The area around Banner Summit, located between Lowman and Stanley, is a great place for winter activities. Some destinations in this area are visited regular, while others are lesser known. There are a couple of small peaks located west of Bull Trout Lake that fall into the lesser known category.

John P, John F, Michael and I had grandiose plans, but decided to scrap those in favor of something closer to home and chose Peak 8020’. After meeting in Banks, then caravanning multiple cars to Banner Summit (because of COVID), we made it to the parking spot, donned our snowshoes, and hit the trail a little before 9am.

We followed the snowbound rode toward Bull Trout Lake, taking advantage of some snowmobile tracks for easier trail breaking. But those weren’t the only tracks we say. A small wolf pack had also been in the area recently, and were using the same trail, which made John’s pup Ruby pretty nervous…

The terrain was flat, and we trudged along for about 3 miles of road and the Warm Springs Trail before hanging a right and heading up the west face of Peak 8020’. As usual with snowshoeing, the uphill was hard work, so we took turns in the lead as we made our way up. A great workout, but we’ve definitely dealt with worse snow conditions in the past.

Once on the summit of Peak 8020’, conditions couldn’t have been better. Sunny skies, and zero wind. A great place for lunch and soaking in the views. Initially, we had thoughts of continuing north to Peak 7820’. But now having seen the deep valley in-between, we thought better of it. Instead, we decided to head southwest along the ridge to Point 7820’. It was a nice ridgewalk down to the saddle, then some interesting navigation through the trees to reach the highpoint, which John nicknamed “Resting Peak”. From here we had some great views looking into the Salmon River Mountains, including Red Mountain, which looked pretty impressive from this vantage point.

Now all that was left was 5 miles of snowshoeing to get back to the vehicles. Backtracking to the saddle was no problem, and then John did a great job leading us in a gradual traverse down the slopes back to the trail. I was looking forward to smooth sailing once back on the trail, but the slight uphill grade, and tired legs made for a long trudge on the way back.

It was a great day in the mountains. Good friends and fantastic weather are hard to beat. Round trip was 10 miles and 1700’ of elevation gain in just over 7 hours. I nicknamed this one “Little Bull Trout Point”, but I later found that John nicknamed it “Dead Man Peak”. A fitting name since we hiked along Dead Man Creek on the approach, and it was captured how we were feeling once we finally made it back to the car!

Map of the route, 10 miles and 1700' gain round trip.	Start of the hike, our peak is in the distance on the right.	Heading down the flat trail.	Start of the uphill.	Let the workout begin.
Crossing some open slopes.	Nearing the summit of Peak 8020'	Great view north to Bull Trout Point, from Peak 8020'.	Group shot on the summit of Peak 8020'.	Heading south along the ridge.
Zoomed view of Red Mountain from Point 7570'	Winding our way back down through the trees.	Traversing back to the trail.	Nice light, and snowy trees on the way back.	Nearly back to the vehicles, Copper Mountain in the background.
Map of the route, 10 miles and 1700' gain round trip.Start of the hike, our peak is in the distance on the right.Heading down the flat trail.Start of the uphill.Let the workout begin.Crossing some open slopes.Nearing the summit of Peak 8020'Great view north to Bull Trout Point, from Peak 8020'.Group shot on the summit of Peak 8020'.Heading south along the ridge.Zoomed view of Red Mountain from Point 7570'Winding our way back down through the trees.Traversing back to the trail.Nice light, and snowy trees on the way back.Nearly back to the vehicles, Copper Mountain in the background.