Hiking Idaho’s Seven Devils, Part 3: Trail’s End

Read Part 1 and Part 2 before you enter here!

Day 2.5 on Seven Devils Loop

As I mentioned in the previous post, Tammy and I started our day early and were on the trail before the sun rose. This section of trail from Haas Lake to the final ascent below Windy Saddle is very mild hiking. We started out enjoying the antics of the abundant local ground squirrels as we motored along at an even pace.

The trail here is quite flat as it gently meanders out onto one point and then down into the adjacent canyon. One after another, we ticked them off, stopping for water as we needed. This side of the trail has plenty of icy cold water and running streams. Luckily there is also abundant shade just when you need it most. We were very happy to have started early.

First Decision

Amanda and I had discussed whether we would hit a couple of alpine lakes on the way out and make our last trek a two-day affair. We made an agreement to a game-day decision, based on how we were feeling at the time. Tammy and I began to slow as we approached the Dog Lake trail and Amanda soon caught us. We took off our packs and had our fill of cold filtered water from Dog Creek as we contemplated.

I didn’t see that going to Dog Lake would make a large difference in our final decision and Amanda made the choice for her and Mark to drop their packs in the bushes and make a quick sprint up to the lake. Tammy and I counted out 45 minutes of R&R in the cool shade, wiping the occasional ant off of our legs as we lounged about. As a bonus, we got to visit with two different parties. The first was middle-aged ultra-runner and his son who would finish this loop in two days traveling light. The second was the group we had been leapfrogging on the other side. They gave us news of Amanda’s progress, as they’d come out of the Dog Lake trail from their camp.

Continuing on The Seven Devils Loop

After a pile of rest and water, Tammy and I soaked our shirts and began the mild climb out of Dog Creek. Again, we ambled along at a leisurely pace, knowing the other half of our party would take at least two extra hours of hiking to make their journey. As we crossed Hanson Creek, my Dad-mind started causing me to worry about our team behind. We slowed and waited, then we continued, then we slowed, etc. Finally, after we pulled out of Hansen Creek we saw Amanda coming in about ¾ mile behind us. Whew!

Hearts lightened, we strolled around the sidehill toward Cannon Creek. We dawdled and rested as we waited for our team to catch up. We would regroup at Cannon Creek and make our final decision about the trip: Hike up to Cannon Lake and camp, or head straight for the Windy Saddle campground and the truck. As we meandered along in a shady area, I heard something crash in the brush below. Elk!?

An Interesting Meeting on the Seven Devils Loop!

I quickly motioned to Tammy and whispered “elk!”, pointing below me in the brush. She, having by far the better set of eyes, began to move along the trail trying to catch a glimpse. Imagine my surprise, when she exclaimed “wolf!” in a shouted whisper! I hustled to her, to see a black bear ambling through the brush about 100 yards away and coming in our direction. Tammy quickly realized the beariness of the creature and we stood and enjoyed watching him or her browsing along toward us.

After a while, the bear turned and began quartering up toward the trail behind us. It was then that I realized that Amanda and Mark should be pretty close to us and maybe on a surprise collision course with Mr. or Mrs. bear. I quickly trotted back down the trail to intercept either them or the bear…turns out both! I waved my arms at Amanda when I saw her about 80 yards from me. She yelled “I see you”, to which I jumped up and down waving my arms. This caught her attention and I pointed to the brush below them shout-whispering “bear!”.

What Now?

For the briefest of moments, shit got pretty funny. Amanda saw the bear only 20-30 yards away from her as I could plainly tell by her rigid body language. Mark fished out his bear spray while Amanda and he quickly backed up and Amanda yelled “what do we do!?” Of course, that was all it took to scare the living bejeezus out of the bear who turned on a dime and crashed out of there as fast as any creature could move in such dense cover. I was so impressed by the lunging speed of the bear as it bashed recklessly down through the brush and out of our lives

We joined back up and had a few laughs at this fun encounter. I hadn’t mentioned to them that I typically packed a pistol and had kept one hand on the butt of it through the encounter myself. Hell, I don’t know what any bear will do, but I’ve read enough to know that black bear “attacks” are ridiculously rare in wild settings. I wasn’t worried, but I wasn’t either dismissive of the situation.

Cannon Lake Decision

We gathered our stuff and headed to Cannon Creek for the final decision of the trip. I wonder now if we made the right call, but at the time it seemed solid to me. The choice was to hike a mile or more up to another lake camping spot, then re-hike that mile on our way out in the morning. We took off our boots and cooled off in Cannon Creek, drinking up as much as we could before making the decision.

This time I left the decision entirely to Amanda. The only stipulation I had if we stayed over at Cannon Lake is that we all would move out before sunrise in the morning, as Tammy and I had to be in Elko that night, nine hours from the trailhead. I wanted to be on the road by 10:00 am. After we cooled down, the decision to head for the truck and pizza in McCall about two hours away was made. One final fill of water bottles and wetting of shirts and we were off.

Windy Saddle is Always “The Hard Way”

I savvy topographic maps, and I could see that the climb to Windy Saddle would be the steepest climb of the trip. There is no good approach to Windy Saddle whether you go clockwise or counter-clockwise on the loop. Any way you slice it, you are headed uphill to your trail end. We started up the grade and were able to cool down a couple of times as we came out.

It seemed like the trail steepened all the way to the end. That last 1.5 miles was really not that horrible, but the steep ascent at the end of a fairly long day was not a welcomed event. We finally broke out into the clearing below the campground and found ourselves very close to our truck, much to our collective relief. Although the flowers continued to be epic and the beauty around us was beyond description, the last day felt a little mission-oriented. Speaking for myself, I was looking forward to getting to the truck and that may have taken a little out of the day. Perhaps we should have stayed at Cannon Lake, but the beer and food in McCall that night was so good. The hot tub, king sized bed, shower, and clean sheets were most welcomed!

Redux – Lessons and Thoughts

This trip is a moderate level multi-day trip that is accessible to most hikers. Water is fairly abundant except on the southwest side of the loop and shade is pretty easy to come by. Each lakeside camping spot requires extra hiking from the trail, which can be frustrating at the end of a long day of hiking. Consider your camp planning well. You will not believe the abundance nor the variety of wildflowers on this trip. I’ve spent many days in the mountains, and I do not recall ever experiencing flowers like this.

We packed a little more food than we needed, so our packs were a little heavy coming out. I lucked out as I did not bring a coat. We looked at the Weather Channel and NOAA sites carefully before we left and rolled the dice we would not experience daytime rain. I really liked doing this hike counter-clockwise, but I have to admit the east part of the loop is a bit more boring than the west. It might be fun to do this the other direction and try to make at least Haas Lake on day 1. That would leave you two pretty nice days to get back to the truck and the northern exposure coming into Windy Saddle from the west would be cooler on the final ascent I think too.

This was such a beautiful trip and I’m sure it is one I’d like to do again, maybe focusing more on the scenery and side trips. I’ve heard people skip the loop in favor of playing around on the northwest side of this wilderness, and I think I would favor that if I were to do it again. Maybe a few more fish and side-trips and less worry about circumnavigating Idaho’s Seven Devils!!