For many years, my wife and I have been doing backpack trips in central Idaho. The first one we did as a couple was a place called Baker Lake back in 2008. Though we haven’t hiked ever year (took a break for a few years when we had infants, plus another break due to the pandemic), we have been fairly consistent otherwise. In all we’ve been to about a dozen different mountain lakes and there are plenty more to be explored.
This year we made the unprecedented decision to re-visit a lake that we went to last year. There were a number of reasons for this. One was that my sister, niece and husband (and two dogs) were going to join us. For my sister, having had a knee replacement not long ago, I really didn’t want any surprises. It was kind of a big deal for her to commit to this and I wanted it to be a good experience. Given that the hike last year was a success, we thought we’d remove the risk of venturing into the unknown and just return to a place called Deep Lake.
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Deep Lake rests in a glaciated bowl at an elevation of 7,300 feet (2,225m). There are two unnamed granite peaks looming over the lake along Diamond Ridge, the highest one clocking in at 8,618 feet (2,627m). Although a 1994 fire burned most of the forest, the area is well on its way to recovery. It still offers unobstructed views of massive granite mountainsides which, I think, make the views rather striking.
We drove straight up from Boise and met at the trailhead. The hike up is relatively easy though it does have some steep pitches here and there. After less than a mile, you come over the lip of the bowl and you begin to see the clear blue water of the lake. There are only a few options where you can pitch tents on the edge of the lake. We went directly to the place where we camped the previous year.
We arrived at the lake in the late afternoon and proceeded to pitch our tents straight way. Interestingly, this year the girls took to pitching their own tent, something they’ve never done. And they were able to do so with very minimal support. Very cool.
Because they’ve done this several times, they’re getting quite good at it and it takes a burden off their parents. Quite literally, in fact. I divided up the camping gear such that each person carried their own bags, pillows, ground pads, etc. They even took a small share of the food as well, making my job much easier than in years’ past.
With the sweat of the hike still on my brow, I saw fit to make a quick dip in the lake prior to starting the campfire. The water, while quite frigid, was manageable and it felt good to rinse off. There were no other takers, though I was anticipating that there would be the next day.
One thing that would be different this year is that we would stay two nights instead of one. We had said last year that that was one thing about the trip that we would change. Staying one night really doesn’t give you the chance to relax much. You spend most of your time setting up camp, preparing meals and then breaking camp the next morning. My sister, niece and husband would need to head down after one night but it was so wonderful to have them for the first day.
The lake gets a few visitors during the day, particularly on weekends (as this was), but in the two years that we’ve done it, we’ve never seen anyone else spend the night. By late afternoon, you have the whole lake to yourself.
After dinner, we made s’mores and the gang began making their way to their tents. It still wasn’t fully dark and one of the challenges for me is to stay awake as long as possible to see the night sky. Most of the clouds had cleared and, by the time I was fully ready for bed, Priya and I opted to go lie on our backs on a large, flat rock and stare at the heavens. That alone is worth all the effort to do a backpack trip. So stunning to see the night sky with so little ambient light.
* * *
The next day, the threesome headed out. I worried a bit about my sister’s knee given that the downhill is often more difficult than the up, but she told us later that she had no problems.
We would spend the day relaxing. We did take a short hike partway around the lake but it was tough going with all the fallen trees from the ’94 fire. After getting a bit scratched up, we turned around and headed back to camp. It was a bit noisy for a few hours due to a few groups of day hikers that cycled through, but by late afternoon they were all gone.
We went for a swim and everyone managed to brave the cold water. Then I upped the ante and went over to a large rock. Diving off a hunk of granite extending out into the lake sounded like more fun. The family eventually followed suit, maybe not diving but at least jumping.
* * *
Before we left for Deep Lake, we had heard that a massive storm was approaching but would likely not reach the area until Sunday afternoon, the day we were planning on hiking out. So we had some degree of confidence that we would be able to avoid it. This was confirmed by a conversation we had with a couple of day hikers. But by early evening, we began to hear the rumble of thunder. I generally like that sound and I don’t mind if a small storm passes through. The concern in the mountains, particularly when forecasters use adjectives like “massive”, is that you are quite vulnerable to the elements when you are backpacking. While doing a backpack trip when I was in college, some friends and I were hit with a massive thunderstorm during the night. The wind and rain left no tent standing. We ended up being awake much of the night. Eventually we fell asleep and woke up a couple hours later outside our collapsed, soaked tents. We ended up having a pretty good laugh about it but it’s nothing I want to experience with my children. I’m not sure they would laugh about it.
On this occasion, the thunder did indeed turn to rain. It never rained heavily, thankfully, and eventually stopped, but we knew that we were literally, and figuratively, not out of the woods. The sky remained dark and the thunder continued to rumble in the distance.
There would be no star gazing this night. In fact, we decided it would be best to begin packing our packs and preparing for the next morning. The reason was two-fold. If we needed to make a quick departure early morning due to the onset of a tempest, we would be able to do so more easily. The other reason was that we needed to keep everything as dry as possible and prevent things from blowing away given that there were some decent wind gusts. The unsettled weather in a remote location is part thrill and part concern.
In the early morning, I began to hear the wind picking up again. The sky was dark with clouds. Though there was moisture in the air, it wasn’t raining. Without access to cell reception, we didn’t really have any information as to what to expect. The only news we had was at least 24 hours old and a lot can change in that span of time. We decided to wake the girls up and start getting ready to descend. Fortunately we had mostly packed up the night before. We only had to deal with the tents, bags and sleeping mats. There would be no warming fire, no coffee/hot chocolate and no breakfast. We would snack on the way to the car and then stop in McCall for breakfast.
In the end, the weather didn’t worsen during the hike down. The sky remained dark but the wind died down and it didn’t rain. It was a bummer not to enjoy a slower start and breakfast at the lake. In retrospect we probably could have. But you never know. It could have gone the other way. The protective dad in me wasn’t willing to take any chances.
The upside was that we had much more of the day available to us than we had planned. We would have a nice breakfast in McCall as planned, carry on to my sister’s place near New Meadows, chill and do a few loads of laundry. Some rest was in order given that work on the shed would begin the next morning.
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