Central Lemhi Range Loop, Idaho

 Central Lemhi Range Loop, Idaho

Total Mileage: 50 miles (approximate, including side-trips)

Total elevation gain: 11,500 feet (approximate)

Scenery: 6
Solitude: 8
Difficulty: 7

Our itinerary: 4 nights 5 days

Day1: South Fork Big Creek trailhead --Big Eightmile Creek area
Day2: Big Eighmile Creek area --Squirrel Creek
Day3: Squirrel Creek -- Iron Creek
Day4: Iron Creek Point (side trip) -- South Fork Big Creek
Day5: Hike out

Central Lemhi Range Loop! This loop highlights solitude and a lot of wildlife. How many people know Lemhi range? Not many. This makes this area really remote. Lemhi range is hidden behind already remote Lost River range. Also, the road to the trailhead is rough, although a sedan can make it. Indeed during our 5-day backpacking, we only saw 3 backpackers (2 in a group, and a solo backpacker). We talked with a solo backpacker who is from Boise, Idaho. When he found out that we came from Mass, he was surprised. He said that we reminded him of geese: sometimes he saw a goose why landed on a weird place despite all other places. He looked us like that way. He might have been surprised if I had said I am from Japan. I might be the first Japanese person who hiked in the Lemhi range actually! It is remote in terms of hikers, but half of this loop the trail is open to motorcycles. This was disappointing, but not too bad. We only saw 3 motorcycles over 5 days. 

Young bull

First we started hiking up along North Fork Big Creek. It was a hot day over 90F. When we arrived at the trailhead a day before, the thermometer in the car hit 100F (OMG). Our rental car was black, so inside was even hotter! Lemhi range seems geologically very hot. Later I looked again the Idaho backpacking book and this loop is stated best in June. Anyhow I don't regret. As I mentioned above about abundant wildlife, only 1 hour later we started hiking, we saw a moose bull. His antlers were still covered with velvet. Compared to the bull we saw in September in Alaska, he was smaller, but *still* big animal. He seemed surprised by presence of hikers and went deep in the forest. Then 10 minutes later we saw another young bull! The area must have very good food for moose. 

Devil's Basin

 After 10 mile of hiking, we arrived at Devil's Basin where we planned to camp. The meadow was really pretty. Green grass and surrounding high granite mountains are nice, however, there was a big problem: mosquitoes. SOOOO many mosquitoes, probably because there is a river in the middle of the meadow. I am extremely popular among mosquitoes. Thus I had to move on to the next camping area. (FYI: in Florida, I got 198 mosquito bites while Mr.N got 2 bites. This is the real numbers. I literally counted the bites.)

Looking down Devil's Basin

We left the basin and ascended the trail. In the left picture, you can see Devil's basin's green meadow below. There is no sign at the pass but we knew that is the junction by Idaho backpacking book. We took a little side trip to enjoy the ridge line to see remote Lehmi range. Despite such a great remoteness, the trail seemed rerouted and sometimes old trails were seen from new trail. We wondered why such remote area needs new trail.

1st night campsite

Then we descended to another beautiful basin and camped. In the evening one motorcycle passed the trail. Other than that, it was really quiet and solitude night.

For this trip we had one pack freeze-dried food (2 servings/pack) and Idahoan (dried mashed potatoes) or instant rice for 2 people dinner. Most people eat freeze-dried food 2 servings for 1 person. Usually 1 serving is not enough after all-day backpacking for one person. So we added Idahoan or rice to it. We were in Idaho, so Idahoan is the right thing to eat isn't it?

Yellow Lake from the 10,200 pass

Next morning, we climbed up to the 10,200-foot Yellow pass. From the pass, pretty Yellow lake was seen. Also the undulating mountains in Lehmi. It is very peaceful. Nobody else. At the top, I ate Japanese Melon Pan. I bought it at Japanese store in Salt Lake city. Then we descended to Yellow Lake and enjoyed it by the lake. After the Yellow lake, there were two choices. We could either stay on the official trail, or go down to the Middle Fork Lake by off-trail (mostly via mountain goat sketchy path). We looked down the lake from top. The lake was pretty, but after the lake we would need to stay in the forest. So we decided to stay on the official trail which is all the way above tree line on the ridge.

Meadow in the evening

For the 2nd night campsite, we chose the meadow near Squirrel Creek. Evening light hit the meadow, and it became orange. That was really beautiful. A bonus about this campsite is a chair! In this area horse camping are allowed. We found an established big campsite that was obviously used by a big party came with mules and horses. The reason we thought so was that a camping chair was left, and a styrofoam target was left. It was lucky to be able to sit on a chair while backpacking super remote.  

Elk

Next day we did a side trip to Iron Creek Point, which is 10,736 foot high. This was incredible, because we saw elk. Those elk is definitely one of the highlights of the entire Idaho trip. Usually we saw wildlife early in the morning or evening. We saw the elk around 8 a.m. on the talus. The trail is rarely used and nobody else on that day, too. Elk walking sounds on the talus made us notice the existence of them. Wow! A bull and several females and their kids. Females called with high-pitch voice to warn that there are humans.

Elk

 

It was funny that males ran away first when they noticed us, then females and kids were monitoring us as you see in the left picture. Adult mothers put small ones in the middle to protect them. 3 adults and 3 kids. Those small ones have white dots. 

 

 

Iron Creek Point

The view from Iron Creek Point was wonderful. This is the southwest side of Lehmi range. At the summit, there was collapsed lookout. We saw very old coffee metal can and fish can under. The package looked like 1950 or earlier even. The person in charge of lookout lived and watched wildfire I guess. 

Old lookout

Lehmi range is quite a unique place. It is isolated and solitude is promised. Many wildlife sighting is expected as well. This was another memorable backpacking.