Boardman Peak

Boardman Peak from the Chimney Creek Road.

Trip Report (5/30/2004):

Since I was spending Memorial Day weekend at my uncle's house in Fairfield, and had the Soldier Mountains at the doorstep, it only made since to find a peak in that range to ascend. Having already climbed Smoky Dome and knowing that Iron Mountain was a 20 mile hike, I discovered Peak 9467, which fit into my time allotment and seemed to be in a scenic area. Locals call this peak Boardman Peak, which I will use going forth.

From the maps, I ascertained that Boardman Peak was accessible, a real peak (more than 300 foot of prominence), and should provide a challenge. The peak sits just west of Boardman Pass, on the high divide that contains Iron Mountain and Smoky Dome. Two trails get near the peak, the Bremner Trail passes the southern base of the peak and the Sheep Trail passes its east flanks. I was able to find the trailhead for the Sheep Trail (which goes to Boardman Pass from near the Ear Creek Corrals) and it turned out to be a well built, well treaded, and well maintained trail. I got the name Sheep Trail from signs along the trail, but my uncle referred to the trail as the Coyote Trail.

Boardman Peak turned out to be very worthwhile. It commanded great views of Iron Mountain, Smoky Dome, and much of the alpine-like north side of the Soldier range. The summit ridge was a mess of rock fins, towering snow drifts, and twisted pine trees. Both sides dropped off quickly, with the southside a grass and brush covered slope down to forests and the north a talus and snow covered dropoff down to a alpine basin. In view were Trinity Mountain, Steel Mountain, Castle Peak dozens of miles north, and even Quicksilver Mountain in the Owyhees a hundred miles to the southwest. The Pioneers to the east were seeing snow at the time and not visible.

Doing this hike reminded me of two things... The Soldier Mountains are an incredible wonderland that are mostly ignored by hikers for whatever reason. The road access on this hike is superb , the views incredible, and the trail a highway by Idaho trail standards. If this trail was in the Sawtooths, it would see hundreds of hikers each weekend.

Trip stats:
Time: 5 hours (2:45 up, 45 min. on top, 1:30 down)
Length: 9.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 4000 feet (3400 feet gain with 600 feet of gain on return)
Class (difficulty): 2

Drive:

From Highway 20, turn north (left if coming from Boise, right if coming from Fairfield) at virtual mile marker 144.2 on 800 W. Follow 800 W for 1.9 miles to 200 N. Turn left. Follow 200 N for 2.7 miles and turn right onto 1800 W. Drive 1 mile and pass a large parking lot. Just past the parking lot, turn left onto the road signed "Chimney Creek/Ear Creek Corrals". This road is dirt, but free of rock, so accessible by cars. Follow the road for about 8.5 miles to the Ear Creek Corrals. Just past the Ear Creek Corrals, the road banks left. At 9.5 miles you reach the trailhead, which consists a registration box (empty) and message board (nothing posted on it). The Sheep Trail is the right fork heading north, not the road continuing west.

Route:

From the trailhead, follow the Sheep Trail heading north and immediately ford a creek. You will see a small corral on your left. Just after the creek and corral, the trail forks, take the left fork. The trail heads northwest, then descends down to the South Fork of Lime Creek, which it crosses at 1.4 miles. After crossing the creek the trail heads north onto the a beautiful ridge with small granite towers. On this ridge, the views start opening up around you. Eventually the trail side cuts this ridge as it angles toward Boardman Pass. Gain the ridge above you at some point before Point 8492 and make your way to the saddle just north of that point. From that saddle, either follow the ridge to Point 9231 or angle across to the saddle between Boardman Peak and 9231. From the saddle, follow the ridge westerly to the summit of Boardman Peak. I'm not sure what this looks like in the summer, but it was a mellow walk atop huge snowdrifts in May of a low snow year.

Pictures: Click on the pictures below to see the full-size version.


Boardman Pass on the approach.	View along the approach.	Nearing the peak.

The summit ridge.	Basin below the summit ridge.	Steel Mountain from the ridge.

Smoky Dome.	North Smoky Dome... check out those pinnacles.	Me on top.

Trinity Mountain from the top of Boardman Peak.	Chute running down from the summit.	Peak 9712 and Iron Mountain from the summit.

Smoky Dome on the drive back to Fairfield.