Rapid Lake

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Rapid Lake

An excellent backpacking trip with my sons near McCall.
August 4-5, 2017
44.8559°N / 115.9096°W

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Rapid Lake is located in the Lick Creek Mountains, in central Idaho, not far from McCall. The starting point is the popular Boulder Lake Trailhead, but most visitors to the area stop at Boulder Lake, with much more solitude the rest of the way to Rapid Lake. At just under nine miles round trip, Rapid Lake makes for a nice day hike, or a nice backpacking destination.

My sons (ages 11 & 13) and I chose Rapid Lake for our annual backpacking trip, and we hit the trail at a little before 3pm. The first half mile or so is pretty flat, along the shores of Boulder Reservoir, but the steepest part of our day was next, with about 700’ of climbing in the next mile to Boulder Lake. Doing that section in the hottest part of the day took a lot out of us, so we stopped for a well-deserved rest at Boulder Lake.

Next we enjoyed some nice shady and flat hiking along the south of Boulder Lake, and then continued east. It wasn’t long before we met a herd of sheep. I told the boys to be careful of the dog because he was trained to protect, but as we got closer the lonely sheep dog was looking for some attention. But he didn’t follow us far since he had work to do.

At the fork in the trail leading to Summit Lake, we took a right turn and headed slightly downhill, dropping about 200 feet to cross Rapid Creek. We took a left just after crossing the creek, and ended up doing some cross-country for a while before picking up the correct trail to the lake. (The correct trail doesn’t leave the main trail until about one-third of a mile past the creek crossing.)

Soon enough we arrived at Rapid Lake. There was a group camped near the outlet, and we continued onward around the north side of the lake, and set up camp at a great site out on the peninsula. It was almost 6pm when we set up the tent and then cooked up some cheese quesadillas on the stove.

After dinner we did some exploring around camp, fighting off mosquitoes, and checking out a great sunset view of Rapid Peak reflecting in Rapid Lake. Next it was time for some shuteye, which didn’t take any coaxing, and we all drifted off to sleep with the sounds of nature all around us.

We awoke the next morning to somewhat smoky conditions (blown in from some fires in Oregon), but our spirits were still high. After some breakfast, we broke camp and hit the trail. We made good time on the downhill, and the only thing that slowed us down was stopping to step off the trail for various parties heading up to Boulder Lake. I bet we saw close to 50 people between Boulder Lake and the trailhead!

Rapid Lake had been a great hike. Round trip was just under 9 miles total, with 1400’ elevation gain. (Includes 200’ gain on the way back.) Three hours to the lake in the afternoon, and two hours back to the car the next morning. Hard to beat spending time in the mountains with my sons.