Find Nearby Peaks

This butte is not in the book. Published October 2025

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Packsaddle Butte is a minor, rocky outcrop in a desolate area of the Snake River Plain northwest of American Falls. It is easily reached on decent roads coming up from the American Falls area. It requires only a 10-minute scramble from a nearby 2-track road. USGS Split Top

Access

From ID-39 about six miles west of Springfield and about 50 feet west of MM26, turn right/north onto [signed] 2600W/Butte Round Road and reset your odometer. 2600W is a wide, gravel county road that heads north and turns left/west to become [signed] 500S/Coffee Point Road. At 11.5 miles, reach a critical signed junction. This is Coffee Point on maps. From here, a smooth, wide gravel road heads left/west to Rock Lake (8 miles on the BLM sign) for the Split Top climb. Another road continues straight/northwest for the Packsaddle Butte climb.

Reset your odometer at the Coffee Point junction. Head straight/northwest on a road that leads to the Packsaddle Butte area. At 2.2 miles, go straight/northwest at an unsigned junction. The road is smooth, fast gravel to this point. At 7.0 miles, reach an unsigned “T” junction (Junction 5194 on maps). Go right/north here. At 9.0 miles, reach a signed “T” junction (Junction 5132 on maps). Go right/east here onto a 2-track road for Packsaddle Butte and drive 0.4 miles. Park along the 2-track road [5,128 feet; 43°14’07.4”N, 113°04’38.4”W].

West Face, Class 2

The Climb

From the 2-track road, bushwhack southeast directly at the north summit ridgeline through easy grass and scrub. Reach the rocky ridge then continue south to a scrub saddle. From that saddle, scramble south up some rock and scrub to the rocky south summit. This is the high point. From the summit, descend north to the small saddle then head west then northwest through easy grass and scrub to return to the improvised pullout along the 2-track road.