Dickey Peak (11,141 feet, 3396 meters) is one of the most distinctive mountains in Idaho with its nearly timberless, scree-covered slopes.
Copyright © Ralph Maughan
The northern section of the Lost River Range is mostly contained in the 72-thousand acre Pahsimeroi Roadless Area of the Challis National Forest. In fact this section of the Lost Rivers is often called the "Pahsimeroi Range." Dickey Peak is the high point, followed by 11,085 foot Grouse Creek Peak.
There are many scenic rock formations, a few small cirque lakes, a herd of bighorn sheep, but very little flowing water. Grouse Creek is the sole long canyon in the roadless area. Few people have ever walked its length. Christian Gulch, a many forked canyon is not in the roadless area for much of its length, but the scenic head of each fork is roadless.
After looking at the photo of Dickey Peak you might think that timbering would not be a threat to this roadless area. Think again! The Forest Service actually logged much of Christian Gulch, the other long canyon in the range, creating a long finger of development into the roadless area. The regenerating conifers in this generally waterless canyon struggle to grow a couple inches a year.
Timbering of marginal lands like this one reason those who love the wild are so militant against giving the Forest Service a free hand to decide what to develop. The Service has often had no sense of economic value, selling timber at a loss and destroying wild country in the process.
Photo below: The Pahsimeroi Mountains in the dead of winter. Jan. 1997. © Ralph Maughan
The northern part of the Pahsimeroi Range is much lower -- beautiful rolling rangeland, not real wilderness, but, . nevertheless, semi-roadless
The photo is of the headwaters of Lime Creek ... antelope heaven
in the north Pahsimeroi. © Ralph Maughan. June 1997.
Telephoto compresses the distance between the high, rugged south end of the
Pahsimeroi versus the rolling, meadowy north end. Copyright © Ralph Maughan
June 2005. Photo taken 1/2 hour before sunset.
Steep slopes of Dickey Peak. © Ralph Maughan.
Crane Basin in the Pahsimeroi roadless area. The basin turns to velvet green in moist Junes. © Ralph Maughan.News:
1-13-2005. Bighorns released into Lost River Range. by Anna Means. Challis Messenger.
In June 2005, I ran into a wildlife biologist while I was in Christian Gulch. He was monitoring the bighorn release. He told me the reintroduced bighorn had produced a large number of lambs in the the spring of 2005.
The Pahsimeroi Range at sunset from Broken Wagon Creek. June 2006. Copyright © Ralph Maughan
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Pahsimeroi Roadless Area, Idaho/ Email Ralph Maughan/ August 9, 2006
