Bighorn Crags Backpacking Trip, Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, Salmon, Idaho
Harbor Lake
A backpacking trip to the Bighorn Crags has been on my bucket list ever since seeing pictures of the area a few years ago. We were in Idaho and looking to do a backpacking trip. I was worried the Sawtooths had too much snow, and thought the Bighorn Crags might be a little more melted out. So, Mike and I stopped at the grocery store in Challis and bought some food for a two day/three night backpacking trip. We then drove 50 miles on a dirt road to the Big Horn Crags Trailhead by the Crags Campground. We spent the night in the campground and would begin our backpacking trip the next morning.
We signed in at the register and began hiking. We didn’t know how much snow to expect, but our rough plan was to camp near Birdbill Lake that night. We encountered some snow on shady, north facing areas, but it was all through pretty short sections and easily navigable. We loosely followed the ridge on the Bighorn Crags trail. We got to the intersection where we would need to decide if we would be able to make it to Birdbill Lake. We decided to turn right and follow a trail on a north facing slope that would bring us down to the lake. This trail is cut into the side of the mountain in some places, and unfortunately for us, had some snow blown over it in some steep sections. We made it through a few of these sections, but decided the risk of re-injuring Mike’s newly operated-on knee was not worth it and turned around. We ended up finding a nice campsite between Wilson Lake and Harbor Lake with some beautiful views of Fishfin Ridge that was also surrounded by snow, but provided a snow-free spot that was large enough for our tent.
We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and ate dinner by the lake before retiring for bed. That night ended up being much colder than expected, with temperatures getting into the mid 30s. Admittedly, we did not bring the right gear to sleep in those temperatures so it was a cold night for us. We woke up feeling like we hadn’t slept much and my Garmin watch confirmed that.
Since we were not able to get to Birdbill Lake, our entire trip would need to be different than planned, and the question became: what to do that day? After assessing our options, we decided we would cut the trip short and just head back to the van. We were both extremely tired after not having slept much and all of the hikes we wanted to do from camp involved more snow walking than Mike’s knee wanted to do. Plus, it was supposed to be quite cold again that night, which would likely lead to another night of poor sleep. Most of my backpacking injuries have come the night after sleeping poorly and not having the mental focus needed while hiking the next day and making a stupid mistake or misstep.
We decided to take the Waterfall Trail back as it’d provide a nice view of the waterfall below Wilson Lake and provide some new scenery. Of course, this route came with some more snow than expected, but we were able to navigate it. This trail ultimately links back up with the Bighorn Crags Trail that we had hiked the day before and we took that trail back to the trailhead.
Overall, while the trip didn’t go as expected, we still had a good time and got to check out a new Wilderness Area. We also were the only party at either Harbor Lake or Wilson Lake the one night we spent there, which I don’t think many others can say has happened to them as it seems to be quite a busy place. I’ve learned that one always needs to be ready to pivot on backpacking trips and this just happened to be one of those trips. It was still a beautiful 36 hours spent out of cell-phone service and in Wilderness so it filled my cup. I’ll be back when there’s less snow!
Day 1 stats: 7.1 miles, 1400 ft of elevation gain
Day 2 stats: 7.7 miles, 1200 ft of elevation gain
Total Stats: 14.8 miles, 2600 ft of elevation gain
