Surprise Trip Report

Grandpa · 08-18-2011, 03:59 PM

Wow, we need more trip reports in here.

I'm calling this one the Surprise trip and will post some pics soon. My neighbor and I have had this trip planned for several months as a backpacking trek but the first surprise is when he showed up with his three horses for pack animals. Wow, hiking was great with no pack on my back.

We reached the Trailhead and while the horses had a bite to eat and stretched their legs from the bumpy ride in, Matt and his two sons, Robert (13) and Willard (11) and I took a 1/2 mile walk up a handicap accessible trail to a beautiful cascade, complete with observation deck.

After saddleing the horses and filling the panniers with camping goodies, we headed up the creek to a beautiful site adjacent to divergent trail junctions. The boys went to work catching some nice trout for our evening meal with Willard scoring first.

The next day took us to a beautiful lake nestled under granite spires and peaks. We continued on past another lake then began bushwacking our way up through boulder fields and scree, gaining nearly another 1000 ft of elevation to reach a pass looking down on another beautiful lake. It was Roberts dream to stock a high mountain lake with trout for his Eagle Scout project. Part of this trip was to scout out some high lakes for this project. The lake we were looking at was indeed deep enough and high enough and remote enough to qualify. So Robert, Tank, (my black lab) and I descended to the lake and begain scouting the other side for a possible route to get horses carrying cannisters of live fish back up. After picking our way back down into the next drainage we finally reached the bottom and discovered the remnants of an old trail that had not been maintained and did not show on any maps. Success, we had found Roberts route to get his fish into that lake. After another 8 miles, mostly fighting down timber and overgrown brush, we made it back to camp.

Our final day was another surprise. Tank and I left camp early while Matt and the boys were getting their horses ready. A steep 2 miles with nearly 2000 ft of vertical had me about exhausted when I reached what is called Surprise Valley. At 9000 ft, surrounded by craggy peaks, lay a beautiful, lush valley with some beautiful lakes in the meadows. Deer, elk and mountain goat sign was everywhere but all we saw were two huge muley bucks. The horses had caught up to me by then, so I took a turn on a horse. At the head of the valley, we hobbled the horses so they could feed on the lush grasses and headed up through the rocks to another pass. They had to stop often so I could rest from carrying that extra 30 pounds hanging over my belt and once to have a snowball fight. We reached the 11,000 ft pass and what a view. Lakes, more mountains and way down there a road. We could see the Boulder Mts, the White Clouds, Sleeping deer Mountain, The Lost River Range, the Lemhi Range and even to the Bitterroots

With a trailhead down there, Willard and I decided to go on, while Matt and Robert returned to the horses, retrieved our gear, went back to the truck and trailer and drove around to the other trailhead to get us. Trying to keep up with Willard on that 7 mile downhill was all I could do. Amazing what an 11 year old can do when he is having fun.

jason · 08-18-2011, 05:38 PM

Never hiked with a horse before. How was it? The no pack on your back part must have been nice. Would you use them again?

Judy Ann · 08-18-2011, 05:45 PM

Wonderful TR Grandpa. I can wait to see the pictures!

Grandpa · 08-18-2011, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jason

Never hiked with a horse before. How was it? The no pack on your back part must have been nice. Would you use them again?

It was awesome. We used to hunt that way, use the horses to get there and to get the game out. But most of the hiking this trip was where no horses could go.

Judy Ann · 08-19-2011, 07:56 PM

Grandpa, both the Trip Report and the Album on their own blew away any of the others that I have read this summer on any site. You have set the bar extraordinarily high for the rest of us especially when combining both. What an awesome project for an Eagle Scout to attempt. How deep does a lake at that altitude have to be for the trout to survive the winters?

On a deeper note, your neighbors obviously love you a lot to surprise you in such a meaningful way. One of my favorite pictures (all were my favorites) was #34 with Tank following in the tracks of the horse you were on! I will review this album many times in the future noticing something different in each picture and think about homesteading and then appreciate living vicariously through your photography. Kudos Grandpa!!!

Tubby · 08-19-2011, 08:08 PM

That's wonderful! It sounds like a wonderful trip! It's amazing that your neighbor would surprise you with such a wonderful trip. I like travelling with horses, makes things a lot easier.

Walking Man · 08-19-2011, 08:25 PM

Absolutely amazing country! You lucky dog you! Looks like Tank had a good time on the trip too. How cold did it get up there on the high points?

Grandpa · 08-19-2011, 11:05 PM

Thanks for the kind words Judy. I hope others can enjoy, even vicariously, the beauty of these places.

We had a skim of ice on the quiet folds of the creek and our water bottles left out were slushed up one morning. That was at our base camp at about 7000 ft. I have no idea how cold it got near the passes but that snow was rock solid to walk on. I had to use a rock to break some chunks off for the dog or he would have broken a tooth trying to bite into a drift. Willard did find a drift that was slushy enough to harass us with snowballs though. Those boys were amazing scrambling up though those rocks.

IndianaHiker · 08-24-2011, 09:05 AM

Looks wonderful very pretty area. Gonna have to get back to the mountains some day miss that.