{"id":3299,"date":"2020-08-14T07:32:15","date_gmt":"2020-08-14T07:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/?p=3299"},"modified":"2020-08-25T17:16:08","modified_gmt":"2020-08-25T17:16:08","slug":"burton-peak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/2020\/08\/14\/burton-peak\/","title":{"rendered":"Burton Peak"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, July 22, 2020<\/p>\n

On our second day of hiking in the Idaho Selkirks we hiked up Burton Peak. The last few miles of Road 2692 to the trailhead are a bit rough, but our Subaru did fine. The trail starts out in the old Myrtle Creek burn from 2003:<\/p>\n

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We started seeing wildflowers, a sign of things to come:<\/p>\n

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The trail started opening up and we saw more and more wildflowers:<\/p>\n

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The last 0.75 miles or so before the summit was all through meadowy areas with tons of wildflowers. The trail was steep and rocky in many places through here:<\/p>\n

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After 2.5 miles we reached the peak and the old 1933 lookout cabin:<\/p>\n

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The cabin hasn’t been used in many decades and it’s a miracle that it’s still standing. Here is what it looked like in 1938:<\/p>\n

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The views up there were fabulous:<\/p>\n

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The trail officially ends here at the lookout, but I think a lot of people go cross-country to visit that peak right next door in the photos above. We decided not to do that and just enjoyed the views from here.<\/p>\n

To the east we could see down on Bonner’s Ferry and the Kootenai River:<\/p>\n

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Some morons had chopped down a tree for firewood. If you need to chop down a tree to have a campfire, you shouldn’t be having a campfire:<\/p>\n

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We hung out on the summit for several hours, taking shelter from the wind and the sun on the north side of the cabin. There were no bugs, thanks to the wind. We had the place all to ourselves and didn’t see any other hikers. The joys of hiking on weekdays!<\/p>\n

Heading back down we got to enjoy the flower show all over again:<\/p>\n

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We got back to the trailhead at 4pm and a group of five scouts and two leaders were getting ready to hike up. One of them asked me “See any critters?” Nope, no critters.<\/p>\n

Gaia stats: 5 miles, 1,560′ elevation gain<\/p>\n

After our hike we did the short driving tour through the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge. The only wildlife we saw was one deer:<\/p>\n

\"Kootenai<\/p>\n

\"Kootenai<\/p>\n

\"Kootenai<\/p>\n

\"Kootenai<\/p>\n

After that we visited both upper and lower Snow Creek Falls, which is a short hike from the road. I was very disappointed to see that visitors have left their mark everywhere here. There was graffiti on railings, benches, and posts. People had carved their names on logs and railings. People were causing erosion by cutting the switchbacks. What a shame.<\/p>\n

\"Graffiti\"<\/p>\n

We visited the upper falls first which was gorgeous:<\/p>\n

\"Upper<\/p>\n

Then we visited the lower falls; still lovely but definitely the less scenic of the two:<\/p>\n

\"Lower<\/p>\n

See other posts from this trip:<\/p>\n