Exploring this beautiful state of Idaho is not only part of my job but also my passion. I love to explore new areas with my skis and snowmobile in the winter or mountain bike and hiking shoes in the summer. There are just so many beautiful trails, mountains, streams and lakes to see and experience. This week it was the Seven Devils with its jagged peaks, stunning beauty, and amazing solitude.
Located just 17 miles outside of Riggins, Idaho, the Seven Devils extend along the Idaho/Oregon border for about 50 miles roughly between the Idaho towns of Whitebird and Council. The Snake River through Hells Canyon forms the west boundary and the Salmon and Little Salmon rivers bound the east. The range is one of the more rugged of Idaho’s mountain chains and is probably the state’s most precipitous with elevations varying from just above 1,000 feet at the Snake River to 9,420 feet at the summit of He Devil.
There is a 28 mile loop that circles the mountains with several trails leading off from this to many of the mountain lakes and look outs that are in the area. Starting up on the Windy Saddle area, with four of my friends, we set off to explore this area for four days and three nights. It was a good amount of time but we were constantly on the move so we could take it all in. Unfortunately we didn’t see any Bighorn Sheep and the only mountain goats were us, but the views exceeded my expectations! I would rank it as pretty as the Sawtooths in a more rugged, extreme way. We were very lucky for this time of year, with all the forest fires in the area, we only had one afternoon of heavy smoke but a quick storm blew out most of the smoke leaving us clear skies for the most of our time in the Seven Devils. The fall colors were amazing, the temperatures were warm during the day and cool at nights and overall just ideal hiking weather.
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