TrailsNW
Northern Idaho

Bungalow to Mush Saddle

Length: 25 one_way miles
Low Point: 2250'
High Point: 7050'
Season: Summer/Fall
Scenery: 3.5/5

Difficulty: 4.5/5

Submitted by: T. Simons_81

Directions

From Pierce ID travel aprox. 2 miles to Judge Town then proceed over French Mountain following Orogrande Creek to the Bungalow. Go over the bridge across the North Fork of the Clearwater River, the road forks take the right fork and then the next left up the side of the mountain about 200 yds. to the trailhead #144.

Trail Description

From the Trail head 144, you climb aprox. 3000+ ft. over 6 miles to Chateau Rock (An awesome sight if you climb to the top of the rock). Continuing down the trail you continue to climb gradually until you reach Buckingham Lake (no bigger than a frog pond). From here you start to climb more aggressively up and over Pot Mountain elevation aprox. 7200 ft. then you decend and bottom out at Rock Creek about 5000 ft. From here you hike to a gravel road (711 on a clearwater national forest map) hike up the road aprox. 1.5 miles to mush saddle camping area. Important Notes- Bring a GPS with topo and trails for Idaho as their are a few forks in the trail and it is hard to follow heading up Pot Mountain. This is a very strenuous long hike I did it in 2 days I recommend 3 or 4. After Mush Saddle you can take trail 169, 6 more miles up to Cold Springs Cabin, a great cabin with awesome views.

Comments

This trail brings back fond memories. I first hiked from the Bungalow (it was a ranger station then, and I was a fireman) to Chateau rock in 1958. I put out fires in that area and at Buckingham point. There were no trail signs or GPS then. I love this place.
2012-05-01 21:31:26

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