St. Joe Wild & Scenic River | St. Joe National Forest, Idaho

The St. Joe River is one of the gems of North Idaho. Hiking the river has been on my list for a few years now. In early August we set out to check this one off of the list. This would also be my highest milage trip... ever.
It was a tough hiking trip with plenty of challenges and rewards.
Quick Links:
00:04 - MISSOULA LAKE
00:11 - CASCADE PASS
01:42 - LOWER BONAZA LAKE
01:57 - UPPER BONAZA LAKE
03:15 - HEART LAKE
05:07 - SIMMINS-HELLER DIVIDE
05:17 - RED IVES JUNCTION
06:30 - ELBOW RIDGE JUNCTION
06:36 - LINE CREEK STOCK CAMP
07:13 - DAY 2
07:39 - SPRUCE TREE CAMPGROUND
07:56 - ST JOE RIVER
08:14 - DREDGE REMAINS
08:38 - PACK TRAIN
10:07 - DAY 3
10:33 - ST JOE LODGE
11:17 - BEAN-BACON LOOP JUNCTION
13:28 - HELLER CREEK
14:15 - DAY 4

[@thebigskyguy]

It does take a lot of courage and fortitude. And tenacity. Amazing. Thanks for giving people a taste of the adventure.

[@mountainwanderer]

Still one of the tougher trips I've done! Hoping to get back to the St Joe soon!

[@voiceofthefriend2053]

Fantastic video. Great production. Really clear images. Great music and narration. Amazing country. Sharing this.

[@mountainwanderer]

It is a really neat area. There are more trails to wander there too. We'll be back!

[@ricklarry4212]

Beautiful river footage. Thank you for sharing.

[@mountainwanderer]

That section of the river of so beautiful! I hope to do it again at some point!

[@joesanders6898]

I love the St. Joe River, and I enjoy your videos. I wish I had the youth and the health to do what you do. There is no prettier country to my way of thinking. Thanks.

[@mountainwanderer]

Thank you and I am so glad that you enjoy them. Part of the reason I post these videos is so members of my family who can't get out on the trail with us can still see some of the beauty that we are hiking in to. I'm glad that they can give you that as well.

[@tomastaylor]

Beautiful scenery and great video editing. Thanks for showing the trail signs. I was able to follow most of the route on a topo map.

[@mountainwanderer]

Right on! I like to make the videos so someone might be able to plan a route around that route. Glad you were able to follow along!

[@mcspin50]

Excellent video. Love your narration, and the music as well.

[@mountainwanderer]

Thank you!

[@nobodyhikes]

Love the narration over the great footage. Thanks, MW!

[@mountainwanderer]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and comment!

[@eatsquirrels]

St Joe Lake is on my list for summer 2019 - now I know what to expect (aka no trail). Thank you & love all your vids!

[@mountainwanderer]

Awesome! I assume that you'll get to the lake from either road #320 or from the top of the divide. I think that both of those trails are there, but I cannot say for sure because we never made it that far. We did see a sign for the lake as we were driving out. There is just no trail from Heller Creek Campground to St. Joe Lake. The forest service map I used showed one, but safe to say it has been abandoned.

[@littlejoey22]

Everything about this video is awesome. Red Ives is one of my favorite places on earth. I feel like you were close to the lake, the trail up there looks like the field you were bushwhacking through. It’s cool. Awesome little lake with really vibrant cutthroats in it. There’s a cool waterfall just before the lake too. I’d definitely search it out again. There’s a logging road that gets you about 5 miles away from the lake, and then you hike through the tall grassy fields as the river (more of a creek at this point) meanders through the field. Super cool place.

[@mountainwanderer]

In hindsight we should've walked the road to get up to the trail to the lake. One of the people I was hiking with was dealing with some pretty bad blisters that they got on day 1. They pushed through many miles but at that point, threw in the towel. I'm hoping to get up there again this summer.

[@garysorenson7138]

Nice trip to the lake but you went the hard way. Been fishing the Joe from the age of 12 -74 today you really did go the hard way.

[@mountainwanderer]

The St Joe is a special place. You're right though, we did take the hard way, that was kind of the point.

[@sukokino2409]

Send me a map of the easy trail, please,, hahahahaha

[@relaxingvideosnorthwest3646]

Very beautiful scenery! Thank you,

[@mountainwanderer]

I'm hoping to get back down in to that area next summer. There have been a few fires in the area over the last few years. Hopefully it is just as pristine now has it was then!

[@AnasLifeAdventures]

One day I will come visit there thank you for sharing

[@mountainwanderer]

It's well worth the trip in there! It's a beautiful river!

[@PumpkinVillage]

That was some serious mileage. Beautiful country and now you have to go back to get to the lake. What a bummer😊😊😊 Take care, Al

[@mountainwanderer]

It was a long way. I look forward to doing another one like that next year. Thanks for watching!

[@gp4708]

We'll be there next week. Thanks for the super enjoyable videos!

[@mountainwanderer]

Enjoy it! The St Joe river is exceptional!

[@LatchkeyKidX]

My backyard! Another great video friend! Your narration remains top notch. Keep them coming! Winter plans?

[@mountainwanderer]

I love the area! We have a few more videos from this year's trip. I am way behind on making them. No set winter trips planned yet, other than we'll get out there.

[@BryanDeLay]

Beautiful area, but some ass kicking miles. Really enjoyed this video!

[@mountainwanderer]

Thank you! We knew going in that this one was going to be tough. It was also the challenge of it that made us do it.

[@BryanDeLay]

@@mountainwanderer , on Monday I uploaded a Luxury Gear Challenge video and tagged you. Thought you might have some interesting luxury gear items.

[@mountainwanderer]

@@BryanDeLay Thanks for thinking of me!

[@SoutheastBackpacker]

Great video brother. I finally had some time to catch up on KZbin and this was a fun one. Can’t believe the huge miles y’all put in - those were some big days. I would have camped at that lake 2 miles in - ya. That last trail looked gnarly. Good call on going with plan B.

[@SoutheastBackpacker]

Oh and what card game were you all playing?

[@mountainwanderer]

Thank you! I picked this route for 2 reasons, I wanted to see if see I could do some high milage days, and the other is that I like to pick routes where I can either thru-hike it or make a loop. Anything but backtracking. Just so I can see more country and walk new trail. This was the only route we could do that would catch the whole St. Joe trail. It was quite an adventure!

[@mountainwanderer]

Crazy 8's. I lost the hand I filmed... but I won the war. 😀

[@SoutheastBackpacker]

Mountain Wanderer Half the fun is just looking at maps and trying to picture what would work

[@mountainwanderer]

Glad I'm not the only one!

[@m.3591]

Spectacular. Thank you

[@mountainwanderer]

Thanks for checking it out!

[@williamweiss6128]

Love this northern part of Idaho.

[@mountainwanderer]

The St Joe is truly a treasure of the area!

[@JamesRobertSmith]

It was a simpler time then. When a feller might get a job doing voiceover work for Disney. Excellent video. There's always that one guy who can leave everyone else in the dust. A good guy to have around.

[@mountainwanderer]

Andy is a great hiker! When I saw someone hiking up the trail to meet me I remember thinking "what kind of crazy s.o.b. would be hiking up this?" I was happy to see him though!

[@JamesRobertSmith]

@@mountainwanderer I used to hike with a guy like that. He'd scout ahead at what seemed light speed while the rest of us were crawling along with heavy packs. Then come back and report to us what was over the next couple of miles, then leave us in the dust again. Once, (and only once), I was that guy. I was hiking the Highline Trail in Glacier with a married couple I knew when the wife took ill. Not too ill to hike, but too sick to move quickly. So the husband gave me the keys to his truck and I had to haul ass down to make it to the trailhead, catch the last shuttle to the parking area where his truck was parked, then drive back with his truck. I did it, only stopping at the Granite Park Chalet to get some water before racing on down to the trailhead. Probably the fastest I've ever hiked. I didn't care for going that fast in griz country, but it couldn't be helped. I doubt if I could do that now.

[@mountainwanderer]

That sounds like an adventurous hike down! Seems like everything changes in Griz country.

[@deanhuffman48]

From the silver valley been all thru there many times great to be a local!!!

[@mountainwanderer]

The Silver Valley is an incredible place! I love it here!

[@daizymae5148]

👌👌👌👌👌🤗🤗🤗 I'm from this area!!!!!

[@mountainwanderer]

It is an incredible area!

[@teamground0229]

Very nice, will be in the Bitterroot valley mid June 2022. See any bear along there?

[@mountainwanderer]

On this trip we never saw any sign when down around the river, when we were up on the ridges we did see some, but not much though.

[@UtahTenkara]

I am curious, could you have driven to the campground at 7:42 and hiked up from there? Were the roads closed or did you just decide you wanted to hike them to enjoy the experience???

[@mountainwanderer]

Yes, we could've driven there and started up the trail from there. We wanted to make a loop out of the trip so we started where we did. We started and went the direction we did because the terrain was more in our favor that way. There was much more downhill than uphill and since there was no water on that stretch it was the better option.

[@UtahTenkara]

Your video's are awesome. Love the format. I hope you will keep posting them for a long time to come.

[@mountainwanderer]

Thank you! I hope to keep posting. I have more videos to catch up on and we're heading out on a couple more trips before it snows too much (we already have snow in the high country)

[@killsalive1]

My family camped at one of the sites awhile back. I took my gold pan down and did a few pans. Little to no color but I found a purplish (gems?) about the size of salt. Crystaline shape. Someone told me that stuff was used for sandpaper. I never did make it back to try to find the source.

[@mountainwanderer]

That is awesome!

[@Conradbacon-x6f]

Great video, thats some awesome country in there. How old of a map are you using that still shows the old section of trail upriver of heller creek? my 1981 map doesnt have it on there. I did find some bits and pieces of it near the intersection of road 715 and 720 though

[@mountainwanderer]

I use 7.5 minute USGS maps on Caltopo. I'm not sure what year they are from... old.

[@Conradbacon-x6f]

Gotcha, i’ll have to check out cal topo

[@ShiningNoctowls]

Thanks for sharing(now been living in North Idaho for a time full time for around 3 years now(feels more like 10 or more though lol) after visiting here for around 20 years from Northeast Florida). It really has been a place of solace, rest, reflection, & growth for the better connecting with the forests & mountains as well as the energy. Would you mind telling me the song at the beginning of the video?(It really is nice to listen to). Take care & stay strong 🌙 🔥

[@mountainwanderer]

The mountains here are special. That's for sure! The song at the beginning of the video is from a bluegrass band I was in. I'm working with this same fiddle player to hopefully bring some new music to the channel.

[@ShiningNoctowls]

@@mountainwanderer They really are(it's called the Gem State after all lol); the music is a wee bit reminiscent of Celtic Folk music in a way, which I enjoy; hope you take care

[@mountainwanderer]

Sometimes we were an Irish band, so that makes sense!

[@trakyboy5128]

Yeah but the coffee ☕ sure looked good 😋😃

[@mountainwanderer]

It was great after that hike!

[@DrJohn493]

I do not know how I missed this one for so long. Researching streams to fish in Idaho next summer, searched on the St. Joe, and look what popped up at the top of the list. The St. Joe is a "must do" for next year.

[@mountainwanderer]

The trail is really amazing and the river is great! You won't be disappointed!

[@Levikrw]

I ha e hiked every valley and gulch of that trail! I have a hidden little gem of a campsite I built off the edge of lower bonanza

[@mountainwanderer]

That is awesome! I wish I could say the same, but I'm not even close. I do hope to get back there this year some time.

[@alansherwood8421]

Thanks for the great video! Any tips for somebody looking to hike & fly-fish?

[@mountainwanderer]

I can't give any tips on the fishing, but for hiking I would say don't go the way we did. 😀I would park at the Spruce Tree campground and hike up from there. There are campsites along the way.

[@alansherwood8421]

Mountain Wanderer seriously, thanks for the valuable advice!!

[@chadroberts44]

I love Idaho

[@mountainwanderer]

You and me both!

[@happiness9752]

No you don't. You think you do, but you don't

[@larrylarson1054]

How early in the season could you do these hikes? Wondering about late June. Could you post a map of the routes you took?

[@mountainwanderer]

We did this trip around the first week of August. In late June, I would guess that you could do this route. Here is the route I mapped out: caltopo.com/m/RT0C We only had it to Heller Creek and not the full loop.

[@johnpaulpistorio5625]

16:15 Suds!

[@mountainwanderer]

Tough to beat the end-of-trip beer!

[@rilorobinson7685]

That Idaho Backwoods will Fuck you up!!!

[@mountainwanderer]

Yep, gotta be careful! Thanks for checking it out!

[@briankelly6113]

What? No fly fishing?

[@mountainwanderer]

Nope not on this one. The other guy did bring a spinner and caught a few on our 2nd night.

[@sukokino2409]

What's the best time to visit bro???

[@mountainwanderer]

This trip was in early August, it's the only time of year I have been in there.

[@sukokino2409]

Grisley bears???

[@mountainwanderer]

No Griz.

[@sukokino2409]

Mosquito's???

[@mountainwanderer]

Yes, plenty of them.