Grand Slam #4: Lucky Peak
The trail starts in a foothills subdivision
After climbing Kepros Mountain, I had done three of the four Boise Grand Slam Peaks. It was time to do the last one and finish them off. The only one I had left was Lucky Peak. Except that when you look it up online, it doesn't come back as Lucky Peak. It comes back as "Shaw Mountain, otherwise known as Lucky Peak". Well, I've always known it as Lucky Peak. So on this blog, it will be "Lucky Peak, otherwise known as Shaw Mountain".
Lucky Peak is prominent on the Boise skyline. In fact, you can see it from my bedroom window. At least you used to be able to, before someone built a big house in the lot behind ours. But it is visible from anywhere in Boise that has a clear view towards the mountains. It's the last high point on the east end of the range of mountains that rise to the northeast of Boise. There's a large communication tower on the top that you can see from town if you squint a little. At night the flashing red light on the tower is easily visible.
View towards Shafer Butte in the distance
I first climbed Lucky Peak many, many years ago, not long after I moved to Boise. One day I was on Table Rock. I used to go there to rock climb back in the day. I happened to look at Lucky Peak and thought it should be possible to reach it right from where I was. I didn't have a map or any other info. I just started to hike towards the mountain. I made it to the top via a mix of 4WD roads and cross country travel. In those days I could get by with a lot less planning because I had a lot more energy.
I went up Lucky Peak another time with Abby, back in 2015. Then I actually looked at the Ridge-to-Rivers website ahead of time to plan my route. When we got near the top we discovered a camp where a number of BSU graduate students were doing field work to study raptors. A sign said I needed to leash Abby as there were nests and young on the ground in the area that could be disturbed by a dog. Not Abby, I'm sure. She'd just make friends. But I was good and followed their recommendation. I did spend time talking to some of the grad students. They were happy to explain the work that they were doing. It was pretty interesting.
Lots of arrowleaf balsamroot near the summit
Even though I had done Lucky Peak twice, I wanted to do it again to complete the Grand Slam Peaks as a set. The morning after doing Kepros I was at the trailhead for Lucky Peak. Getting there was easy. The trail starts from the end of a residential street in the foothills in east Boise. I had to walk past road construction right at the start. It looked like they were extending sewer lines so that they could build more houses farther up the hill. I suppose that some day the city will reach all the way to the top of the mountain.
It wasn't long before I reached a junction with a 4WD road. From that point on there was no more trail. The rest of the way I was walking on primitive roads. On the lower half of the route the junctions were clearly marked with trail sings placed by the Ridge-to-Rivers guys. They do a good job for hikers in the Boise foothills. Kind of a nice change from the other Grand Slam Peaks where you feel like you are just following tracks made by some dirt biker.
Summit selfie
There was a lot of elevation to gain. There weren't any uncomfortably steep sections, but it was steady uphill. The word that comes to mind is relentless. I just took it slowly and kept plodding upward. I'm good at that.
As I climbed, I could see more and more of Boise and the Treasure Valley. Although I was enjoying the view, there weren't nearly as many wildflowers on this hike as there were on the others. I'm sure that was due to the fact that I was climbing on south slopes that faced the valley, where there are a lot of warm updrafts that melt the snow early in the spring. Like most of the Boise foothills, peak flower season had been earlier in the year and had already passed. There still were some flowers though. I did see a lot of Mariposa lilliles, which was unusual. There were also lupine, wild geraniums, wooly sunflowers, phlox, and higher up, the ubiquitous arrowleaf balsamroot. But I wouldn't recommend this hike for the wildflowers, at least not this late in the year.
There were lots of these guys on the way down
When I reached the upper part of the mountain, I discovered that the BSU research station was gone. Looking online afterwards I learned that a fire the year before had forced them to shut down. The view from the top was still spectacular though. It's probably the best view of Boise and the Treasure Valley from anywhere in the nearby mountains. Since Lucky Peak is visible from almost anywhere, that means from the summit you can see just about the entire valley. When I reached the summit there was another hiker there, but soon he headed down and I had the mountain all to myself.
Hiking down was uneventful. Because it had warmed up through the day, the Mormon crickets came out in force. There were not so many as to be a problem, but there were enough to be mildly annoying. I had to watch where I was going to avoid stepping on any. Not that I care that much about crickets. It just seemed gross. Usually they hop out of your way so I made it down without being attacked by any bugs.
Actual trail signs. Very civilized.
According to the AllTrails app and my GPS, the hike was 12 miles round trip with 3,123 feet of elevation gain. My time was five hours. It was a good hike but not great. The views from the top of Lucky Peak were impressive, but the hike was kind of a slog.
But hey, I finished the Boise Grand Slam Peaks over a period of two weeks. I'm glad that I can say that I've done them. They were all worth doing to reach notable summits near Boise. And they were definitely good early season training, especially since I have big plans for a lot more hikes later in the year. I guess overall though I was a little disappointed in them. Cervidae and Heinen both had significant sections of steep, slippery dirt slopes that were quite unpleasant. Lucky Peak is a bit of a grind. Kepros is the only one that I really enjoyed and would probably want to do again. Tom Lopez brags that he has done the Grand Slam Peaks a hundred times. sorry Tom, but for me, once is probably going to be enough.
