Norton Peak

BOU AVENUE
Norton Peak

On 29 September 2010, I hiked up Norton Peak in the Smoky Mountains near Ketchum, Idaho. Kelly Bou and I had made an impromptu stop at nearby East Fork Baker Creek campground the previous night after a long day of driving. I had spotted Norton Peak on my road map (one of the excellent recreational maps by GTR Mapping), and after consulting Tom Lopez's guidebook, Idaho: A Climbing Guide, I felt that this would be an ideal trip for Kelly and me to do together. Shortly after starting out however, Kelly was not feeling well and decided to turn around and wait for me at the trailhead. I continued hiking the well-maintained trail to Lower and Upper Norton Lakes. Beyond the lakes, the trail makes numerous long switchbacks up the south side of Norton Peak before cresting at a saddle. From there, I climbed a beaten path up to the south end of the summit ridge and dipsy-doodled the remainder of the way to the true summit at the north end. I spent over 50 minutes at the summit basking in the warm sun before retracing my steps without incident back to the trailhead. I found Kelly relaxing in the shade with a book, and she seemed to be feeling better. We then drove into Ketchum, a surprisingly upscale resort town, and checked into Tamarack Lodge for the night. We capped off the day with a nice dinner at a local Chinese restaurant.

	The moon slowly sets behind an unnamed ridge somewhere along the trail to Norton Lakes.
	An unnamed ridge is reflected in Lower Norton Lake.
	There are some remarkable colours in Lower Norton Lake.
	Sonny looks across Upper Norton Lake.
	Here is a view of Upper Norton Lake from the switchbacks.
	At the saddle, Sonny turns up the beaten path.
	This is looking north along the summit ridge toward the true summit of Norton Peak.
	Sonny traverses the summit ridge.
	Some sort of wooden surveyor's tower is tethered to the 3148-metre summit of Norton Peak.
	This is looking north from the summit. On the horizon just right of centre is Castle Peak (with a bit of white on its right flank).
	A small unnamed tarn lies in the bowl to the east. The 3100-metre peak across the bowl at right is unnamed. On the horizon are the Pioneer Mountains.
	Miner Lake draws the most attention to the west.
	Here is a zoomed-in shot of Castle Peak to the north.
	Here is a closer look at the 'heart' of the Pioneer Mountains--(L to R) Hyndman Peak, Old Hyndman, and Cobb Peak.
	This is the route as viewed in Google Earth.
	Total Distance: 12.9 kilometres Round-Trip Time: 5 hours 30 minutes Total Elevation Gain: 881 metres GPX Data