4th of July Peak Trail

Gari found a new trail.  It is on the Pine Creek Pass that leads into Victor, ID.  This trail turned out to be about 1.5 miles straight up!  We went very slow and made it all the way to the top.  The trail was not well marked and was a bit difficult to find.  Even Gari's Garmin handheld GPS was off  by over 200 ft on the location of the trailhead.  As we approached the area where we expected the trail to start, we saw a small path going straight up the hill.  Coincidentally there was an old cowboy taking a break with his horse, pack horse and 3 Border Collies by the creek near the trailhead.  We shouted and asked if he knew if the small path going straight up the hill was the 4th of July trailhead.  He just shook his head up and down without a word.  We shouted our thanks and started up the steep slope.  Below Steve crosses the creek that separated the dirt road from the trailhead.

As we ascended the first 200 ft of the steep trailhead, Gari looked back and snapped the picture below. If you look closely you can see a thin gray trail marker just in front of the vegetation frame center close to the photographer.  We had to see that marker from the dirt road.  Not easy to see.  The cowboy's horses grazing by the creek are much easier to see.

Below, Gari sets the GPS at the start of the hike.  This tells us time on the hike, distance and elevation statistics.  The total distance was 2.41 miles, the elevation gain was 850 ft, and we spent 1 hour and 45 minutes on the trail.  It took us about an hour going up, we milled around the top for 20 minutes and then the walk down took only 20 minutes.  It was steep and slow going on the way up!

We observed many pretty wildflower along this trail.  We like the delicate thin lines on these petals.

Below are a couple red Indian Paintbrush flowers mixed in.

There were thousands of these yellow Daisy like Cone Flowers.  We must have missed the height of the bloom by a couple of weeks.  Note to self, hike 4th of July Trail in late June for more blooms.

This meadow was covered with the yellow Cone Flowers!

Gari at the top of the trail on the 4th of July Peak.

A dramatic fallen tree view.

A mountain scar seen from atop 4th of July Peak.

Gari standing on that rare ground where a step in any direction is downhill.

Steve stands in front of the road, on which we traveled into the area.  You can see the white gravel US Forest Service road snaking into the mountains down below.

Steve's hero shot atop 4th of July Peak.

It is always nice to see Romeo waiting just where we left him.

On our drive out on the Forest Service road, we caught a glimpse of the Grand Teton mountains soaring above Victor, Idaho.