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Griswold Peak & North Ryan Peak
The North Fork Big Lost River drains from the east side of central Idaho’s Boulder Mountains. There are a handful of 11-thousand-foot peaks located near the headwaters, including Griswold Peak and North Ryan Peak. Its possible to combine the two peaks into a single outing, with an added bonus of visiting the highly scenic North Fork Lake as well. Throw in Idaho top 200er “Cougar Peak”, and you have the makings of a great 3-peak day in the mountains.
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I made the four hour drive from Boise the night before, and slept in the back of my vehicle at the North Fork Lake trailhead. The next morning, I was ready to hit the trail!
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After crossing the river/creek, Griswold Peak came into view.
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Soon enough, I headed north up mostly open slopes. My goal was the saddle east of Griswold.
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Steady uphill on the way to the saddle. I paused often to soak in the views.
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Higher up, I found a well used game trail traversing to the saddle.
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Griswold Peak from the east.
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Once at the saddle, I followed Griswold's northeast ridge to the summit. Here’s a view of the final section.
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On the summit of Griswold Peak, just a trace of fresh snow from yesterday's storm. Here's a view looking southwest at Cougar Peak, and North Ryan Peak. Ryan Peak towers in the background. This just happened to be my 500th summit in Idaho!
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A little hard to see in this shot, but looking over the west face of the peak, I saw both a mountain goat, and a small herd of elk far below.
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After a careful descent of Griswold's south ridge, it was time to head up Cougar Peak. The long east ridge of North Ryan is visible on the right.
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Looking back on Griswold Peak from the summit of Cougar Peak.
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Castle Peak and the White Clouds, from Cougar Peak.
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From the summit of Cougar Peak, here's North Ryan Peak's east ridge, with Ryan Peak in the background
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Going from Cougar Peak to the start of the east ridge wasn't too hard, but now things got interesting. From what I’d read, the ridge proper was not advisable, so I resorted to side-hilling along the south side of the ridge.
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Several cliff bands of varying sizes to cross, but occasional views of North Ryan's summit kept me motivated.
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Oh, and did I mention talus? Plenty of that to contend with, and loose too. Eventually I regained the ridge a couple hundred feet below the summit.
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From the summit of North Ryan Peak, I had a great view of Ryan Peak, highest mountain in the Boulders.
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Cougar Peak and Griswold Peak, from North Ryan Peak.
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Castle Peak and the White Clouds, from North Ryan Peak.
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Here's a view of North Fork Lake, my next objective, from the summit of North Ryan.
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It was a tricky talus descent down to the tarns above North Fork Lake, and one cliffy section that was a puzzle to solve.
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Finally finished with the steepest talus, so now I was heading to the lake.
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North Fork Lake is very scenic.
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My photos don't do it justice.
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The last couple miles back to the trailhead are via a good, but unmaintained trail. Mostly easy to follow, just a few places where you need to watch for blazes and cut logs.
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Map of my route. Just over 11 miles and 4600' elevation gain round trip, in 9.5 hours of hiking. Great day in the mountains!
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