Bloomington Peak Hike

Bloomington Peak is a large conical mountain just east of the crest of the Idaho portion of the Bear River Range about 9 miles west of the small town of Bloomington, Idaho. The peak sits at the head of Bloomington Canyon and forms the divide between the South and Middle Forks. Bloomington Peak offers exceptional views of the entire Bear River Range with every major peak visible except for Mount Logan. It has the best view of Paris Peak by far, and it also offers and amazing view of Bloomington Lake and St. Charles Mountain, which are on the opposite side of Bloomington Canyon. Although this peak is not technically difficult, it does offer a rewarding and beautiful climb. All approaches are relatively smooth except for the north side, which is nearly vertical in some places and offers a series of cliffs and broken rock. There is a large cirque at the base of the north side. Climbing from this direction could offer many more challenges and could cover some Class III climbing in some places. The most feasible route is from the south. There is no trail and the brush is quite thick in some places, so it will be a bushwhack from any direction, but it is not a difficult hike. The base of the mountain is at about 8,000 feet, so there is a little more than 1,300 feet of elevation gain in less than a mile. In June, 1998, there was a severe storm which, amazingly, produced a tornado in the upper-central portion of Bloomington Canyon. The tornado ripped down several square acres of timber and left the area nearly treeless. The Forest Service opened the area for logging to clean out the dead timber, and what was left after that was burned. For this reason you will see a lot of uprooted and burned stumps in this portion of the canyon.