Over the 4th of July weekend, we had the opportunity to do a hike in the McCall area in Idaho. The Lick Creek Road area looked like the most rugged area in the region, and this hike had a lake and a pass, so we decided on the Snowslide Lake-Snowslide Summit hike.
Opening Photo (as an attachment, because for some reason, the regular photos don't seem to show up on the home page)
Snowslide Lake
The trail up is Very. Very. steep. About as steep as the trail between the PCT junction and Tuck Lake (from the Tuck and Robin Lakes hike) in central Washington, if you've ever hiked that trail before. Rocky, bouldery, and lots of loose gravel/dust, with minimal switchbacks.
Map of the hike in Google Maps.
Basic trail sign at the trailhead
You have to negotiate (or wade through) a large creek crossing, that can get somewhat deep in the early season. We opted to cross on these logs on the way up to keep our shoes dry, and wade through on the way down. The log crossing is quite long and tedious, with some tricky spots. Good balance needed, more-so because of how long the last log is. Overall, not too bad though.
Some asters were in bloom
Not long after the beginning of the steep climb up, a view opens up behind us.
A small patch of wildflowers along the trail.
Some debris and blowdown across the trail in spots. The steepness of the trail doesn't come across so well in the photo, here, though.
Penstemon
Indian Paintbrush
Quite a bit of Arnica blooming!
Glacier Lilies were in massive bloom, especially in the mid section before the lake. (They were also just starting to bloom at the Snowslide Summit.)
Shooting Stars were in massive bloom, right along-side the Glacier Lilies.
Nearing Snowslide Lake
Snowslide Lake and Shooting Stars. There were massive fields of shooting stars in bloom at the lake.
From the lake, the scenery only gets better. My advice, don't stop at the lake if you can afford to keep going! Even just half-way up to the pass will lead to fantastic views above the lake.
Trail going up. It gets kind of tricky to follow, especially in the early season. One of the switchbacks was covered by deep snow on our hike, so we hiked straight up the hill until we regained the trail. You can also hike up the steep snowfield, but we didn't prefer that option.
Massive granite face of Snowslide Peak to the right of the trail up.
After a short while, Snowslide Lake comes into view about halfway up to Snowslide Summit.
Granite slope to one side of the trail.
At the Snowslide Summit (pass). You can extend your hike on down to Maki Lake, but the trail down there is very, very hard to follow, often non-existent in places. Good route finding skills needed. Didn't feel like continuing, and wanted to get back extra early, so we didn't continue any further.
From the summit, we scrambled up the ridge to the south on Snowslide Peak's flank a very short ways, to a granite outcropping. There is a MUCH better view down to Snowslide Lake and Snowslide Peak from there. Coming up from Snowslide Lake, veer off-trail to the right once at the Snowslide Summit (trail-pass), and scramble up the granite boulders to a high point a few hundred feet off the trail. This photo of the Snowslide Peak summit ridge was taken from the outcropping.
North, from just below the granite outcropping
Whitebark Pine
Looking down onto Snowslide Lake from the granite overlook.
The steep snow-slide that Snowslide Peak is named for.
Looking back down onto the Snowslide Summit (trail-pass), and one of the flanking ridgelines of Sawtooth Peak
Looking east, across the Foss Creek valley.
Snowslide Lake and the south slope of Sawtooth Peak to the right.
Maki Lake is down in this direction, right over the saddle in the middle of the photo, I believe.
Snowslide Lake on the way back down.
Snowslide Lake.
Some more wildflower photos from the hike:
Mountain Sandwort, saw a lot of these.
Tall Cinquefoil? (Had lots of trouble identifying this one.)
GPS Track:
Snowslide Lake and Snowslide Summit, Idaho (July 5)
Snowslide Lake and Snowslide Summit, Idaho (July 5)
- Previously ElementalFX