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Base Camp
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- Statistics:
- Date Hiked: October 14, 2002
- Miles Hiked: 7.6
- Elevation Gain: 5,140'
- Hiking Partner(s): Bruce
Eames
- Description:
- There are 9 peaks in Idaho over 12,000', and Mount Breitenbach is number five on the
12er list at 12,140'. Six down, three to go.
- I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me that I didn't make it to
the top of Breitenbach a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately the
weather was beautiful throughout the beginning of October, and I
convinced Bruce to go on another jaunt to the Lost River Range of
eastern Idaho. My driving directions from the previous description
proved accurate as we arrived safely at the trailhead in the dark, so I
will refer you there for more detailed directions.
- I woke at 2:00 a.m. to get dressed, brush my teeth, say goodbye to my
wife, and hit the road to pick up Bruce in Boise. We had decided
to get up extremely early and drive through the night rather than camp
at the trailhead. This would allow us more time at home and not
require us to start out cold Monday morning. We left Boise at 2:30
a.m., we were at the trailhead by 6:00 a.m., and we were on the trail
(or up the creek bed in this case) by 6:30 a.m.
- We didn't have to hike with our headlamps quite as much as we did for
the Church/Donaldson hike, and the distance in the creek bed was shorter
too. The first 1.5 miles up Pete Creek went by relatively fast and
by the time we were above the tree line in the scree, it was light
out. Although I deviated from the following suggestion, I would
recommend simply staying in the bottom of the scree gulley that will
eventually lead you all the way to the saddle at 11,400'. I tried
to go up a steep chute to cut some distance, but it only resulted in
expending a lot of energy and there was no time or distance savings.
- Once we gained the saddle, Breitenbach was in sight. At first we
thought that a smaller peak on the ridge to Breitenbach was the
summit. Due to the perspective, it took us a while to realize that
we had to go over what we thought was Breitenbach to reach the actual
summit. The next section of the hike from the saddle to what we
referred to as the "south summit" was steep but stable.
On top of the south summit, we could see north to Donaldson, Church,
Leatherman, and Borah.
- From the south summit to Mount Breitenbach was a fun knife edge ridge
hike with a few ups and downs. We spent approximately 20 minutes
on top at 12,140' signing the trail register and taking photos. It took 6
hours to climb to the summit. We returned the same route we came in 3.5 hours. With the exception of the scramble to the south
summit and also the ridge to the summit, I would classify this a class
two hike. The rock is solid throughout the hike and in no way
compares to the rotten talus on sections of the Donaldson/Church
scramble.
- Maps:
- Click here to view a 2D map of
the area where this hike is located. (Obviously the turn around
point applies to the previous hike.)
- Click here to view a 3D map of
the area where this hike is located.
- Photographs:
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