Boulder Chain via Devils Staircase

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Upper Boulder Chain Lakes via Devil's Staircase

An excellent 3-day backpacking trip in the White Clouds
August 16-18, 2021

The Boulder Chain Lakes are an amazing backpacking destination located in the heart of central Idaho’s White Cloud Mountains. This string of alpine lakes is highly scenic and surrounded by rugged ridges and peaks. The lakes can be accessed via a long trail approach from the east. Or a shorter but more adventurous option starting at Fourth of July trailhead to the west. The latter requires cross-country travel, including a climb of the ominous Devils Staircase above Boorne Lakes. For this trip, we went with the adventurous option.

I’d was invited to join in on a 3 day trip with a group of guys from church, and had been looking forward to it all summer. We left town about 5am, made a breakfast stop at the Stanley Bakery, and started hiking just after 10am.

From the trailhead, we climbed gradually to Fourth of July Lake for a nice warm up. Then the trail got steeper as we climbed to Antz Basin Divide. We paused here to soak in the amazing views, although a little smoky. Next up was the steep descent into Antz Basin, and on to Boorne Lakes.

We took an extended break at the first Boorne Lake, resting and checking out the views. Most of the attention was on our next obstacle, Devil’s Staircase. To say there was some skepticism about the route would be putting it mildly. But we continued onward nonetheless.

To reduce rock fall danger while in the staircase, we split into smaller groups. Since I’d climbed the route before, I led the first group about halfway up, trying my best to encourage them. When they were most of the way up, I motioned to the next group to start the climb. When the final group started, they were 2 guys short. Turns out they’d elected to just stay at Boorne Lakes instead. Not an ideal situation, but unfortunately that’s the way it went.

Once finished with the staircase, moods improved, but we still had ground to cover. We crossed the bench to my favorite tarn, over to Windy Devil, then down the switchbacks to Scoop Lake. Hummock Lake was our planned destination, but there were already two other groups camped there, so we stayed at Scoop Lake, which ended up being a great basecamp location.

The next morning, we fished and lounged for a while. A group of us headed down the trail to explore and fish at Hummock, Hourglass, and Hidden Lakes. It was a good time, and next we went back up to Scoop for lunch and more lounging and talking. Later, several of use made the climb up to Lonesome Lake to try our luck fishing at what is arguably the highest lake in Idaho. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any fish, but it was still fun exploring.

That night we prognosticated about whether not the forecasted snowfall would come, and it even snowed briefly. But during the night, skies cleared up and we awoke to no snow on the ground. Plus, some of the forest fire smoke had left as well, so good conditions all around.

After breakfast, we broke camp. Some of the guys decided to hightail it back to the trailhead, but the rest of us took a more leisurely pace. We made the climb up to Windy Devil, then I took a few minutes to soak in the views of cloud shrouded Castle Peak from my favorite tarn.

We made our way carefully down Devil’s Staircase, then lunch break at Boorne Lakes. Later, views of the northern White Clouds were fantastic as we crossed Antz Basin, thanks to the smoke leaving. After the steep climb back up to the divide, it was all downhill back to the trailhead, and a well-deserved meal in Stanley before heading home.

It had been a great 3 day trip in the White Clouds. Round trip was about 18 miles and 5500’ elevation gain. Best of all was catching up with old friends, making new ones, and just enjoying each other’s company in general. Times like these are hard to beat.