Boise County High Point Trip Report
Mt Cramer (10,716 ft)
Date: August 16, 2001
Author: Ken & Karen Jones
Drive: On Idaho route 75 about 12 miles south of Stanley (and about 49 miles north of Ketchum) find the
signed Decker Flat road on the west side of the highway. This is across the highway from the Sawtooth
Valley Work Center road. Head west on road 210 and cross the Salmon River. At about 0.4 miles, turn left
on the signed Hell Roaring Creek road, which you will follow for approximately 5 miles to its end (keeping
right at the signed junction with the Mays Creek road). This road is definitely only for high-clearance
vehicles, and 4WD may be necessary. It is also possible to start hiking on trail 097 shortly after turning left
on the Hell Roaring Creek road; this point can be reached without 4WD but adds several miles to the hike -
perhaps 4 miles each way. Parking at either trailhead requires a Sawtooth NF/NRA parking permit.
Hike: The trail heads through Hell Roaring Creek (we brought our Tevas to ford it, and put our boots on
when on the other side); this could be dangerous in early season. In about 0.2 miles you'll reach a large
trailhead sign with self-issue wilderness permits. Turn left and follow the trail past Hell Roaring Lake and
up a set of switchbacks to the 8200 ft to 8300 ft vicinity. Here we headed cross-country, eventually picking up
a climbers trail (which starts obscurely at Imogene Lake, as we determined on our way out) and getting to
lake 8320-, which lies 2/3 mile east of lake 8733. Here we goofed, staying south of the lake and laboriously
climbing large boulders to near lake 8733. On the return, we found that we should have crossed the outlet
stream of lake 8320- and ascended the wooded slopes north of the outlet from the lake west of point 8817.
From the basin at roughly 8700' an off-and-on climbers trail leads to the east ridge of Mt Cramer at about 9700 ft.
Follow the ridge until it fades in the summit vicinity, and cross another boulder field to the top.
Our round-trip was about 12.5 hours and 15 miles, though it could have been easier.