Mt. Borah

Yesterday Ken and I drove out to Mt. Borah, about 250 miles from his home. We took his truck and loaded all the camping gear in. We arrived at the camp ground after sundown so we put on our LED head lights and set up our tents. We hit the sacks early for the big hike to the peak of Mt. Borah. It is at over 12000 ft., and the highest peak in Idaho. There were about 20 other cars and groups there to tackle the same thing, reach the peak.

I didn't sleep well, the full moon had my tent lit right up. I'm sorta like the chick and the pea (except for the chick part) who needs everything just right to get a good night sleep. At one point I check my watch convinced it is 6 or 7 and it says 6:05 which means 4:05 Idaho time. I had to get up, water a bush then try to get back to sleep, which I did. We took down camp before tackling the hike. There was a buck just eating leaves off off the bushes (not the same bush I watered) about 20 ft away. It didn't care about us, until I got out the camera. It was a little too dark for any good shots anyway. I would carry up my photo gear to the tune of 20 to 25lbs along with my Camel back full of water.

THIS HIKE WAS A KILLER. The numbers for us were we got to 10551ft and 3 miles with an elevation change of 3300ft. before we stopped and decided us two old farts need to head back. Now I mentioned there were several other groups and we out did many of them. Those who ventured further, very few of them made it to the peak. Most of them stopped at chicken ridge, aptly named because when you get there that is what you do, you chicken out. After resting at our turn around point we started back down. This one couple comes bounding past us and others. I don't know if they made it to the peak, but they sure were in great shape.

The trip back down was tougher in some respects then the trip up. The loose stones had you slipping and sliding. The knees and thighs really felt the burn, while the calf's felt it on the way up. At about 9500 ft. I notice the fingers starting to tingle, I guess a little hypoxia was setting in. Understandable with the lack of O2 at that altitude, and the physical activity. About 300 to 400 yards from the camp ground I heard a bunch of chirping, and it was coming from a large tree with numerous holes. I knew there had to be a nest, and a little checking revealed baby chicks of at the time I thought to be owls. Later the mother arrived and it was a hawk. I haven't checked any guides to see what kind of hawk yet. I tried a few shots without he tripod, but they just were not sharp. So back to the truck and back up hill to the nest. The mother, and three chicks are in the photos above. Also is a view from our peak on the hike. The photo of me shows the elusive peak in the back ground. By the way, it was getting a little cold up there, and that another 2000 feet altitude would have meant another 10 degree drop in temp. This is a video of the chicks: