Diamond Peak from the East flank
About 2 hours south of Salmon Idaho and just a mile or two past the wide spot in the road known a Lone Pine, I took a right turn off of Idaho Highway 28 onto Pass Creek Road. I was hoping this road wouldn’t require a high clearance 4 wheel drive vehicle like I had read because I was still a long way from the base of Diamond Peak, the 4th highest peak in Idaho. At just under 2 miles I took another right which immediately fords the trickle of water known as Pass Creek. I followed this road for approximately 7 miles passing through a couple of gates until I arrived at a small saddle with a fire ring and the remains of the road barricade at ca.8000 Feet (44.1480N, 113.0373W). With care and some crafty driving your standard intermediate SUV should get you there, and back...
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Diamond Peak from the East flank |
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I began hiking the road which gets steep and looser than I was willing to chance driving up. In about a quarter mile the track became more of a path than road then finally disappeared near at the edge of a stand of trees. From there the route makes a rising traverse though open grassland and trees to a small saddle at about 9400 Feet. Once at the saddle the route follows the ridge where there is a path in the scree that leads to a flatter NW trending section of the ridge at 10,400 Feet.
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Bell Mountain from the East Ridge of Diamond |
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At about 10,800 the ridge curves back to the west and the scrambling soon follows. The crux is fairly early on in the scrambling which is a solid class 3 section. Beyond that there is a fair amount of pleasant class 2 and 3 scrambling which made time and elevation go by quickly. By 10 AM I was standing on the summit. Unfortunately, there were several fires burning in Idaho so the views were obscured by smoke.
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Approaching the upper East Ridge |
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View to the East from the summit of Diamond Peak |
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I returned via the same route. It took about 2.5 Hours to return to the “trailhead” from the summit. A nice scramble to the summit of one of Idaho’s 9 summits over 12,000 Feet high.
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