Find Nearby Peaks

This peak is not in the book. Published November 2018

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Peak 6994 is an obscure, seldom-visited summit that is located on a high ridge on the east side of North Heglar Canyon. Peak 6994 is the high point on this VERY LONG ridge and is at its southern terminus. The ridge goes northward all the way to Badger Peak (6,434 feet) and beyond. The easiest ascent route for Peak 6994 is on its east side via Houtz Canyon and FSR-577. USGS North Heglar Canyon

West Spur/South Ridge, Class 3

Access

From the signed junction of North Heglar Canyon Road/FSR-565 and South Heglar Canyon Road/FSR-564 just east of the townsite of Heglar, ID, reset your odometer. Go STRAIGHT onto North Heglar Canyon Road. At 6.4 miles, enter the Sawtooth National Forest. At 7.7 miles, reach the mouth of Elbow Canyon and a large parking pullout area. Park here (5,690 feet).

The Climb

The mouth of Elbow Canyon is located just north of the [very steep] west spur of Peak 6994. From the large parking pullout area, walk a short distance south on North Heglar Canyon Road to reach the base of the west spur. The west spur is thickly forested with aspens and mountain mahogany. Scramble your way up this spur on steep terrain that is a mix of veg and aspens. You will find sheep trails in the veg, but this terrain is SO STEEP that you must use veg and aspen limbs to pull yourself upward in many spots and/or to hold your stance so that you don’t tumble down the mountain. Definitely a Class 3 assignment. You must also maneuver around mountain mahogany trees. Thankfully, this spur ridge is well-defined. You can’t lose it.

Higher up, you will encounter a Class 3 cliff band that you must surmount. It’s not too bad. The slope eventually moderates and the spur ridge bends left/northeast to join the south ridge of Peak 6994. The terrain up here is a mix of mountain mahogany and rocky outcrops on the ridge crest. Stay away from the ridge crest and find a good sheep trail on the left/west side of the ridge in open terrain (desert scrub). The final ridge section to the summit is easy open terrain (short scrub + broken rock). The summit of Peak 6994 is an unimpressive bump on the ridge crest. It is just slightly higher than another ridge bump located ½ mile to the north (by only 10 feet). It had a broken-down, minimal cairn of small rocks. I built a nice cairn with good-sized talus from nearby. No summit register.

North Ridge/West Spur, Class 2

Access

Same as for the west spur/south ridge

The Descent

From the summit, follow the ridge north down to a saddle then up to a ridge point (Point 6960+). When viewed from the summit of Peak 6994, this point appears to potentially be higher than Peak 6994 but it’s not. My altimeter measured it at 10 feet lower but that is mighty close.

Continue north on the ridge, crossing Point 6915 and leaving the ridge to descend the west spur soon after that. The west spur is absolutely beautiful. It leads directly down to the large parking lot (and bathroom) just inside the Sawtooth National Forest boundary on North Heglar Canyon Road. You can see the parking lot from high on the west spur. The top section of the west spur is a rather steep mix of scree and short scrub. There are even a few rocky ridge outcrops/cliff bands to either downclimb (Class 3) or circumvent (Class 2).

Thankfully, the slope moderates but the desert scrub thickens. Use a weak sheep trail on or just left/south of the ridge crest to ease your difficulty with the scrub. As you descend farther, the scrub gets taller and thicker and, worse yet, mountain mahogany joins the mix. You will eventually find a sheep trail to help you through this awful stuff. As you approach the sharp drop to the canyon floor/road, descend right/northwest then left/west into a gully rather than southwest directly down the very steep slope. You will find some sheep trails to help you here. You still must bash through a short section of thick brush and aspens to reach the large parking lot without the help of any game/sheep trails.