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| The Cross |
Hiking day number 2 in Idaho. This ended up being a solo venture, but it
was a great snowshoe. The Cross and
Avalanche Peak are lower mountains in the northern Boulder Mountains. This was a very easy snowshoe that would be
great for all levels.
Drive HWY 75 north to Galena Pass, on the north side of the
pass park in the pull-out on the east side of the road. This is the trailhead for both of these
mountains. I don’t know that this is an
official TH, but based on the amount of tracks I saw it gets plenty of use. I put my snowshoes on in the parking area and
I was off around 8am.
Follow the main track that leads to the southwest ridge. Once on the main ridge there were numerous
ski/snowshoe tracks from here on out.
Find the correct tracks to follow (snowshoe or ski) then simply follow
the route to the summit of The Cross. I
decided to have a bit more fun and do a more direct route on the south side
allowing me to take in the morning views of the Boulder Mountains. After a short steep climb I was on the rocky summit
of The Cross.
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| Avalanche Peak |
From The Cross I could see Avalanche Peak was still a ways
away and there was no real snowshoe track leading in the direction I needed to
go. Easy fix; plow my own road. After dropping down a hundred feet or so off
the summit I saw some additional tracks heading to the east. I followed a snowshoe track to the flat
saddle between the two mountains till the track died out. The track also appeared to have what looked
like Wolf tracks, but I cannot confirm that.
The animal tracks were fresh while the old tracks seemed really old and
crusted over. No animal sightings other
than a squirrel or two though.
I just plowed my own road up most of Avalanche peak which
was fun to do. At some points the snow
was hard and I was able to stay on top and other points I would drop to shin
level but never deeper than that. I was mainly
following my GPS to the summit so I arrived at what I though was a summit on
the southwest. After recalling Dan’s
pictures from www.idahosummits.com
the summit on the northeast looked more like where he topped out at. That was a simple two minute walk over and
then I was finally on top of Avalanche Peak.
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| Pano Looking South |
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| Me on the Summit of Avalanche Peak |
The clouds were starting to lower a bit, and the wind was
chilly so I took a quick fuel break, snapped a few pictures and started on my
venture down the mountain. I met up with
my ascent track minus the walk up to the south summit and it was a quick walk
down to the saddle area. Instead of
re-ascending The Cross, I followed another track around the north side that
kept my additional elevation gain to a minimum.
In no time at all I was back to the parking lot and another
trip was in the books. This was a great
snowshoe after a fun climb of Gladiator a few days prior. The Boulder Mountains seem to be talking to
me a little bit right now, so I guess I will have to come back and climb them
all. Such a beautiful range that I
neglected all my years living in Idaho…shame on me! Hell, I may even try to squeeze in another
hike tomorrow. It’s the addiction I tell
you. Have fun and be safe out there.
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| GPS Track |
Date: 11/30/2013
Starting Elevation: 8,656ft
The Cross: 9,225ft
Avalanche Peak: 9,443ft
Total Gained Elevation: 1,500ft
Class: 2
Distance: 3.83 miles
Time: 2:16 moving, 35 stopped.
Climbing Partner: Solo
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