We drove up a really nice gravel road to get Snowbank Mountain
The final bit of road to the top.
Looks like they plow this road in the winter.
Mav couldn't quite figure out what the big ball was about.
Looking north. The weather prediction was for a chance of rain but it was looking pretty good to me.
View Southwest
Playing in the town of Cascade. Mav may hold the record for number of different city parks played in.
Our second summit for this day turned out to be an amazing drive into an area that felt as if I had left the country. I'm not sure if it was because it was so late in the season and winter was approaching the next day with a predicted storm but I really felt this peak was the most remote I've ever driven up.
Most of this approach is on a state maintained road so it shouldn't have seemed so remote or dangerous but it did. After a long drive into the mountains on road 21 from McCall, you drive through a old mining town called Warren. Soon the road drops into the Salmon River Valley. Below is a picture of the road down into the valley. Our objective is the peak directly above the road....Pilot Peak.
This road had serious exposure. A recent fire burned the entire area and I couldn't see how the road was going to stay in place if there was heavy rain. The further down you drove, the steeper and narrower it got. It seemed snags and rockfall could come down the mountain on you at any time.
Walking a few feet up to the lookout.
Views South from the ridgeline road to the lookout.
Another lookout.
Looking east into the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness
Looking North
With only 45 minutes of daylight, I needed to get as far back as I could. I had concerns that an approaching storm could dump snow and the already rough roads would become even worse. Well after dark, I reached the bottom of the Salmon River where a nice campsite exists. But, I still had concerns that I would have to drive up that crazy road in snow if the storm did come. So, I continued up the road and out of the valley in the dark....an hour in first gear going 10 mph or so. I ended up going quite a distance back toward McCall before pitching camp at a campground.
It started to sprinkle as soon as I started putting up the tent...within an hour, it turned to snow. By morning, it was winter and I was very glad I had climbed over 2 passes before camping.
Here are the kids in the tent that night.
It was still a long drive out but the roads were good and I was past all the steep hills.
The weather was bad the remainder of the day as I traveled north and into Washington. I was able to do another 2000+ peak called Cottonwood Butte near Lewiston but it was a big disappointment for views. Decided to cut the trip short due to weather, arrived in Seattle by 10 pm.
