IDAHO: A Climbing Guide

Category: Bob Packard

  • Ken Jones and Bob Packard: First to Complete Idaho’s County High Points by Ken Jones

    Ken Jones and Bob Packard: First to Complete Idaho’s County High Points by Ken Jones

    Idaho’s county high points are not only scattered all over Idaho but also encompass many access and climbing problems. Ken Jones and Bob Packard mutually agreed to complete the list on September 2, 2001. Below Ken Jones recounts the event.

    In the summer of 2001 as I looked forward to completing the Idaho county high points I realized that there was a chance I could be the first completer.  But it also appeared that my good friend Bob Packard, from Flagstaff AZ, could beat me to the punch.  Maybe he wasn’t aware of the race, and I could beat him to it!  Maybe he was planning to leave me in the dust (he was retired, I was not).  What to do?

    So I sat down with our respective lists and proposed to Bob that we schedule a joint completion on Illinois Peak in Shoshone county – we both needed it still, and it looked like a good place to finish.  We picked a date in early September, and I scheduled my wife and sons to join us.

    Now, all I had to do was complete the remaining peaks before Illinois Peak while Bob completed his somewhat different set to get to the finish line.  I did several solo trips, my 9-year-old son’s first backpack (Snowyside Peak, he fell in the water on a stream crossing but all turned out well), and a big multi-peak trip with another Arizona friend, Andy Martin.  After a backpack with Idaho hiking buddy Roger Williams to Big Baldy on the last weekend in August I was ready.  The family and I hiked Rhodes Peak on Sunday, September 2 and met Bob near the trailhead for Illinois Peak on Labor Day morning.

    The hike went well, and we positioned ourselves on opposite sides of the summit to touch simultaneously for a joint completion (although I was on the Pacific time zone side while Bob was on the Mountain time zone side, so you could argue that I finished an hour before him – if you don’t understand time zones!).

  • Idaho County High Points by Andy Martin

    Idaho County High Points by Andy Martin

    Out-of-staters Ken Jones and Bob Packard were the first to reach all the Idaho county high points. Dan Robbins was the first Idaho resident to reach the summit of all of Idaho’s county high points. Terri Rowe of Boise became the first woman to complete the list on August 6, 2019. As you will see from the table, it takes a lot effort, time, snacks and gas money to finish the list.

    Andy Martin developed the earliest list of Idaho county high points. Since his original work, improved maps became available. We have updated the list below to incorporate the updated elevations found on the newer maps. Revised August 2018

    The list of finishers includes:

    Ken Jones, Bob Packard, Dan Robbins, Dennis Poulin, Adam Helman, Chris Anderson, Tony Wofford and Terri Rowe

    Hiking the U.S. state high points is a popular activity and naturally leads to considering the next level of detail: the 3,140+ county high points. During the 1990s, lists were prepared that locate these points based on the USGS 7.5-minute maps. The book County High Points by Andy Martin, oldadit@iname.com, includes all of these lists.

    Hiking the counties of different Western States—AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA and WY—makes an interesting goal and Idaho proved to be a challenge. The Idaho County High Point List was finally completed on Labor Day of 2001 by Ken Jones and Bob Packard. This leaves Montana as the only uncompleted Western State as of 2018.

    High Points of Idaho’s 44 Counties

    The Idaho high point list was composed by county high point guru Andy Martin. Please note that some of Idaho counties’ highest points are not ranked summits. The average elevation is 8,289 feet (364,705 feet in peaks/44 counties). The high points in the table are shown in order by elevation. I have linked the peaks that are found on this website to the peak’s page.

    County High Point Elev. Location USGS 7.5′ MAP
    Custer Mount Borah 12,662 6-N-23E Borah Peak
    Butte Diamond Peak 12,197 2-9N-28E Diamond Peak
    Blaine Hyndman Peak 12,009 ?-5N-19/20E Hyndman Peak
    Lemhi Bell Mountain 11,612 36-11N-27E Bell Mountain
    Clark Point 11220 east of Webber Peak 11,200+ 33-12N-31E Scott Peak
    Boise Mount Cramer 10,716 19-8N-13E Mount Cramer
    Elmore Snowyside Peak 10,651 ?-7N-13E Snowyside Peak
    Fremont North Targhee Peak 10,420 ?-16N-43E Targhee Peak
    Camas Peak 10337 10,337+ ?-6?N-15E Galena
    Cassia Cache Peak 10,339 21-14S-24E Cache Peak
    Bonneville Mount Baird 10,025 5-1S-46E Mount Baird
    Bear Lake & Caribou Meade Peak 9,957 1-11S-44E Meade Peak
    Valley Big Baldy 9,705 26-17N-10E Big Baldy
    Franklin Peak 9484, locally known as Felt Hat Peak 9,484 29-15S-42E Egan Basin
    Idaho Point 9439 9,439 7-29N-17E Mt. Jerusalem
    Oneida Oxford Peak 9,282 26-13S-37E Oxford
    Bannock Bonneville Peak 9,271 33-7S-37E Bonneville Peak
    Teton Piney Peak 9,020 24-4N-43E Garns Mtn.
    Adams Monument Peak 8,920+ 22-22N-2W Purgatory Saddle
    Power Deep Creek Peak 8,748 13-11S-32E Deep Creek Peak
    Owyhee Hayden Peak 8,403 23-5S-3W Cinnabar Mtn.
    Madison Red Butte

    Note: Two unnamed points over 8,080 feet lie near Red Butte.

    		 8,108 20-4N-43E Temple Peak
    Clearwater Rhodes Peak 7,930 35-39N-13E Rhoades Peak
    Gem Peak 7971 7,921 1-13N-2E Tripod Peak
    Washington Cuddy Mountain 7,867 35-17N-4W Cuddy Mountain
    Twin Falls Point 7860 7,860 27/34-16S-12E Curtis Draw
    Boundary Peak 7714 7,714 2-63N-2W Pyramid Peak
    Shoshone Illinois Peak 7,690 33-43N-11E Illinois Peak
    Bingham Blue Ridge aka Blackfoot BM 7,550 34-2S-39E Poison Creek
    Bonner Scotchman Peak 7,009 21-56N-3E Scotchman Peak
    Jefferson Point 6664

    This point is part of Kelly Mountain

    		 6,664 33-4N-41E Heise
    Kootenai Latour Peak 6,408 8-47N-1E Twin Crags
    Gooding This high point is located on the county’s north boundary. It has no rise and it is not a peak in any sense. 6,360+ 4-3S-13E Davis Mountain
    Benewah Peak 6180 6,160+ 20-47N-1E Twin Crags
    Ada Point 6020 6,020+ 22-4N-3E Robie Creek
    Lincoln Peak 5950 5,950 3-3S-16E Thorn Creek Res.
    Nez Perce Craig Mountain 5,360+ 29-32N-4W Frye Point
    Latah Bald Mountain 5,320+ 34-43N-2W Emida
    Minidoka Bear Den Butte 5,104 8-3S-25E Bear Den Butte
    Lewis Peak 4795

    Note: Two points 4,780 feet+ lie about 800 feet NE of spot elevation 4,795 feet.

    		 4,795 23-32N-3W Hoover Point
    Payette Point 4763

    Note: Two points 4,760 feet+ lie on the east border of Section 4-9N-1W.

    		 4,763 4-9N-1W Coonrod Gulch
    Jerome This high point is located on the side of Kimama Butte. It has no rise and it is not a peak in any sense. 4,760+- 1-8S-21E Kimama Butte
    Canyon Pickles Butte 3,084 21-2N-3W Givens Hot Sprs.