Once again it was time to pick Dylan up from camp. This time it was a Luther Heights Bible Camp trails camp. He had been backpacking in the White Cloud mountains from Monday through Friday and climbed a couple of 10,000 foot mountains. We thought we would surprise him with a short overnight camp followed by a hike.
We stashed the trailer outside Sun Valley and headed over Galena Summit to pick Dylan up at Lake Alturas. Once he was safely on board we headed back, hooked up the trailer and headed over Trail Creek Summit on the hour long dirt road into Copper Basin. A pretty uneventful hot night other than the ferocious mosquitoes!
The morning dawned clear and a little warm as we all headed up the 3 mile trail for Bellas Lakes. The hike was relatively short, taking us from about 7800 feet to 10,000 feet. It was gorgeous out, wildflowers were everywhere, very green and the bugs were not too bad - as long as you were moving. The plan was for the girls to kick back at the lakes and fish and read while Dylan and I attempted to climb Pyramid Peak.
After a little fishing at the first lake (Dylan caught 5 and I caught 2), we took a roundabout bushwhack up to the second lake. Here, the girls (including Shadow) bid us goodbye and we were off.
Pyramid Peak (above left) is a seldom climbed mountain in the Pioneer Range. There isn't a trail to the top, but after looking it up in "Idaho - A Climbing Guide" I knew we had to reach the east ridge to make the summit. The problem was, getting to the east ridge was an SOB. A lot of climbing in decomposed granite which is kind of like climbing in coarse sand - very tough on the legs. After obtaining the ridge, it was a short scramble to get close to the summit, followed by a steep little pitch to the top. At last, the summit at 11,628 feet.
This is one of the views we were rewarded with. (Click on the photo to blow it up) The lake on the left is the first lake we came to and the small spot of blue in the middle of the picture is where we left the girls.
Another view from the top:
Dylan and I scurried off the mountain quickly by boot skiing down the decomposed gravel and we even got in a short glissade down a patch of snow. All in all it took us 3 hours to summit and get back. A total of a little over 3800 vertical feet from camp to the summit.
Once back with the family, we all packed up and headed out for the warm hike back to camp. A beautiful day with all of us in an absolutely gorgeous place in the middle of nowhere.
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