Trip Report
Grape Mountain had been on my list for a long time. For some reason, I just never got around to hiking to the top. All of my friends had done the peak in recent years. I finally got a day where I could get out, but really couldn't do anything too far away due time constraints.
Grape Mountain is a prominent mountain that sits between the south and middle forks of the Boise River and due west of Trinity Mountain. The peak has great views of Arrowrock Reservoir, the Danskin, Trinity, and Boise Mountains, and even the western end of the Treasure Valley.
After the long and winding road to the trailhead, I arrived at the trailhead at 11am with gorgeous blue skies overhead. I could have driven further up the road than I did, but I chose to drive about 1/2 a mile up the side road from the main road. The road went along a nice looking creek, with a large green meadow on the north side of the road, perfectly framed by snow-capped peaks.
As I followed the road, I reached a fork in the road. I knew the road forked left, but looking at the fork, it headed way off to the south and even a bit east. The road I planned to follow headed more directly west toward the peak. However, after following the main road it began to descend into Trail Creek drainage and away from Grape Mountain. So I returned to the fork and took the left turn. This turned out to be the road, but it is not the road shown on the topo, as it is much less direct!
As I gained elevation on the road, I eventually reached fresh snow at around 5000'. It was just an inch or so. As I neared 5500 feet, I reached deeper snows. After fighting it for a couple of hundred feet, I put on snowshoes at 5700 feet. After crossing over the false summit, I hit the main summit. On the summit is a transmitter building and large cairn. The air was clear and the views were great. Despite being the day after a major storm, there wasn't a hint of wind on the summit. After admiring the views, I started down.
With the wrong turn and longer-than-expected route, I was late. What I expected to take 2 hours and 3 miles was 2:45 hours and 6+ miles. On the way down I kept a steady pace and took a ridge that cut at least of mile of the meandering road. This allowed me to get off the peak in just over and hour and in 3 miles.
Grape is a fun mountain. It's not the most gorgeous terrain on earth, but there are certainly some nice looking areas. The drive is exactly 1 hour from my house, so it is relatively close to Boise.
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