Norton Peak

Norton Peak

Overview

Norton Peak is located in the Smoky Mountains of Idaho. Although I lived in Idaho for many years, this was my first time to the mountain. This area has a few trails, that through a little effort and sweat will offer you beautiful forest, lake, and alpine views. I hope you enjoy this trip report and find it helpful in planning your next adventure in the hills.

Directions/Trailhead Information

The Norton Peak Trailhead is located at—latitude 43.731049°, longitude -114.633296°. There is a small parking lot that will hold about a dozen vehicles with additional places to pull out alongside the road. There are no restrooms at this trailhead. From Ketchum drive north on State Hwy 75 N for about 15 miles to Baker Creek Rd. Make a left-hand turn traveling west on Baker Creek Rd, and follow this for about 6 miles. Turn right to the northwest onto Forest Rd 170, and follow this for 1.3 miles to the trailhead. The road was in good shape in October, I had a Nissan Rogue rental that made the drive without any issues. There are two trails that lead out of this trailhead: (1) Norton Lakes Tail, (2) West Fork Norton Trail. This trip report follows the Norton Lakes Trail.

The Climb

Norton Peak summit

Today’s objective was to ascend Norton Peak, getting out on my first Idaho summit in what feels like years. There are many trip reports that entail descriptions of climbs of Norton Peak, I have left a few links in the Parting Notes section below should you need to do some further research. For today’s climb my plan was to approach the peak from the south via the Norton Lakes Trail.  

The start of the climb begins by crossing a wooden bridge, then take the trail to the right heading north. This isn’t marked very clearly, so make sure you are gaining considerable elevation rather than traversing across the western slope of the West Fork Norton Trail. On the GAIA map the only trail that appears is the Norton Lakes Trail and is not labeled with a formal name. I followed this trail through a forested valley passing two small mountain lakes—Norton Lakes. After the lakes the trail switchbacks several times making its way over the southwest ridge of Norton Peak. From this point I believe I was following a climber’s trail to the summit and was off the Norton Lakes Trail. The ridge leading to the summit was rocky and at points narrow, providing a nice ending to the summit. The views from the summit are unmatched, a complete 360° postcard worthy view of the surrounding peaks.

Norton Lakes

This was a yo-yo route, so after departing the summit I followed the route of ascent back to the trailhead. Even with spending a good deal of time on the summit, the total trip time was just over four hours. I was happy with my performance today, as its been quite a while since I was out on an isolated peak.

Parting Notes

Nick on the summit of Norton Peak

This is a great climb, one which I highly recommend. Even if you only wish to visit the Norton Lakes the views are worth the effort it will take to get to the destination. This was a warm-up hike for a climb of Galena Peak later in the week. I’m feeling pretty good going into that climb which I should have a trip report for very shortly. Whenever I travel back to Idaho and plan climbs I use the following sites to research routes, I highly recommend all of them for you to use in planning your next Idaho adventure—Idaho Summits, Idaho Alpine Zone, Splattski, Idaho: A Climbing Guide, and SummitPost.

Until next time, cheers!

GPS Track

Date: October 15, 2018

Trailhead Elevation: 7,640 feet

Norton Peak: 10,332 feet

Total Elevation Gain: 2,605 feet

Class: 2

Distance: 7.4 miles

Moving Time: 3 hr 49 min

Stopped Time: 0 hr 26 min

Climbing Partner: Solo

GAIA GPS Link: Norton Peak (2018-10-15)