Find Nearby Peaks

This peak is not in the book. Published January 2023

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Peak 8308 is located at the head of Pole Canyon, south of Victor. It is most easily reached via the Pole Canyon Trail/FST-014 and its south ridge. This is the first leg of a 3-peak journey that includes Peak 8308, Blanchard Ridge (7,982 feet), and Peak 7704. This adventure covers 7.5 miles with 2,800 feet of elevation gain round trip. USGS Victor

Access

The Pole Canyon Trailhead is located just south of Victor. From Victor, drive west on ID-31 for about a mile to a signed junction with S2000W Road. This signed junction is 4.7 miles east of Pine Creek Pass on ID-31. Turn south onto S2000W Road and drive 0.4 miles to a signed junction with W9500S Road. Turn left/east onto W9500S Road and drive 0.9 miles to a signed junction with S1000W Road. Turn right/south onto S1000W Road and drive 1.6 miles to the Pole Canyon Trailhead (6,480 feet). You can also find S1000W Road in downtown Victor and drive south on it all the way to the Pole Canyon Trailhead.

South Ridge, Class 2

The Climb

This climb is mostly Class 1. Hike south up Pole Canyon Trail/FST-014. Contrary to the USGS map placement, FST-014 immediately crosses to the left/east side of Pole Canyon Creek and remains on the east side all the way to the ridge crest at the head of Pole Canyon. FST-014 is a well-beaten trail and is heavily used by hikers and bikers. Follow the trail up Pole Canyon to an unsigned trail junction at a sharp right/west turn at a gully crossing at the head of Pole Canyon. This junction is just below the [obvious] ridge crest. Leave FST-014 here and follow a use trail left/east up 60 vertical feet onto the ridge crest.

The use trail reaches an unsigned “T” junction on the ridge crest. A well-beaten use trail (not shown on maps) follows the ridge crest here. Go left/north on the unofficial trail and follow it to where it crosses to the right/east side of the ridge crest and skirts the right/east side of Peak 8308. Leave the trail here and scramble northwest then north up the ridge crest for 115 vertical feet to reach the cairned summit. The ridge crest has a weak game/use trail in the veg but it is sketchy. The summit has a decent cairn and nice views of the surrounding area. From the summit, return to FST-014 at the unsigned trail junction at the head of Pole Canyon. This concludes the first leg of today’s 3-peak journey. Blanchard Ridge (7,982 feet) is up next.