On August 6, 2019, Terri became the first woman and only the 8th person to climb all of the Idaho County High Points. Terri also became the first woman to complete the Lower 48 State High Points twice. Terri is now working on Idaho’s mountain range high point list as well.
Terri on top of Idaho County.
Terri reported her accomplishment in a Facebook post: “Wow! I did it! I’m the first woman to summit the highest point in each of Idaho’s 44 counties! My final peak was Idaho County’s Bare Peak NW in the Bitterroot Range, which Paul Jurczak and I reached on Tuesday. To make summit day a little less grueling, we backpacked into Nelson Lake the day before and out from the lake the day after. Even so, our summit day was 11 hours of hard work to go 6 miles round-trip from our campsite at the lake. The injury risk was very high on this remote peak and I am forever grateful to Paul for his company and his encouragement to get me across a few sections requiring rock climbing moves.”
Her highpointing journey began in 2010 when she read about “highpointing” in the summit register on Wolf Fang Peak, leading her to discover The Highpointers Club. From 2011 to 2014, she and her daughter Fallon completed 49 of the 50 state highpoints becoming the first mother-daughter team to do so.
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!).
On September 28, 2015, Ken Jones reached the summit of Grave Peak in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness and became the first person to climb all 100 Idaho peaks with prominence exceeding 2,000 feet. Climbing every peak on this list is an impressive accomplishment which took an incredible amount of determination and support.
Ken Jones on the summit of Ryan Peak (2015).
Ken notes that: “Although far too many of the hikes were, in fact, done solo, I can honestly say that I never could have done it alone. I’d like to take this opportunity to say thanks to all who hiked with me or provided information that helped me find a decent summit route”
“First off, thanks to my wife Karen for hiking with me on some of them and for encouraging me to pursue the list rather than complaining about the time I spent away from home. Thanks also to my sons Evan and Colin for their company on some of the peaks (before they grew up and moved to graduate programs too far from home to spend their free time hiking in Idaho).
I would especially like to thank Dennis Poulin for joining me for many of these peaks even when they were my priority but not his (especially, I think, a long day last month on Sheep Mountain), and Ryder Irvine who joined me for many (including an off-trail slog through brush, rain, wind, and eventually snow on Moose Creek Buttes on my birthday this year).
Thanks too to others who’ve hiked with me in Idaho. I hope I don’t overlook anyone and apologize if I have: Bob Packard, Dean Molen, Greg Jagielski, Kadee Smith, Victor Zhou, Roger Williams, Dan Robbins, Andy Martin, and John Hamann.
I cannot close without thanking Tom Lopez for his Idaho: A Climbing Guide book, without which I would have been at a loss many times for the best approach to each summit.
I encourage anyone with any possible interest in this list to give it a try. I can recommend a few peaks as particularly delightful, and others as particularly challenging. Just let me know what you’re looking for!”
When he was asked about the difficulties involved in completing the list, Ken wrote: “Andy M asked me about which peak was the most technical on the list. I would say that nothing gets beyond Class 3 and I don’t recall using a rope at any time (and as those who’ve hiked with me know, if I didn’t use a rope not many people would). He also asked about which peak might have the toughest access. If by that he meant getting permission to cross private property then that’s not a discussion I want to have in public. But I will say that I avoided long access hikes to more than one summit by flying in to a back-country air strip to shorten a backpack. I don’t think I’d done that since Denali. Without the flights, someone who hikes at my pace might have taken a week to get a single peak in two or three instances.”
Ken, along with Bob Packard, was the first to complete all of Idaho’s county highpoints.
Brett Sergenian, aka exflatlander, climbed Hyndman Peak in mid-July 2015. It was his first peak on the list of Idaho’s highest 200 peaks. On September 5, 2021, he climbed Peak 10780. In between, he climbed another 198 peaks that ranged in elevation between 10,780 feet and 12,662 feet. Thus, in a time period of 2,244 days, he became the first person to climb all of Idaho’s highest 200 peaks. This massive accomplishment encompassed and followed his success in climbing all of the Idaho 11ers which he finished in August 2020. He was the 9th person to complete that list.
Brett related: “I wasn’t really thinking about doing the highest 200 peaks until January 2021 when someone mentioned the list to me and pointed out that I had climbed all but 32 of the highest 200.” As a result of this revelation, he set out to finish the list in 2021. Although, over the years, Brett had accomplices on some of his climbs, he climbed most of the highest 200 peaks solo. While his only technical climb was True Grit, he climbed new routes on many of the peaks and often linked up peaks with daring ridge traverses.
Brett just above the White Rock Traverse on True Grit
Brett’s 10 favorites climbs from the “Highest 200” list as follows in no particular order: Leatherman Peak from Sawmill Gulch, Roaring Peak (north ridge), WCP-10, Bell Mountain, Cobb Peak (the traverse between Cobb and Old Hyndman is one his favorite routes), Brocky Peak, The Fin, Gabriel’s Horn, Boulder Lake Peak and Hourglass Peak (Peak 10718). Additionally, he gives Honorable Mentions accolades to Mount Corruption (from Cleft Peak), Merriam Lake Peak, Castle Peak, Acropolis Peak, Rearview Peak (Peak 10860), May Mountain and Black and White Peak (from Little Diamond Peak).
While Brett is well known for his nonstop motor, endurance and drive, he deserves even more credit for his mental toughness and fearlessness. His more daring routes included the Cobb to Old Hyndman traverse (considered to be one of the hardest Class 4 routes in the Pioneer Mountains) and the USGS Peak to Mount McCaleb traverse which was likely the second time the route was utilized and the first time that route had been completed by a solo climber.
Brett has put in many long days climbing these peaks. He reports that his “biggest or most memorable slog” was his ascents of Mill Mountain and Buffalo Skull Peak. He decided to climb these peaks from Morse Creek on the west side of the Lemhi Range to save driving miles. His route encompassed 24 miles and over 10 thousand feet of elevation gain. It took him 16 hours as the trail on the map between Morse and Patterson Creek did not exist east of Fall Creek but he reports “plenty of deadfall and brush did exist.”
Another long day was a traverse with Haylee Stocking which took them over The Incredible Hulk, Second Peak, Third Peak, and Rust Peak. This day covered 17 miles with over 8,000 feet of elevation gain. At the end of the traverse, a thunderstorm forced Haylee and Brett to descend off Rust Peak quickly through soupy, soft snow on the warm Spring day.
As of September 21, 2021, Brett has climbed 692 Idaho peaks.
Brett leading the way up Breitenbach Pass. The beginning of our Triple to Corruption traverse. July 2021. Haylee Stocking PhotoDown-climbing one of the many towers on the base of the ridge to Mount Corruption. Haylee Stocking PhotoBrett approaching the summit of Mount Corruption. The final peak of our 3-peak traverse that included Triple Peak and Cleft Peak (plus soft-ranked Peak 10980). Haylee Stocking PhotoBrett on the summit of “Third” in the Lemhi Range. Starting from Meadow Creek, this traverse included Incredible Hulk, all the bases at the baseball field (Home, First, Second, Third) and ended with Rust Peak and a thunderstorm. May 2021. Haylee Stocking PhotoNice mellow ridge walk from “Home” to “First.” Haylee Stocking PhotoBrett breaking trail for me somewhere between North Twin and South Twin in the Lost River Range. We also did Red Cone & Peak 10677. May 2020. Haylee Stocking PhotoA little scrambling during the North and South Twin traverse. Haylee Stocking PhotoBrett standing on Down East Peak in the Boulder Mountains. Our first planned 11er outing which included Window Peak. September 2019. We ran into each other on DBW in September 2018. Haylee Stocking Photo
Editor’s Note: Carl Hamke and Judi Steciak recently became the third and fourth climbers to summit all of Idaho’s peaks exceeding 11,000 feet. George Reinier and Johnny Roache were the first climbers to summit all of these peaks, while Judi is the first woman to accomplish this exceedingly difficult task. The short article below summarizes their quest and lists the 11,000-foot peaks that are not set forth in the book. The peaks identified below and the routes climbed by Judi and Carl were added to this site courtesy of Carl and Judi. Enjoy!
Tom Lopez’s guidebook for exploring Idaho mountains hits a good balance between detailed directions to trailheads and route descriptions that allow you to enjoy the thrill of discovery. Although many hundreds of mountains are included, peakbaggers wanting to summit Idaho’s highest mountains might be interested in learning more about the 17 ranked summits between 11,000-11,999 feet that are missing from the 2nd edition, plus a few easier routes on the Eleveners that are in the book.
It only fair to give a hint of the effort involved in summitting all 114 Eleveners. The peaks are spread out over 4 counties (Beaverhead, Blaine, Custer and Lemhi) and 7 different mountain ranges [Lost River (41), Pioneer (30), Boulder (17), Lemhi (9), White Cloud (8), White Knob (5) and Beaverhead (4)]. Most of the peaks are hikes or scrambles, but 10 have Class 4 routes and one has no other option than a Class 5 route.
In the process of reaching all those summits, we accumulated approximately 374,000 feet of elevation gain. This includes the 11,000 vertical feet we gained in one 2-day weekend (we were younger then). Note that the route from the Khumba base camp to the summit of Mount Everest shares the same elevation gain, albeit with higher starting and ending elevations. We covered at least 820 miles on the ground and spent at least 800 hours walking. You do the arithmetic: that’s only about a 1 mile/hour average. We found 23 peaks and/or routes for which we had no hard-copy information.
It took us 16 years from start to finish (along with many other higher and lower summits as well as ski trips, white water rafting…). We climbed as many as 3 Eleveners in one day. We needed 3 tries to summit some of the peaks, due to thunderstorms, wildfire smoke and not having the right gear in one case. We had to climb one Twelver twice in one day to reach an Elevener. We found no peaks with maintained trails to their summits. Trailheads were lonely places. We never met anyone on a summit and rarely met anyone in the valleys. We became addicted to the joy of exploration and discovery, and enchanted by the solitude, wildlife, wildflowers, pristine wilderness, and achingly beautiful vistas. Beware!
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.
