Little Fiddler (5849') and Devil's Hole Peak (5,944')
Location: 43.48333°N, 115.72°W
Panoramic View from the top of Devil's Hole Peak (click to enlarge)
Distance: 12 miles
Elevation gain: 3500'
Class (difficulty): 2
Time: 6.25 hours
Report:
Last year I visited Danskin Peak for the first time in several years. The view from the top is so memorable that I committed to visiting the area more often in the future. For a change of pace, I decided to find a long route of the 2nd highest named summit in the Danskin range... Little Fiddler. I had first looked into hiking up Little Fiddler years ago, but never got around to it. So I contacted Zach and he was up for the outing.
Zach and I drove like we were heading up Danskin Peak, but turned off the Danskin Peak road just after Willow Reservoir. We took a side road that turned out to be more of a jeep trail. Luckily we only followed it less than a mile before deciding to hike. From our parking location, we could see a decent sized peak to our northeast. Without a map and going off my memory of the area, we decided that was Little Fiddler and that the more impressive mountain to our northwest was Fiddler BM. Later we would find that the peak to our northwest was in fact Little Fiddler and the closer one was Devil's Hole Peak.
Knowing that we would be relunctant to bag the distant peak later, we decided to attack it first and made our way to the ridge between the 2 peaks. Once on the ridge we were surprised to be on a nice trail that appeared to head all the way to Little Fiddler. The trail was certainly not level, but did a nice job getting us over to the peak. Just before the final push up Little Fiddler, we crossed a more major trail coming up from Cottonwood Creek and heading down towards the South Fork of Boise River canyon and Little Fiddler Flat. After that junction, the ATV trail became single track, as it switchbacked up towards Little Fiddler. The trail steepened, but led right to the summit!
Like Danskin Peak, views from Little Fiddler were impressive. You could see into South Fork canyon, across to Smith Prairie, with the mighty Trinity Peaks rising above the prairie.
We followed the trail on the ridge back and climbed Devil's Hole Peak. Amazingly, this peak also had a trail all of the way to the top of it. The peak also had incredible views of Smith Prairie and even a good view of Danskin Peak.
Getting there:
From Mountain Home, drive north into the mountains like you are going to drive to the top of Danskin Mountain. You will reach a small reservoir on the right hand side of the road just as you turn right (east) to head toward Danskin Mountain. Drive .75 miles after that reservoir and take a left onto a rugged road heading northeast. We followed this road .75 miles before stopping at a junction. One junction heads west toward Little Fiddler, while the other heads north toward Devil's Hole Peak. We probably could have shortened the hike by following one of the roads further, but decided not to risk it (plus at the time we were unsure where exactly we were).
Hiking instructions:
See the report above...
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Photos
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| The view of Little Fiddler (left) and Devil's Hole on the drive in. |
Little Fiddler from near the trailhead. |
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| Looking north at Smith Prairie and the Boise and Trinity ranges. |
Looking down into the South Fork Boise River Canyon with House Mountain in the background. |
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| Me on Little Fiddler. |
Looking back at Little Fiddler, you can see Zach coming up the trail. |
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| The summit cairn and pole on Devil's Hole Peak. |
Zach on Devil's Hole Peak. |
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| Little Fiddler from the trailhead. |
Danskin Peak from the trailhead. |
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