I need to offset my substantial website costs somehow! You can download a hike/drive GPX to assist you here. Before sharing my GPX tracks with others, please remember my site is otherwise a free resource.
GPX track added to your cart.
Aug 22, 2022 — Diamond Peak is an ultra-prominent mountain in central Idaho, often overlooked due to its proximity with Borah Peak. While a bit less pretty, Diamond Peak has much more fun scrambling. To reach the trailhead, leave pavement here (44.16894, -112.92177) and then turn right here (44.14478, -112.98409) after passing through a gate. The road is in pretty good shape until the gate, and then aside from a few rough patches, it continues to be quite good. These rough spots may stop some drivers, but any Crossover vehicle with decent tires should be able to make it to where I parked. Past here 4WD is required to get up the next super steep hill, but the road ends shortly after anyway. With a burly vehicle you could cut off about an additional 500 feet of vertical gain.
Once the 4WD road ends, a trail continues up the slope though sparsely-vegetated forest and up to the ridgeline, leaving the trees and meadows behind. Here it becomes much more steep and you can see the wonders of what human erosion can do without proper switchbacks. I clawed my way up a particularly steep portion that's now become hardpan dirt. Past here the trail continued on far better terrain, introducing some light Class 2 as Diamond Peak inched closer. I could see the extended scramble ahead and got a bit excited.
Soon I made it to the start of the scramble, beginning with Class 2. The first Class 3 move happened earlier than I thought it would. I recommend keeping to the ridge crest whenever possible. There are lots of trails that lead away, but I cold see how you could pretty easily get thrown off route and be in potentially loose/dangerous territory. I don't think I was ever more than 50 feet from the crest on any obstacle. More Class 2 led to a notch, where a fun Class 3 section continued along the crest. You can likely avoid this on the right, but it would require dropping a bit. Lots more Class 2/2+ continued past this section, and I made my way up, having far more fun than I thought I might. Maybe I've been hiking too many lumps and not enough scrambly stuff lately.
An obvious trail led along the crest for a while, more Class 2/2+ fun along the way. Another Class 3 section might be avoidable, but I recommend keeping to the ridge crest. At some point, a wide ledge leads to the right to avoid a cliff, this being the only spot I felt I needed to be well off the crest. Past the ledge, more Class 2/2+ led along the ridge and then the terrain eased up significantly, ultimately leading to a nice trail for the last bit to the summit.
Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I'm not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!
Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I'm not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!