Idaho's High Point - "Borah Peak"

Making our way from Jackson Hole, Wyoming where we chilled out for a few days (and contemplated climbing Gannett Peak - Wyoming's highest before being deterred by reports that lightning strikes on the nearby Grand Tetons injured 17 climbers!), we drove out west on our way to potato country, Idaho. We arrived in the late afternoon in the town of Arco, where its' claim to fame is being the location of the world's first nuclear power plant. It was a tiny town only a few blocks long and wide with nothing much around it. We stayed at the D-K motel on the main road, which was relatively cheap and very clean. We prepared ourselves for an early departure for the mountain and crashed for the night. At 5am the next morning, Sunday 25th July 2010, we drove out towards Borah Peak (or Mt Borah), which is Idaho's high point at 12,662 feet. Driving in the dark past the town of Mackay, and turning off onto a dirt road we made our way towards the trail head car park. There were a few campers at the trailhead as we prepared for our hike. We were on the trail just before 6am. The hike started easily enough through the scrubs and trees before quickly got much steeper. We stopped for breakfast just before 7am as we watched the sunrise (and a much older but obviously fitter couple hiked by!). From there started a much steeper incline on difficult scree/dirt terrain which required small well placed steps to avoid continually sliding backwards as we stepped forward. It was not fun and I couldn't remember a recent time when I had climbed such steep terrain! Eventually we made it past treeline only to be faced with a high mountain ahead of us (and no it wasn't Borah Peak). We continued to slowly hike across the mountain towards the rocky infamous Chickenout ridge. The Chicken out ridge, with its steep knife edged rocky ridge is famous for looking so dangerous and scary because of the cliff drops on both side of the ridge, that hikers "chicken out" and turn around. At the base of the ridge, Mark and I prepped ourselves by having a snack, put on our helmets and tackled it. It was challenging and required some concentration as to where to maneuver and step, but we made it across Chickenout ridge without too much issue. I actually found it quite fun compared to the teadious climb up the steep scree earlier that morning. Then we came across the more challenging snow bridge crossing which has clear drops on both side. We contemplated using ropes, but decided we would be okay just balancing ourselves with our hiking poles and slowly making our way across. The traverse wasn't too difficult and actually having the snow there made it easy to follow in others' footsteps. After Chickenout ridge and the snow bridge crossing, we figured we were on the easy trail now to the top. Little did we know that around the corner (literally), though the peak was in sight, we were faced with an extremely steep and loose scree field ahead of us. It was very slow going trying not to take one step forward only to slide two steps back! Talk about tiring and strenuous! We didn't remember reading about this part in other books or blogs! We eventually made it to the top just after 12 noon to be greeted by some beautiful blue sky and an awesome view along with a few flags signaling the high point! We wrote in the book in the metal box and took some photos with the flag which was pretty cool. We also meet a fellow highpointer who was hiking by himself and shared some stories. After a rest and soaking in the sights, we decided to make our way down. The hike down was just as tiring and a lot more pressure on the knees due to the steepness and the scree. There was a lot of sliding around as we navigated the scree. Having conquered the snow bridge and chickenout ridge on the way in, hiking out was a little bit easier though we were tired, and our legs felt like they were on auto-pilot as they matched our bodies out toward the trailhead. The decent took 4.5 hours and we arrived back at the trailhead and car at 5pm. Making the summit of Borah Peak was very satisfying for us as it was one of our more difficult ascents, and we had been a little apprehensive about chickenout ridge and the snow bridge crossing. We left tired and happy and were looking forward to getting some hot food at the small takeout place next to the D-K motel. The food is pretty good and recommended, but the biggest novelty was the fact that our car was almost as long as the tiny takeout building! We would drive to their one order window - give our order, then drive around the building to the food window - where the same girl would give us our food! Check it out if you are in Arco!