Thanks, Tom. For readers, Tom and his son, Will, thru-hiked the entire IWT in 2022. You can find Will’s report, which focuses on critical logistical details and recommends variations off the IWT to avoid abandoned/unmaintained trails, at safesexandgoretex.com/2022/11/idaho-wilderness-trail-nitty-gritty.html, and Tom’s report, which is more of a travel log about the experience, here.

Thanks for those great details, Will. And congrats again on completing your IWT thru-hike.

Hi April, I recently completed this trail from early September- early October. We saw quite a few rattlesnakes on this trip, mostly in the Selway and MF Salmon river corridors as well as the Bighorn Crags. The snakes were quite feisty and usually did not retreat from us. It would be extremely difficult and expensive to evacuate a big dog (or human!) from any of these areas.

The question about if the trail is entirely passable with a dog is tricky. My initial reaction is yes, but some sections might be extremely difficult. This is mostly due to the extremely poor trail conditions that you are likely to encounter in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. At many points the brush was very, very thick even at face level for miles at a time, and I’m guessing it would be almost impossible for a dog to walk through closer to ground level. You might need carry it a lot.

I would absolutely carry an inReach or something related as Mike suggests, both for emergency communication as well as to receive information about wildfires in the area. You will likely see no other backpackers on the trail for 10+ days at a time.

The longest section between options to hitchhike out and resupply are about 107 miles in the Selway-Bitterroot and northern frank Church and and 130 miles in in the Bighorn Crags and MF Salmon area. You can have supplies flown into backcountry airstrips in these wilderness areas, sometimes at standard USPS rates.

Water was plentiful and clean. There is one ~13-mile section without water in the Selway-Bitterroot, which might become a 16-mile section if the spring is dry. We took an alternate route around this section for a variety of reasons.

I am working on a blog post that will go into more detail about some of these issues soon.

Hey Will and Tom, congrats and awesome job! I’m looking forward to hearing all about it. Thanks for sharing that.

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the kind words and I’m glad you’re excited about attempting the IWT. Travel logistics are definitely one of the great logistical challenges of a thru-hike of it.

Hitching rides for short distances on a single road, like the Salmon River Road to North Fork, Idaho (during the rafting/boating season) or along ID 21 into Stanley would be fairly easy. Hitching rides to either IWT endpoint would be nearly impossible because of the distances and remoteness. Atlanta is a tiny village at the end of a long dirt road through national forest. The Wilderness Gateway Campground is along one of the most rural highways in Idaho, hours from Atlanta or Stanley.

Search online for the commercial shuttle services that provide transportation for private boating parties floating the Selway, Main Salmon, and Middle Fork Salmon rivers; they offer transportation along the roads where IWT trailheads are located. If you want to start at the Tin Cup Trailhead on Pettit Lake (the trailhead for Alice Lake), Redfish Lodge offers a shuttle service to it. I’ve occasionally asked people at local lodging in small towns whether any employee wanted to make some extra cash providing a one-way ride to a trailhead.

Your best strategy may be to drive to Stanley, park at the trailhead a quarter-mile down the road from Redfish Lake Lodge, get shuttled by the lodge to Pettit, and arrange for a long shuttle from Wilderness Gateway Campground back to your car. It may be logistically simpler, though, to get that long shuttle at the start of your hike, from Redfish to Wilderness Gateway Campground, and hike back to your car in the Sawtooths.

Good luck. I’d love to hear how it goes for you after your trip. Feel free to email me at info@thebigoutsideblog.com.

1. It sounds like hitching into Stanley and North Fork for resupplies should be fine, yes? That would mean carrying supplies for about 120 miles for the last section, which is doable.

2. Any advice on car/TH-to-TH logistics? Bus service looks thin even between the bigger cities. Couple options I’m considering: Leave car in Boise where presumably it would be safe and hitch up to Atlanta (no idea how viable that is) to start, and then hitch back to Boise from the north terminus. Or, make an alternate start on the Alice Lake loop south of Stanley, leave car at that TH, and from the north terminus hitch to Missoula where there are flights to Stanley area. Neither of those sound great, but with a car and no friends in the area, not sure if there’s a better option. Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

New update: Waterfall Creek Trail 45 was cleared from the Terrace Lakes to the Middle Fork Salmon River by a trail crew with the Selway Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation in August 2020. See their report (which mentions a nice campsite) at selwaybitterroot.org/sbfcblog/2020/8/in-the-frank-and-feeling-normal.

Hey Chris,

Thanks for letting me know, I’m psyched for you, that’s a great hike. I’ve hiked much of the Middle Fork Salmon Trail, including the upper section from Boundary Creek to Indian Creek, which is really nice, and pieces of it from Indian to Big Creek—all sections I’ve hiked and seen are good trail, well-maintainsd and signed. I haven’t been on the Waterfalls Trail but have heard it may be rough: It’s probably better you’re going up it and I’d say you might not find suitable camping until you reach the Bighorn Crags. Give yourself plenty of time for that trail.

Great camping, lakes, and trails in the Crags, I believe. North of there the trail could get a little sketchy.

I plan to post maps of the trail very soon, before your trip. Email me at info@thebigoutsideblog.com and I’ll give you the links to them.

Glad you got in touch!

We are looking at hiking from Boundary Creek down the Middle Fork Trail to Big Creek. Then Heading up the Waterfall Creek Trail to get into the Bighorn Crags. After exploring the Crags we are hoping to hike out the Clear Creek Trail to Panther Creek where we can get our car shuttled to confluence of Panther and the Main Salmon. We are planning on heading out on either the 7th or the 8th and are planning 10 days for exploring. Do you have any up to date information about these trails?

We appreciate any help or guidance you can give and will happily give you an update if/when we hit this trail.

Thanks,
Chris

Hi April,

Thanks for the questions and your interest in the Idaho Wilderness Trail.

Living in Salt Lake City, you would will be able to predict when you might encounter rattlesnakes and other snakes along the IWT: in the dry, hot terrain in the bottoms of the Middle Fork and Main Salmon river canyons and not so much in the higher, mountainous elevations or along the wetter and somewhat cooler Selway River. Still, as on trails around SLC, encounters are rare.

I’ve seen wide variability in the ability of dogs to manage trails and you obviously know your dog best. I think the vast majority of the IWT would not be a problem for most dogs. I have not yet backpacked every mile of it but, based on my experience in more remote parts of the national forests in Idaho, I suspect there are trail sections that are more rugged, steep, and rocky.

I think satellite phone options are generally expensive and kind of heavy and cumbersome to use. For remote travel, I see a lot of people using the Garmin inReach, which is more affordable both to purchase and get its coverage plan and very lightweight and easy to operate. It enables you to send text messages from anywhere as well as summon a rescue.

Resupplying along the IWT represents one of the major logistical challenges of the trail. There are very few options for the longer sections through the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness and Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. I know of possibilities but I don’t have confirmation about any of them yet. It may depend on when you’re on the trail and the seasonal operations of some tourism-based businesses. I hope to provide updated information on that as I learn more.

Backcountry water sources are frequent enough along the IWT that I don’t think you’d have to carry more than two or three liters of water on any sections, except in very unusually dry late summers.

And I know that I’ve been occasionally posting about maps of the entire route coming soon, but I’ve actually begun creating them myself using an app available to anyone and hope to finish them soon.

Thanks again for getting in touch and keep following my blog for more info about the IWT.

Thank you for your time, energy, advice and links for all of your suggestions and info.
I used to live in Ketchum ID and have always wanted to explore more of Idaho backpacking. Finding this article and info. prepared by you, now makes planning that adventure no longer a dream, but a reality.

Take care and happy hiking-
Gratefully-
April Silver

Hi Larry,

When I first proposed the Idaho Wilderness Trail to the Idaho Conservation League, seeking their support for my idea, we all certainly were fully aware of the Idaho Centennial Trail (which, for readers unfamiliar with it, traverses Idaho’s length north to south). We looked at the ICT’s route and reached the same conclusion that you have: that it has a lot of merit but does not pass through the best areas of the three wilderness areas crossed by the Idaho Wilderness Trail (although there’s overlap between the two).

The IWT has never been cast as a competitor to the ICT. In fact, if the IWT grows in renown, it will only increase awareness of the ICT, much as the John Muir Trail does for the Pacific Crest Trail. We have made quite clear that the IWT follows existing trails and it obviously diverges significantly from the ICT. We also did not undertake this project as a way to sell maps and I’m not in that business. I hope a mapmaker decides to create commercial trail maps of the IWT, and of course, backpackers would want such maps.

My idea was that Idaho’s world-class wilderness areas deserve a “wilderness” trail all their own. The ICT traverses hundreds of miles of non-wilderness lands, providing a remote long-trail experience, but also an experience that, at times, varies greatly from backpacking through true wilderness.

In short, our promotion of the Idaho Wilderness Trail is a good thing for the ICT, not a competitor. I believe time will bear that out.

Thanks for the comment and your enthusiasm for backpacking and for the ICT.

I think the IWT route has a lot of potential, and frankly the “official” ICT’s routing through Sawtooths/Frank/Selway leaves something to be desired (in several places, it supposedly follows trails that have been abandoned for decades, skips some of the best scenery, or flat-out does not/hasn’t ever existed). The author is a good writer, has a pretty big platform, and has obviously mastered the SEO game. I’d like to see him use the platform to promote the ICT, and the IWT’s place within that larger trail system, rather than ignoring it.

No, Tye, I’m sorry but I will provide info as soon as possible. Thanks for your interest.

Hi CJ,

Spring is only a feasible time to do the Idaho Wilderness Trail if you’re prepared to travel and navigate over deep snow in the mountains and avoid avalanche hazard (which would usually be low by late spring). The canyon bottoms are snow-free by perhaps mid-spring, varying with elevation. Peak season is June through September.

As stated elsewhere in these comments, we’re working on developing maps and I will include more information on that and the route as soon as possible.

Thanks for your interest in the IWT.

I would really like to do this trail next spring. Please let me know when a map is available. or if there are detailed directions, would be greatly appreciated. I have been dreaming of this trail for years.

Thanks, Lisa, glad to hear you’re excited about the IWT. I think you’ll find an experience not easily found on other long trails. I’m hoping we’ll have a map or maps available before too long. Stay tuned.

Hi Jennifer, thanks for asking. We have some folks working on maps and hope to be able to share them soon. It’s a new route and we’re still in the process of creating support materials and information for it. Thanks for your patience, I promise I will share more as soon as I have it.

Hi! It appears the original Google map is no longer active. Is there a way to gain access to it again? Or is there an OnX track from someone’s trip available (knowing everyone takes a bit different route with side trips).

Thanks for asking, Christina. We’re working on the map and I will announce it’s availability in this story and elsewhere at this blog as soon as possible. I appreciate your interest in the Idaho Wilderness Trail.

Hi Adam,

The southern terminus (mentioned in the story) is the Middle Fork Boise River Trail no. 460/Atlanta Power Plant Trailhead on the outskirts of the tiny town of Atlanta. We have a cartographer working on maps now and I will add information about maps to this story as soon as I have it. Thanks for asking.

I agree, they are two highlights of the trail.

Awesome! Definitely excited to see the Bighorn Crags and Selway Crags included.

Hi Marcus, that’s an astute question. The Idaho Wilderness Trail overlaps the Centennial Trail in parts of each of the three wilderness areas, which is logical since a close look at maps would reveal that there are somewhat limited options for creating a route that uses existing trails to make a north-south traverse of these areas. But the IWT also diverges from the CT for long stretches in each wilderness area. We looked at the CT, and we respect the work and planning that went into it, but we ultimately chose a route for the IWT that we feel traverses many of the best portions of these wildernesses.

Thanks Greg, we’re working on the map and I’ll announce when it’s available. Stay tuned!