John, John, Tom and myself were heading to eastern Idaho for the 2015 Idahosummits Spring Outing. Since it is a long trip from Boise, we figured we had better tag some summits on the way over. We decided Jumpoff Peak and Howe Peak near Howe, Idaho would do the trick.

We left Boise at 8am and headed over at a leisurely pace. We knew a jeep trail led up to the top of both peaks from the east side via Eightmile Canyon. This didn't force us to stray much off of our course. The big question was "How high can we get on this supposedly rough road?".

Well, we turned off the highway and started up the road. A fork in the canyon splits into Left and Right Fork canyons, we took the road leading to Right Fork. We followed this steep, rocky road to the saddle between Jumpoff and Howe peaks at approximately 7600'. We wanted to hike, so that is what we did, leaving the vehicle there and hiking the road (which was now better than it was in the canyon).

The day was warm and sunny with a breeze... just about perfect! The entire time, we could see some buildings on a point we assumed was Jumpoff Peak. However, as we neared the summit, we realized the highest ground was west of the point housing the equipment. We continued on, enjoying the now roadless hike on some neat terrain with occasional rocky sections to climb. Soon enough we were on top of Jumpoff Peak. Sporting a prominence of over 2000 feet, Jumpoff has some pretty cool views.

Soon we descended the way we had came and reached the vehicle. We all wanted to get to the top of Howe Peak too, so we decided to drive the road to near the summit, but not all the way... we have rules!. We parked in a switchback and raced up the slopes to the top, counting our second peak of the day.

Once back to the truck, it was time to head north and setup camp at Summit Creek Campground and prepare for the next day's hike.

You need to utilize Eightmile Canyon to follow our route. To get to Eightmile Canyon off of ID 22/33, either drive 10 miles north from the ID 22/33 and Idaho 20/26 junction or drive 6 miles south on ID 22/33 from Howe, Idaho.

Follow the road up Eightmile Canyon for 1.5 miles to a fork (shown on the TOPO). Take a right at this fork and follow it into Right Fork. At 4.3 miles from the highway, you will reach the saddle at 7600'.

This is a rough, steep, and narrow road. We did fine in a 4x4 pickup. A friend took a Subaru up the road the day before and was also fine, but did suffer a flat tire.

We simply hiked the road to Jumpoff Peak. There is also a road that leads to Howe Peak as well. Both peaks have very open terrain and are undoubtedly climbable from other directions as well.