This week I’m meeting up with my good buddy and headed over to the Lost Rive Range.
We set up camp on this bluff above Mackey Reservoir, a place I spent lots of time as a kid.
Mount McCaleb, our objective for tomorrow, Little Mac is just off to it’s left.
I was not aware of this!
The next morning, a sign from god with sunrise directly over Mt. McCaleb!
First up, we mountain bike from the van to the start of the climb.
It is really difficult to capture the steepness of the slope. Our goal was to get as high up this jeep road as possible to start the climb.
Looking back at Mackey Reservoir.
We didn’t get too far up the jeep road and it was just too hard to ride. Time to hike. First up though, hide the bikes….
Steep!
Looking down the Big Lost River Drainage.
Into the trees.
Through this gap in the trees, the view back to the reservoir. With an extreme zoom you can make out the van.
Into the scree fields.
Brian has climbed thousands of peaks but even he was thrilled with the views.
Up, up, up on a kinda sorta climber’s trail.
What a glorious day!
More up but notice we are getting into the snow.
A view up towards the summit.
After a goodly amount of time we arrive at the saddle between McCaleb and Little Mac. Behind Brian is the summit of McCaleb about 1500 feet above. The saddle here is about 10,000 feet.
Little Mac.
Just off the shoulder of Little Mac is Borah Peak which is the highest peak in Idaho at 12,662 feet. Borah is about 1000 feet higher than Mount McCaleb.
Mackey Reservoir with Little Mac on the right.
Views from near the summit.
Brian working his way up.
Views near the summit.
We take a lunch break at this spot near the summit. Notice Brian checks his messages. The cell service was great!
A look over to Mount Borah shows that it is just a touch higher.
Time to go down.
The old snags up here were really cool.
An octopus.
Finally, most of the way back down, Brian soaks in the view one more time.
davefaitlemonde.com 