Big and Little Sisters
The Sisters are almost exactly 1 mile apart, and the ridge separating them is an easy scramble. The views of the high peaks of Diamond and Bell (and a good portion of the Lemhi Range are outstanding.
"On 9/22/90 I searched for but could not find any sign of prior summit visitation on either 10717' or 10984'. Small cairns and notes were placed on both summits. Wishing to assign personal names to these related peaks, I referenced 10717' as Amy's Peak, a double entendre for my younger daughter, and also for the Amy family, who live in Little Lost River Valley in the Clyde area. The higher 10984' summit I call Lexi's Peak in honor of my oldest daughter. This may explain the nomenclature 'Big Sister' and 'Little Sister' which appears in 'Idaho A Climbing Guide'. And, with due respect to Tom, I don't recall saying these were good early season peaks, so please don't hurl epithets at me."
Rick Baugher 4/14/10
The Lems are high and rugged. You will find few people here. It is indeed typical Southeast Idaho fare.
Looking across the top of Little Sister
Directions
From Idaho Falls rive 24 miles North on I-15 to Sage Junction, turn West on Hwy 33 and drive 42.7 miles to the tiny hamlet of Howe. Drive North for 28 miles on the Little Lost / Pahsimeroi road to the old town site of Clyde. Here you will find a small bridge across the Little Lost River. Turn Right as soon as you are over the bridge for a short way and then stay left at a Y in the road. Follow the dry Cedar Run Creek bed to a spot just above the Mud Springs. From here hike south and then East to gain Little Sister’s west flanks.
Typical Northern Rockies season for the most part. These peaks can be climbed by your average hiker as early as March and as late as October in some years. Go prepared as this is a remote country and there is little chance of finding help here if you travel alone.
Camping
There are a couple of camping spots near the end of the road, and there is water at the Mud Springs, bring your filter.
For conditions contact Ranger Districts:
Lost River Ranger District
716 W Custer
P.O. Box 507
Mackay, ID 83251
(208) 588-3400
Leadore Ranger District
176 North Railroad St.
P.O. Box 180 Hwy 28
Leadore, ID 83464
(208) 768-2500
Item of Interest
The remains of an old cabin (if you can call it a cabin) can be found at around 9600 ft on Little Sister’s west ridge. A fair amount of labor went into it, and I found broken pieces of window glass, along with old broken bottles and an old gold pan. It is a bit of a mystery as I could find no sign of mining and there is absolutely no water to pan for gold here. I don't know.....any ideas?
Short Trip Report
This simple scramble, these two obscure points in the Lemhi Range, became somewhat of an obsession for me. Back in the spring of 2001, drove up with some good buddies to make an early season opener......Turns out we were really lousy at finding our way on this particular day. Combined with poor directions and quite a bit of snow, we never got to the top. We weren’t even on the right mountain! Found out later that we should have started right up the slopes to the south of where we parked, instead of hiking up the canyon.
Well, the next time (spring 2002), I invited the same bunch again. I went up in my new jeep the Friday afternoon, camped out and was to meet the guys the next morning for another try. I took another approach road, found a crappy place to pitch the tent and went to bed. Woke up the next morning to some overcast / windy weather.... Packed up and loaded everything in the back of the jeep, hopped in, turned the key and nothing. I spent the next couple of hours pushing the jeep uphill (slightly) to a spot where I could roll downhill (into a bowl) and get it started. I thought I had left the key on in the ignition and run the battery down. As I (gasp/wheeze) get it going downhill, I jump in, turn the key on, put it in second gear and let out on the clutch and proceed to the bottom, without it even coming close to starting.
OK, now it was time to feel alarmed. I have a walkie talkie to contact the guys when they get there, so we can coordinate our meet up. "Hello, Guys, can you hear me? Over" No answer "Hey! Anybody out there?" Silence......Thoughts started running through my head of "they are not coming, they decided to bail, what am I going to do now......." Well it turns out that when I do decide to lift the hood to see if I can figure out what the problem is, I find one of the battery cables has come loose!
OK....I feel dumb now. No, a really dumb. I should have just headed home, unaware that this was just the beginning.....
I drive to the rendezvous spot and wait for my buds to arrive. The specified hour comes and goes. They have bailed. I wait just a little longer and then decide I won't wait and grab my stuff and head up the mountain. The weather is a bit sketchy but not too bad and I think that things might improve.
Three quarters of the way up I feel a drop or two, hmmmm, then more, then steady rain, then hard steady rain. No lightning, mind you so I stand under a tall tree to see if it doesn't let up. Fifteen minutes later, after no sign of the rain stopping, I gather some dry sticks and some trusty dryer lint out of my pack to start a fire to stay warm and see if I cannot wait the rain out. After using every one of my DAMP matches, without so much as a spark, I throw the last one down on the ground in disgust.
I stand there getting wetter by the minute, then gather all the spent matches together in a bunch and rub them all furiously on the match box. Eureka! It bursts into flames! Fire!
I get a nice fire going and then spend the next hour feeding it while it continues to rain. Finally, I give up, extinguish the fire, spread the ashes, and head down the mountain to my Jeep, which by the way, had NO TOP on it because I left it at home.
I return to the to my outfit to find my buddy's pickup parked in front of my mine, blocking me in, and no one is about, I honk the horn……… nobody.
Oh, just great, can it get any worse? I sit in the Jeep, water 1 inch deep on the floor, and rising. I can't believe this is happening. A moose wanders by. He looks wet and miserable. He stops and looks at me, I look at him and I say "Yep, I know how you feel...."
45 minutes later, the guys come back down the canyon, (why did they go that way?) I chew their butts, and then follow them out the dirt (mud) road to the pavement. Then drive all the way back to Idaho Falls in the rain over 100 miles.
Needless to say, I could not stay away, I guess I am a glutton for punishment. I did go back and climb them, these....these mountains are not going to get the best of me. This time we had no more of a problem than getting a little off track on the way down, damn mountain.
"On 9/22/90 I searched for but could not find any sign of prior summit visitation on either 10717' or 10984'. Small cairns and notes were placed on both summits. Wishing to assign personal names to these related peaks, I referenced 10717' as Amy's Peak, a double entendre for my younger daughter, and also for the Amy family, who live in Little Lost River Valley in the Clyde area. The higher 10984' summit I call Lexi's Peak in honor of my oldest daughter. This may explain the nomenclature 'Big Sister' and 'Little Sister' which appears in 'Idaho A Climbing Guide'. And, with due respect to Tom, I don't recall saying these were good early season peaks, so please don't hurl epithets at me."
Rick Baugher 4/14/10
The Lems are high and rugged. You will find few people here. It is indeed typical Southeast Idaho fare.
Looking across the top of Little Sister
Directions
From Idaho Falls rive 24 miles North on I-15 to Sage Junction, turn West on Hwy 33 and drive 42.7 miles to the tiny hamlet of Howe. Drive North for 28 miles on the Little Lost / Pahsimeroi road to the old town site of Clyde. Here you will find a small bridge across the Little Lost River. Turn Right as soon as you are over the bridge for a short way and then stay left at a Y in the road. Follow the dry Cedar Run Creek bed to a spot just above the Mud Springs. From here hike south and then East to gain Little Sister’s west flanks.
Typical Northern Rockies season for the most part. These peaks can be climbed by your average hiker as early as March and as late as October in some years. Go prepared as this is a remote country and there is little chance of finding help here if you travel alone.
Camping
There are a couple of camping spots near the end of the road, and there is water at the Mud Springs, bring your filter.
For conditions contact Ranger Districts:
Lost River Ranger District
716 W Custer
P.O. Box 507
Mackay, ID 83251
(208) 588-3400
Leadore Ranger District
176 North Railroad St.
P.O. Box 180 Hwy 28
Leadore, ID 83464
(208) 768-2500
Item of Interest
The remains of an old cabin (if you can call it a cabin) can be found at around 9600 ft on Little Sister’s west ridge. A fair amount of labor went into it, and I found broken pieces of window glass, along with old broken bottles and an old gold pan. It is a bit of a mystery as I could find no sign of mining and there is absolutely no water to pan for gold here. I don't know.....any ideas?
Short Trip Report
This simple scramble, these two obscure points in the Lemhi Range, became somewhat of an obsession for me. Back in the spring of 2001, drove up with some good buddies to make an early season opener......Turns out we were really lousy at finding our way on this particular day. Combined with poor directions and quite a bit of snow, we never got to the top. We weren’t even on the right mountain! Found out later that we should have started right up the slopes to the south of where we parked, instead of hiking up the canyon.
Well, the next time (spring 2002), I invited the same bunch again. I went up in my new jeep the Friday afternoon, camped out and was to meet the guys the next morning for another try. I took another approach road, found a crappy place to pitch the tent and went to bed. Woke up the next morning to some overcast / windy weather.... Packed up and loaded everything in the back of the jeep, hopped in, turned the key and nothing. I spent the next couple of hours pushing the jeep uphill (slightly) to a spot where I could roll downhill (into a bowl) and get it started. I thought I had left the key on in the ignition and run the battery down. As I (gasp/wheeze) get it going downhill, I jump in, turn the key on, put it in second gear and let out on the clutch and proceed to the bottom, without it even coming close to starting.
OK, now it was time to feel alarmed. I have a walkie talkie to contact the guys when they get there, so we can coordinate our meet up. "Hello, Guys, can you hear me? Over" No answer "Hey! Anybody out there?" Silence......Thoughts started running through my head of "they are not coming, they decided to bail, what am I going to do now......." Well it turns out that when I do decide to lift the hood to see if I can figure out what the problem is, I find one of the battery cables has come loose!
OK....I feel dumb now. No, a really dumb. I should have just headed home, unaware that this was just the beginning.....
I drive to the rendezvous spot and wait for my buds to arrive. The specified hour comes and goes. They have bailed. I wait just a little longer and then decide I won't wait and grab my stuff and head up the mountain. The weather is a bit sketchy but not too bad and I think that things might improve.
Three quarters of the way up I feel a drop or two, hmmmm, then more, then steady rain, then hard steady rain. No lightning, mind you so I stand under a tall tree to see if it doesn't let up. Fifteen minutes later, after no sign of the rain stopping, I gather some dry sticks and some trusty dryer lint out of my pack to start a fire to stay warm and see if I cannot wait the rain out. After using every one of my DAMP matches, without so much as a spark, I throw the last one down on the ground in disgust.
I stand there getting wetter by the minute, then gather all the spent matches together in a bunch and rub them all furiously on the match box. Eureka! It bursts into flames! Fire!
I get a nice fire going and then spend the next hour feeding it while it continues to rain. Finally, I give up, extinguish the fire, spread the ashes, and head down the mountain to my Jeep, which by the way, had NO TOP on it because I left it at home.
I return to the to my outfit to find my buddy's pickup parked in front of my mine, blocking me in, and no one is about, I honk the horn……… nobody.
Oh, just great, can it get any worse? I sit in the Jeep, water 1 inch deep on the floor, and rising. I can't believe this is happening. A moose wanders by. He looks wet and miserable. He stops and looks at me, I look at him and I say "Yep, I know how you feel...."
45 minutes later, the guys come back down the canyon, (why did they go that way?) I chew their butts, and then follow them out the dirt (mud) road to the pavement. Then drive all the way back to Idaho Falls in the rain over 100 miles.
Needless to say, I could not stay away, I guess I am a glutton for punishment. I did go back and climb them, these....these mountains are not going to get the best of me. This time we had no more of a problem than getting a little off track on the way down, damn mountain.
Hi. My name is Juanita Amy. My folks place sits at the foot of Bell Mountain. My family are interested in climbing Amy peak, but would like to visit with Mr. Baugher. Can I get his information, please!
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