Seven Devils Mountains, Idaho - He Devil Summit Loop Hike in Hells Canyon
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
- 15.6 mile loop hike to summit of He Devil (9,393'), the highest peak in the Seven Devils Mountains, Idaho. The Seven Devils Mountains are part of the Hells Canyon Wilderness, and Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, and is managed by the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.
There are many backpacking opportunities in the Hells Canyon Wilderness, but the Seven Devils Mountains are home to the highest peaks in the area and the most impressive mountain landscapes along the Snake River on the Idaho/Oregon border.
From SummitPost - "The Seven Devils Mountains extend along the Idaho/Oregon border for about 50 miles roughly between the Idaho towns of Whitebird and Council. The Snake River through Hells Canyon forms the west boundary and the Salmon and Little Salmon rivers bound the east. The range is one of the more rugged of Idaho’s mountain chains and is probably the state's most precipitous with elevations varying from just above 1,000 feet at the Snake River to 9,420 feet at the summit of He Devil. He Devil is one of three peaks in Idaho with over 5,000 feet of prominence. The vertical rise of approximately 8,000 feet in eight horizontal miles from the bottom of Hells Canyon is the highest in the state. He Devil and adjacent She Devil are basically equal in height but have never been officially triangulated. Most books and maps incorrectly list them at 9,393 feet and 9,280 feet respectively, though USGS quad maps show both exceeding the 9,400 contour. Though He Devil appears slightly higher of the two, it is possible that She Devil is the highest.
The central portion of the range contains the highest and most rugged mountains. These are cleverly named the likes of He Devil, She Devil, The Ogre, Tower of Babel, Twin Imps, The Goblin, Devils Throne and Devils Tooth. A 27 mile long loop trail encircles this spectacular area making for a tremendous extended hike with many hiking and scrambling opportunities."
July 2021 - We began our He Devil peak summit hike at Windy Saddle. The Seven Devils Campground is 1/4 mile away and makes a great (free) camping spot before or after your Seven Devils Mountains hike or backpacking trip.
From Windy Saddle, we begin a counter-clockwise loop hike to the He Devil summit. We drop down into East Fork Sheep Creek, through a large burn area, then ascend a ridgeline separating East and West Fork Sheep Creeks. We hike down to West Fork Sheep Creek and hike up to a chain of small lakes: Lilly Pad Lake, Basin Lake, Shelf Lake, Gem Lake, Rock Island Lake and Appendix Lake. We have our first wildlife sighting here, a mountain goat.
We leave the trail above Appendix Lake and begin the Ascent to He Devil peak. The ridgeline of the Seven Devils Mountains is impressive, offering sweeping views over Hells Canyon, the deepest gorge in the US. However, forest fire smoke limits our views on this hike. Still, the summit view from He Devil is outstanding.
We descend He Devil peak along the same route we took up, but now drop down to Sheep Lake to begin forming our loop. We hike the southeast side of sheep lake and find a steep, faded old trail leading to an unnamed pass above Mirror Lake. We then hike down to Seven Devils Lake and back to Windy Saddle to complete our loop hike to the summit of He Devil. Hiking in the Seven Devils Mountains is excellent!
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Another great video!
Thank you Robin!
Great video; we love the 7 Devils
Thanks Jen!
Fantastic scenery man, some breathtaking views.
Just imagine the views without the smoke! I'll be back someday!
Rather appropriate for the devils to be amongst smoke and fire. 😈🔥
All my hiking trips in California last summer had that same smoke covered landscape.
Would love to back pack to the high lakes and hike a few more peaks !
That's a hell of a day hike! Those boulder fields looked quite devilish too! Snow in July makes you wonder how much they get in winter.
Not sure if you know this, but avoid red snow just like you would yellow snow! If you see red snow, that means it contains an algae that is toxic to humans! I'm fairly certain you can't purify or filter it out either!
Oh yeah, that snow algae, cool to see your footsteps turn red in the snow! Never thought to filter that colored snow, I'll stick with the plain old white stuff!
I didn't realize that you've already done the 7 Devils
I just climbed this on 10 September 2022 from She Devil. The He Devil summit registry has been destroyed by an animal - so if you're watching this for beta and reading this please bring a new one up. PVC container is also in pretty bad shape and could use a replacement.
Lots of mountain goats in those mountains
Billy country!