This August our annual run-cation turned into more of a mountain-cation and one of our objectives for the trip was climbing Borah Peak, Idaho’s tallest tip at 12,667′!
What We Learned (Read this to skip the banter!)
- Mackay Reservoir is the bees knees base camp spot for climbing Borah
- Chickenout Ridge is not too scary, don’t let the hype keep you from climbing this mountain
- There is a little sneak up a gulley climbers left of the Chicken Ridge you can use to avoid the ropes section
- Don’t forget your gummies!
- Craters of the Moon National Monument is a short detour, an absolute alien landscape worth a visit
Borah Peak is located near Middle of Nowhere, Idaho which is about a 6 hour drive from Salt Lake City. This meant we needed to find somewhere to plop for a couple nights to be able to climb the peak! There are campgrounds scattered here and there in the area, the main place people usually camp for climbing Borah is the actual trailhead itself. We wanted to find a place that had running water and a less chance of being full when we rolled up and ended up taking a chance on the Joe T. Fallini campground on Mackay Reservoir. They have a few tent only campsites, it is right on the water, and even though it is super close to the highway it is down a short hill and you can barely tell. This spot was tight! We got there early in the morning and spent our first day playing in the water, going on a short run, and taking Jarri on an off-road adventure! Taylor Ostrander met up with us later that evening from Boise to do the hike with us!
We slept in a bit and arrived to a full trailhead. Who are all these people waking up at 3AM to climb this thing? It is cold that early in the day! Anyway, fueled by a proper sleep we headed up the trail. Borah is a pretty neat peak, you essentially snake up the whole mountain staying on top of the most prominent ridgeline. Only a couple scramble bits, the difficulty comes from the altitude if you aren’t used to it which we were not! Here is the general route, ridge stuff at its finest!
Nothing too crazy here, there aren’t any other trails to get lost on, just head up and start grinding! Once you break above the treeline the views of the Lost River Range get pretty amazing. This range isn’t too big in length but holds most of Utah’s highest points and coolest looking mountains!
There are a couple scrambly sections like this on the ridge but none are too difficult or exposed, plus is spices things up a bit #FUN!
There is one point they have a short rope to help downclimbing a steep section, this whole section could be avoided by cutting over to the gulley on your left going up. We made sure to hit the gulley on our way down!
The final 1000′ started to turn into a bit of a grind with our little lungs not quite used to the altitude, but the footing was pretty good and soon we were at the top!
Plenty of daylight still to enjoy our snacks and kick back and look at the rocks!
The way down was pretty quick, but a bit of a quad burner near the end! Luckily we had a big ol reservoir to play in when we got back! What a good cap to a fun Peak bag!
