dave’s model.
As we rounded the shoulder of Boulder Mountain, Jughandle Mountain comes into view. You might remember that we climbed that one a couple weeks ago.
Now Jughandle Mountain with snag in the foreground.
With our cool wet spring, we have lots of snow in the high country, that should make for an interesting backpack later on!
We encountered periods of continuous snow…
Continuous snow with a snag.
As we curled around the mountain’s shoulder, we got our first look at Boulder Mountain’s summit.
By staying on the south slopes, we were able to find bare ground. Back in the day, Boulder Mountain had a fire lookout so parts of an old access trail can be found.
Tom approaches the summit carin.
We had amazing views off the top and beautiful clear skies.
After a relaxing lunch in the mid day sun, we headed back down….. Sometimes to go down, you need to go back up…. The back side of this small ridge was quite snowy!
Further down the mountain is was a mix of snow and old trail with full time views of Valley County and Lake Payette.
Finally, as we approached our hidden mountain bikes, we had one last view of Boulder Mountain. If you look carefully you can see Upper Shaw Twin Lake below.
I’m going to be backpacking for 10 of the next 12 days but will return with a boat load of adventure images so stay tuned!!!!
davefaitlemonde.com 