Page Type:
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Mountain/Rock |
|---|---|
Lat/Lon:
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43.93425°N / 115.13419°W |
Activities:
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Hiking, Scrambling |
Season:
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Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter |
Elevation:
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9705 ft / 2958 m |
|
Overview
Browns Peak makes a fun day hike destination as part of an extended backpack in the Sawtooth wildernesses more mellow east side. The lakes here are gorgeous and full of trout, many of which I saw being 2' or longer. I do not fish so I don't know how much weight that translates into. sorry... We spent 7 days enjoying the queens/little queens river loop and its attractions, ~31 trail miles. The firs here are tall and straight, and the forest floor is relatively open out of major drainage's.Getting There
From Boise, ID, take hwy 21 north, paralleling the Boise River, to Arrow Rock Road. this will be a right just over the 2nd bridge. from there continue paralleling the Boise River. once reaching the Arrow Rock dam do not cross, but continue along the north shore of the Boise River on forest road 268. Somewhere past the dam the road becomes dirt, but is passable in a passenger vehicle. Continue along fr 268, which becomes the Middle Fork Road and parallels the Middle Fork Boise River, crossing it once or twice. At the intersection w/ the China Basin Road take the China Basin Road north to the Queens River th. Total time from Boise is ~2 hours +/-.route
From the Queens River th head north up the Little Queens River to Browns Lake - ~8 miles +. Camp. Wander. Find your happy place. Enjoy... The route we took up Browns Peak from Browns Lake was all class 2 hiking. We descended its north slopes to make a longer loop and fill the day more, but it was loose talus and would be easy to start a rockslide, many small ones which we did as we scooted down.
Camping
There is camping at the Queens River th, and of course nice camping in meadows and by lakes along the trail. Browns Lake has some really nice sites. One right at waters edge and a number more in the wooded meadow along its outlet stream.External Links
US Forest Service - sawtooth national recreation areaOur trip in '00 (?) - pics