Tango Peaks

Overview

The Tango Peaks Ridge is a North-South ridge located in the Salmon River Mountains within the Frank Church Wilderness area. The ridge starts above the confluence of Loon Creek and Pioneer Creek and runs South over Knapp Point and ends at Cabin Creek Peak. The majority of the ridge can be found on the Knapp Lakes Quadrangle.



Tango Ridge hits a high point of 10,012 feet at Knapp Point and for the majority of its 6 mile length it's above 9,500 feet. This is one of the few peaks in the Salmon River mountains that is higher than 10,000 and can be seen from numerous Idaho high points.

The majority of the ridge is surrounded by mountain lakes. To the west are the numerous Knapp Lakes, a collection of 10-20 ponds and a few bigger lakes. With the Tango lakes along the east side and the Crimson Lake tucked away under Cabin Creek Peak and the Black Towers as seen at sunrise.



The major peaks from Knapp Point south are as follows: Knapp Point, also know as Mount Loening, is the high point at 10012 feet with a USGS benchmark. Last Tango Peak is a minor point south of Mount Loening on the way to Tango Peak. Tango Peak is the next major point along the ridge, followed by a few minor points before hitting the rugged Cabin Creek Peak.

Cabin Creek Peak is a rugged fine-grained granite peak that whose face can range from 400 feet on the east to 1200 feet on the west. The peak itself only has class 5 routes and is rarely climbed. Tom Lopez, the author of Idaho a Climbing Guide, has the first known ascent of the peak in 1988 and since then the peak has seen few climbers.

Getting There

The ridge is located within the Frank Church Wilderness and can be accessed from tail from three major trail heads.

The first trail heads up the West Fork of the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River, which can be accessed just outside of the ghost town of Bonanza. From here you follow the trail up the West Fork, then up Cabin Creek. There is a fairly nicely built trail that heads all they way to Crimson lake that is not on the quadrangles.

Second, the Loon Creek Guard Station can be reached via a dirt road is located in a road corridor in the Frank Church. From the Loon Creek GS you can follow the trail south and follow it all the way to the Tango Lakes.

Last the ridge can be approached from the west up Knapp Creek. There are a few old jeep trails but I am unsure how far up Knapp Creek they go before turning into a trail.

Red Tape

No permits are needed to be in the forest or the Frank Church Wilderness areas though most developed trail heads ask you sign in. Within the wilderness there are basic wilderness regulations, all of which can be found on the Salmon-Challis Nation Forest.

Camping

Camping is fairly easy to find in the area, there will many developed and undeveloped sites along the Yankee Fork and over in Loon Creek along with near the Knapp Lakes trail heads. Most of the lakes will have multiple fire rings at the nicer places to camp once you backpack into them.

Images

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