Mt. Baird | Swan Valley, ID

July 2020

After 3 days spent in Swan Valley, I decided I wanted to summit a mountain in the area. I searched for candidate peaks with my major restriction being time. It had been a busy week, with work that still needed to be done. So I looked for a summit that I can reach if I started hiking in the afternoon (not usually advisable in the summer due to thunderstorm risks), and under 10 miles. Mt. Baird was the highest peak in it's county, has a beautiful pyramid shape and is ~9 miles to the summit.

There wasn't a trail all the way to the summit. The little elk creek trail gets you very close to the summit, but you have to find your way in the last ~1000ft of vertical gain. This was the first time I approached a summit without a marked trail. I've hiked several mountains in the Adirondacks that have "unmarked" trail. However, I never found them particularly challenging or different than the marked trails of the Adirondacks (The overgrown, muddy and rugged trail up of the Seward Range might have been the worst of the "unmarked" trails). I would also be hiking this mountain solo. I spent some time studying topographic maps and reading trip reports. I finally decided on a route on the south ridge of the mountain, and marked an approximate route on my map (on my phone).

I set out on the hike on a Friday at 2pm. It was a beautiful, blue sky kind-of day. The initial 3 miles were very green and beautiful. The sound of a creek followed you the entire way and occasionally making an appearance. Around 2.5 miles into the hike, the trees began to be less dense, and you could begin seeing the adjacent peaks surrounding you. Notable peaks were Elkhorn Peak (right next to Mt. Baird) and Sheep Creek Peak (to the West).

Around 3.7 miles into the hike, I reached the point of the map where I should leave the trail and turn East towards the ridge of the peak. I was able to clearly see summit going up, and felt that I was close to the East ridge of the mountain. On the initial attempt, I faced a steep face, and decided to go around it. I hiked slightly more on the trail and took another attempt towards the ridge line. I was more successful at this attempt but had to cross a small snow field and climb two ~15ft walls. After this point, the hike up was easier but very steep. The last ~100ft or so were the hardest, with a very steep scree field. With lots of caution, I made it to the top!

The summit was very rewarding & satisfying. I had 360 views of the Idaho / Wyoming border to myself, filled with gorgeous mountains and scenery.

You can even see the majestic Grand Teton far away.

Heading down was fast. After lots of caution descending the ridge-line, I was able to run down the entire trail and get to my car. Overall, I logged 8.9 miles, 4001ft vertical gain in 4:45 minutes. Not bad!