Independence Creek Trail #22 Panhandle National Forest, Idaho

Well, I am here at the Independence Creek trailhead. I'm gonna plan on doing the Independence Creek trail. The forecast is poor and right now it's raining pretty good out. I just got here it's about quarter to nine in the morning. I'm gonna have to gear up in the in the rain. I may just sit here a minute and see if it lets up. It's raining pretty good. Here we go. It's been raining the whole time but it's really a good temperature. I'm not cold. I am wet. Sure is beautiful. My god, I think the rain might be letting up too. Loving it despite the weather. Came in on a Thursday. This is Thursday morning still. Saw nobody at the trailhead. I imagine there'll be people there camped out when I get back. Haven't really crossed Independence Creek yet so all the reviews and the book said there are many crossings. You might be able to see it right over there. Right up along it now. Loving this. This is beautiful. Still sprinkling a little bit. Not bad. We're good. Still kind of drizzling. Sometimes it shows sign of burning off but we're kind of soaked in. So we're almost three miles in. Long ways to go. Still 10 plus. It's good after a massive meadow here. Puddles in the trail are slowing me down. Doing good. Loving it and it definitely stopped raining. Not quite clearing up though. Still early. I think it's only 10 or 11. I didn't check. Well we haven't crossed in a while so I guess it's about time. We're a little over five and a quarter miles in now. Another one down. Basset Peak Trail. That away. This is where we're going. Over six miles in now. 6.34. Look at this. A little sunlight. So I'm doing pretty good here. Gone seven and three quarter miles according to the GPS. I should be over halfway now. Maybe I'm going up there. I don't know. Loving this though. Beautiful trail. This is surprising. This made me want to do a map check. McGee Peak. I know we've been there. That's on the McGee Bear Trail. So I would do a little map check because I don't remember this trail on here. Could be just because I wasn't looking for it. This is trail number 956. Here's our GPS stats so far. I'm hoping the rain holds off because it's just been kind of nice. Gotta watch where I'm going. But you know what? We did plan on it raining. I thought I remember the forecast saying it wasn't going to rain in the afternoon and actually clear up tonight and then rain tomorrow. So we'll see. I hope that's the case. Today's just been great. You know it started out rough. Almost wanted to sit in the truck and wait it out but then just decided to get going. I knew it was going to rain so I did prepare for it and once I got on trail it wasn't a big deal. So hopefully that trend continues. Anything can happen. Supposed to be kind of thunderstorms but I need to quit talking before I fall on my ass here. Well it's about quarter after one and I have found a spot to take a break. Not bad at all. Ended up going in about 10 miles. Means I probably have about four to go plus the hill climb. I'll get the map out here and check how much I need to go up. I think we'll get that stove out see if we can start boiling some water. Here is the GPS readings. There we go. Second time I've used it in the field. Here is my improvised camp. Not staying here of course. Oh we're boiling over. Shit. I finally made it to the junction. This is where we're going tonight. This hike up is it almost reminds me of the hike up the pass in the in the Uintas for all of you who were there. Gorgeous. The rain's held off for now. We even might have a smidge of sun here in a minute. Just filming the trail to see if there are any other deer. A whitetail just went right there. Oh there he goes up the hill. Can't see him but I can hear him. I loaded up with water. That's part of the reason I'm having such a hard time. I left my lunch spot with five liters of water and boy is it heavy. This trail is relentless. It's just been constantly uphill. This is what I'm looking at right now. Well I've made it to a camp. Got my fire going well. Hammock set up. Tarp is ready for a downpour. Need to get my gear stowed away in it but other than that we are good to go. This is the best campsite I've seen all trail. Beats the hell out of the one I had up on the Coeur d'Alene river on the north fork there. What creek that was. It wasn't the north fork but it's on my Coeur d'Alene All right well it's morning of day two about 6 30. Just heard something fairly big go down through here. Could be like 16 miles today so we need to get after it here. Get everything packed up. Start making miles. Terrain should be easier today so I'm optimistic that I can do this. We'll see. We're out. Well this was a hell of a lot further than I thought it would be. It's over two miles from where I camped. Definitely very tired today. Lethargic a bit. Heavy legs. I've already walked four miles and so I guess I'll get back on this trail and it's gonna be 15 out. Back at last night's camp. I'm out of water. It is a little after nine I think. So I know I got 13 almost 14 miles back to the truck. I think it's going to take all my energy to get back to the truck. Might be pushing the light too. Well I'm just about ready to go here. I can hear some motorcycles so I'm gonna wait till they go past. This trail is definitely used by motorcycles. I've already seen three come through this morning and I'm hoping those are the three that are coming. So better get going. I gotta make time. I want to get back to the truck before dark. It's starting to sprinkle on me. Not too hard yet. Well it's raining hard enough I had to stop and put my hat on. Just try to keep my glasses dry-ish. So still on the way down. Hopefully I can get down by the water. We can find a place to hole up for a bit. Yeah still loving it. Four miles they say. It's raining pretty good. I just love this setup. Man sweet. Hearing some uh we're on to hearing some thunder now. A couple pretty pretty uh good claps there. It does kind of put a sense of urgency into getting out. I'm still a long ways. Damn yeah. Stick with my plan. I'm gonna have lunch. I'm gonna refuel and then we're just gonna walk out whatever kind of weather. It don't matter. I knew this would this could be the conditions when I came out. So we just deal with them. Well this is the last of my alcohol. So uh even more important that we get out of here. Still raining. Got my poncho on. Trying it out while I'm hiking. Not bad so far. My backpack is at least they say it's waterproof so I don't need a cover or anything on it. I guess we'll see this time. See if my bag's wet when I take it out. I'm actually really enjoying this. Here's where we kicked it yesterday. My stove spot's still there. All right looks like it might even be letting up on the rain. See if we can make some time. I think we should be on that McGee turnoff before too long. Well I can see the blue sky. It's still raining on me though. Maybe we'll walk into the sun. Here's the McGee turnoff. So it says seven miles. I think on my GPS it was closer to eight. Okay well I've changed out of my rain get up back into my good weather gear. You can see the sun's out. Good stuff. I'm loving this trail today. I could do without the ruts and the puddles but I don't know if it's just because I was rained on all day but this trail is really reminding me of the Mirror Lake Trail up on the Pacific Crest Trail. Well I found a campsite. This wouldn't be bad. I think we've went about 14 miles. Got about three miles left to the truck and it is about looks like the skies are changing again. Hopefully we can finish without getting rained on again. I'm hoping. Well it looks like we might end this hike the same way we started it. In the rain it's starting to sprinkle again and I'm hearing thunder. The weather has definitely turned. Thunder in the background closing in on just a half mile from the truck. Made it. This is the sign I've been looking for. We came up this way but I think I'm going to take the shortcut. It's probably going to be really steep but get this pack off and not put it on again for a while. Well it's about six o'clock. I've been here for 15 minutes maybe. Did 18 some miles today. That's by far the furthest I've gone. All in all, love it.