33 – Chair Point Lookout
From IdahoClimbingGuide.com:
Chair Point is the home of an active fire lookout. The peak has had a fire lookout on its summit since 1931. The current structure is still staffed during the summer months. The Forest Service picked this point because of the vast views afforded by the location. The actual summit is just north of the lookout. USGS Riggins Hot Springs
More Information
http://idahoclimbingguide.com/bookupdates/chair-point/
Coordinates: 45.471047, -116.229255
Elevation: 6919 ft
Difficulty: 2
What to Expect: No info
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Nice little jaunt up, the new gravel was a little funny in spots especially where it wasn’t compacted well. The guy manning the watch tower was nice enough to invite us up to check out the digs and see the view.
Easy, if a little gravelly in places, 16-mile logging road to the top. Great views up and down.
Lots of road maintenance going on, but they will let you through. They are resurfacing the first 8 miles, 14 from the bridge to the lookout. Half of the road is freshly resurfaced, other half is a good dirt/rocky road.
Tried to make it today. Was was closed at the 14 mile turnoff. Guessing they are logging up there. Really pretty ride. Big camp at turnoff. A road grader was working the road on the way up.
Chair Point is sort of in my home turf, so even though it’s 6900 feet, I thought ‘what the heck;’ I’ll give it a try. I thought the trees had burned a few years ago, leaving it exposed without any snowpack. However, I didn’t realize that there is still plenty of tree cover near the summit, and we eventually ran into snow. The GPS looked like we were close, so we decided to pile onto one bike, my XT250 (‘Bumpy’), so one could push while the other one rode. Two adults on one XT250 was a bit tight (think Dumb & Dumber), but we only made it another mile and eventually had to ditch Bumpy at 5930 feet and walk uphill through the snow drifts. We saw some huge fresh bear tracks and wolf scat, so we decided to leave our heavy gear on so the bear would have something to bite through. It was pretty slow going but we managed to walk 2 miles to the saddle where the short spur road leads to the lookout. My feet were wet and starting to blister in my trials boots so I decided to grab a pic and call it good. I will definitely come back because I’m dying to see the lookout up close. The road is pretty mellow, just fast gravel.
On a side note, this is a really unique time to visit Riggins and the Salmon River as it’s at the high water mark — something you don’t see every year. One of my favorite stops along the river is Island Bar campground, which is actually an island right now! Check it out!