Trip Report
Tom and I had plans to go on the Idahosummits.com fall outing on Saturday. When Tom called to confirm plans on Wednesday, I sprung the idea of a second hike on him the day before. Tom was interested. So we left Boise at 7am with plans to climb Glide Mountain at the southwest end of Copper Basin.
After 3 hours of driving, we passed our campsite for that night. Then we approached the turn-off for Copper Basin. I was looking up at Wildhorse Lookout and mentioned to Tom I hadn't been to the top. Tom remarked that neither had he. We then agreed to save 30 more minutes of driving and just hike up to the lookout. We knew there was a trail, but we had no idea what the distance or gain would be.
We found the trailhead. The trail was open to ATV's and dusty, but off we went. From the trailhead, we dropped 50 feet, crossed the East Fork Big Lost River on a nice bridge and then hiked into Wildcat Canyon. The trail was a perfect grade, meaning it gained elevation quickly, but it wasn't too steep.
It was a nice cool, partly cloudy day and very enjoyable. The trail was forested at times and had pleasant views. After traversing the slopes above Wildcat Canyon, the trail finally cut across the head of the canyon and headed for the peak.
The views from the lookout are incredible. Almost the entire Lost River range is visible. Wildhorse Canyon is incredible with the giant Pioneers like Devils Bedstead East, Old Hyndman, and Hyndman peaks towering behind it. You can see a vast swath of Boulders and White Clouds to the north, with Castle Peak clearly visible. Also great views of the White Knobs were to be had.
The lookout was open and contained a register and some interesting reading material on the lookout. It was a very clean lookout and even had some chairs to sit in.
After reading, eating, and enjoying the views; Tom and I decided it was time to see if the rocky ridge about 1/2 a mile north of the lookout was higher. So we headed over there. After losing some elevation and then a quick scramble, we stood atop Peak 9602, which is 56 feet higher than the lookout. This spot opened up even better views to the north.
We then headed down. At some point it started to rain. After dealing with it for about 5 minutes, I decided to put on my rain jacket. Tom thanked me as this meant it would quit raining and he didn't have to don his jacket. Sure enough, it stopped within a minute and we hiked out in clearing skies.
We then drove 10 or 15 minutes to Phi Kappa Campground to recoup for the next day's adventure.
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