Mount McCaleb

For anyone who knows Mackay, Idaho, and US Highway 93 up through The Lost River Country, Mount McCaleb is a touchstone, a visual benchmark, indeed, a Spiritual Anchor. There are higher nearby peaks but none looms as large in the area psyche as McCaleb.

Ever since we laid eyes on McCaleb ten years ago, it has always been a dream of ours to climb to the top of McCaleb. Our dream probably won't ever come true but we continue to harbor and nurture the fantasy.

Due to the "Long & Winding Road" of the internet, tonight we found this awesome 30-photo album of climbing the West Ridge of McCaleb.

Enjoy!

http://www.summitpost.org/climbing-the-west-ridge/290440/c-152718

Here's a view of the west ridge route from someone who climbed it in 2007. The green line is the preferred route. And so it goes...with our McCaleb Fantasy.

 Well, this whole escapade tonight is leading us in ever more esoteric tangents. We just found this spring which looks like is has to be a relatively easy hike not far from Mackay. Clearly, it's one that The Locals definitely don't promote or advertise.  Here's the YouTube video link: 

http://youtu.be/ctNa_MSuVYo

The two red dots are for Lower Cedar Creek Spring. The Yellow dot is the probably beginning point for the McCaleb Route. The blue line is probably the west ridge route.

Anyway, now we have a very good idea of how people climb McCaleb.  It's up to us to try to put it together and make this fantasy a reality.