Bear Mountain is located in the Lemhi Range of eastern Idaho. It sits off of the main Lemhi crest, which makes it an excellent vantage point to soak in views the Lemhi’s as well as the Lost River Range to the west. Plus, it’s in the middle of nowhere, making it a great place for solitude almost anytime. The exception was the day when a group of 17 of us folks from the Idaho Summits message board converged for one of Dan’s highly anticipated Spring Outings.

After a fun evening around the campfire, the group hit the road from the Summit Creek Campground and made our way to our starting point at 7700’ elevation up Summerhouse Canyon. Dan had devised a great plan to make a two-peak loop, staring with a steep climb up the west ridge of “Little Bear Mountain” (Peak 10112’). From there we’d follow the ridge over the Bear Mountain and then descend back to the trailhead.

After about a half mile on the old jeep road, we started climbing up through the trees. The hillside was steep, but we set a very quick pace, at first. Thankfully the pace slowed down after a while and we were then able to chat with old friends and made new ones.

We made it to the summit of Little Bear in about two hours, then started the ridge traverse toward Bear Mountain. There were several snowy patches, and those who had snowshoes put them on. The rest of us enjoyed some nice post-holing. After our quick pace earlier, some of us slowed quite a bit for the thousand feet of climbing up to the long summit ridge of Bear Mountain. But as we neared the snowy ridge, fatigue was mostly replaced with adrenaline as we carefully made our way across. This final section of ridge was a blast for some people and a triumph for others, and a little of both for most of us.

Once on the summit of Bear Mountain, we stopped for a bite to eat and to snap some photos. The views were excellent in all directions. But it was a little chilly and windy, so eventually we reluctantly decided to head down.

As we began dropping down the south face of the peak, we reached to top of a long snow gully where Mark set the tone with a nice long glissade down the gully. Several of us followed his lead, highlighted by John F and his fast pants. It was a blast, and a great safe area for butt glissade practice.

After the snowy section, all that was left was a leisurely hike back to the car during which time we chatted and told mountain stories, some of which were even true. It had been a great day in the mountains, and Dan had come through for us again with a great outing location. Good times.

Map of the route, just under 6 miles and 3500' elevation gain, round trip.	Start of the hike in Summerhouse Canyon. Our ridge to the right.	Quick break during the grind up the hillside.	First view of Little Bear Mountain.	View north toward Bear Mountain.
Stopping for a break and photos.	Dead snags on the way up Little Bear.	Dan on the ridge.	Nearing the summit of Little Bear Mountain.	Group nearing the summit, Lost Rivers in the background.
Descending the ridge toward Bear Mountain.	Some rare firm snow on the ridge after the saddle.	Looking back on Little Bear.	Neat east ridge of Bear Mountain.	View along the long east ridge of Bear Mountain.
Group shot on the summit of Bear Mountain.	Starting our descent.	Fun glissading down the wide south face gully.	The end of the glissade.	View of Bear Mountain from the trailhead after the hike.