Anyone ever hiked in Idaho?

[Granola22]

Just got word we are moving to Coeur D'Alene next month! I am gonna miss the gorge so much! I have never stepped foot into Idaho though so I'm really kinda stressed! Anyone ever been? Any specific hike recommendations for northern Idaho? I've been Googling the state a bit and I see that I'm going to be surrounded by a couple national forests so I can't complain about that, right? I'm not seeing much on hiking groups for Idaho through Google.. one meetup.com group.. I'm not really interested in hiking with other people, but just finding a site like this one where there's access to field guides but also people there to help when needed. This site rocks and it's gonna suck to get to a place where I'm surrounded by trails with no info on them!

[Steve20050]

There are persons on this site that have posted reports as recent as last summer. My experiences there have been in the Sawtooth National Recreation area. Much like the gorge this area is combined multi use mountain ranges and wilderness. The Sawtooths themselves are definitely worth seeing as is the Boulder and White cloud areas. Beautiful stuff, though my experiences are before much of the climate changing beetle infestation that has wreaked havoc in many forest ecosystems. You also have the western flank of The Tetons which is some of the finest hiking I've done here in the states. I saw a trip report on this area not long ago. Other is that Idaho has an enormous amount of wilderness forest that I would guess? is more horse country though this is just speculation. I'm sure others have better info on some of this.

[Don Nelsen]

Idaho has awesome hiking. Here are a few photos from a hike I did to Scotchman Peak, near Clark Fork:

http://www.fototime.com/users/donnelsen ... P,%20Idaho

Have fun!

dn

[Granola22]

Idaho has awesome hiking. Here are a few photos from a hike I did to Scotchman Peak, near Clark Fork:

http://www.fototime.com/users/donnelsen ... P,%20Idaho

Have fun!

dn

Whoa! Don! That is awesome you got so close to the goats! Are they really that immune to human contact

[Granola22]

Just tried to look Scotchman's Peak and Google maps is saying Permanently closed? Say it isn't so

[texasbb]

The Seven Devils range is definitely worth a trip or two. Dry, rugged, prickly, lakes everywhere you turn, lots of climbing and peak-bagging opportunities. I've only been there once, but it was quite a memorable trip.

[BurnsideBob]

I've hiked in Idaho the last 7 years, just not far north panhandle. Fabulous areas I've visited:

Seven Devils Wilderness NW of McCall
Sawtooth Wilderness SW of Stanley
White Cloud Wilderness SE of Stanley
Bighorns WNW of Challis

Resources:

http://idahoalpinezone.com/
http://www.network54.com/Forum/105717
http://idahosummits.com/index.php
http://www.idahoaclimbingguide.com/
http://www.fossilsites.com/STATES/ID.HTML
http://www.sawtoothcamera.com/slideshow3.html

I have a half dozen Idaho trip reports under the name Eiprahs on "Beyond the Sierra Nevada" forum, High Sierra Topix, http://www.highsierratopix.com. On main screen, upper right, click "Community" and select "forums home". "Beyond the Sierra Nevada" is the last forum listed (bottom of page). The most recent TR is this: http://www.highsierratopix.com/communit ... =8&t=13669

Castle Peak, White Clouds


Upper Alpine Creek Lakes Basin, Sawtooths


Feather Lakes, Warbonnet Group (left) Monte Verita Group (right), Sawtooths


I think you'll be ecstatic !!! Don't let the mountain goats bite.

Happy trails.

[Steve20050]

I was thinking a bit more about your move. I have only been thru that northern route of Idaho some years back. I recall Coeur D'Alene as being a very scenic area. You would have easy access to western Montana, which is probably a place you'll get to spend plenty of time. Hopefully someone can direct you to some of that great scenery. Unfortunately my experience with Montana is limited to Bear Tooth Mountains farther south.

[kepPNW]

I was thinking a bit more about your move. I have only been thru that northern route of Idaho some years back. I recall Coeur D'Alene as being a very scenic area. You would have easy access to western Montana, which is probably a place you'll get to spend plenty of time.

I've driven I-90 across that stretch many times, but unfortunately never hiked there. It is absolutely gorgeous. (The larch, in October, as you approach the Montana line... o.m.g...!) It's only about an hour across the state, there.

• 
  Larch Madness anyone? Along I-90, near ID/MT border, late-October 2014.

Another fabulous highway to explore is US-12, along the Clearwater River, between Lewiston and Lolo Pass. It's the route Lewis & Clark followed, and is just stunning. Fabulous trailheads head off into the mountains all along there. I honestly couldn't get over it, especially in light of all the whiney dithering the USFS does here about building bridges. They do it right, there!

• 
  No fording necessary! Exquisite trailheads along US-12.

[Don Nelsen]

Idaho has awesome hiking. Here are a few photos from a hike I did to Scotchman Peak, near Clark Fork:

http://www.fototime.com/users/donnelsen ... P,%20Idaho

Have fun!

dn

Whoa! Don! That is awesome you got so close to the goats! Are they really that immune to human contact

Yes, they are! Really surprised me when one of them stood directly in front of me on the trail and refused to budge. I had to go off-trail to get around him - those horns were a bit intimidating.

Scotchman is the highest peak in Bonner County (7009') and a popular hiking route. There are trails everywhere in northern Idaho and so far, I've not found anything I didn't enjoy immensely. Most of the geology is granite and there are spectacular peaks everywhere. Here are some photos of Chimney Rock that I've hiked to a couple of times. It is about 6 miles east of Indian Creek Bay on Priest lake. This sticks up about 400 feet above the surrounding terrain: