The purpose of this weekend's trip was to bag the Idaho state highpoint, Borah Peak. I built in a few days extra to hike some other peaks. It was just a question of where to fly to begin my adventures. Since Borah Peak is about 200+ miles from Boise, and about the same from Salt Lake City, Utah, and since the cost of a ticket to Salt Lake was about $100 cheaper, Salt Lake it was. I left Phoenix fairly early and was in the Salt Lake airport by 10:30 a.m. local time. I had all day to drive up to the Borah Peak trailhead and campground, so I planned to visit a quick and easy highpoint along the way, one that didn't take up too much time and wasn't too far off my intended route. A scan of the High In Utah (HIU) book showed Bridger Peak in Rich county to fit my criteria perfectly. So Bridger Peak it was!

From Salt Lake I drove northeast about 80 miles to the city of Logan, where I stocked up on groceries, then up Logan Canyon (Highway US-89) about another 30+ miles to the gravel road leading up towards Bridger Peak. I found the road with no problem; the directions in HIU, as usual, were exact. I drove my little Oldsmobile Alero rental up this good dirt road and pulled off in a wide area obviously used for parking. I got my boots on then got to thinking that I may have pulled aside too early, since the description of the peak and the hike didn't match what I was seeing. Sure enough, after driving another mile or so, I found the right pull-out area, with Bridger Peak in plain view in front of me. I guess I should have paid attention to my odometer a little more closely!

From a pull-out on the right (east) side of the road, and across from some possibly abandoned (?) trailers, I parked and started my hike in. An old road, now an ATV track, descends about 50 feet to a creek-bed bottom then up very steeply the other side. For about 200 yards the track went straight up the hillside, and the loose dusty soil made footing a little sloppy. Finally, the track bent slightly and the steepness moderated. After about a half mile of hiking, I left the track at a big rock cairn and started bashing through the brush and trees in a northerly bearing. After a few minutes of hiking up and up and up I came to a clearing where the summit cairn was visible at the far end, near a stand of trees. I rested here, signed in and looked out over the pretty views down into Bear Lake to the east. Most of the people in the log were familiar, with others explicitly stating their Utah County totals. This is a peak that otherwise would not attract too much attention. After a few minutes I hiked back out, for a total round trip of about two miles and just about at 1,000 gross feet of gain. Counting my rest, my round trip time was about 90 minutes.

From here I drove toward Garden City on Bear Lake's shores, then up into Idaho and across up to the Borah Peak campground. I figure this detour added 100 miles but it was fun and I was happy to grab a little highpoint along the way. Bridger Peak has the distinction of being the "highest of the lowest" 50 state county highpoints. In other words, at 9,255 feet, it ranks dead last in height of the 29 Utah counties, but it is higher than the other 49 "last-place" county highpoints. Got that? Anyway, the next day I tackled and succeeded on the mighty Borah Peak.