Kirkwood Ranch — Saturday, Mar. 17, 2018

This is a 3 day backpack on the Snake River Trail #102 from Granite Creek to Pittsburgh Landing (Hell's Canyon on the Idaho side). Also would be a great 1-day trail run.

The drive to Pittsburgh landing is a dirt road over the saddle between the Salmon and Snake Rivers. There was snow on top, but it is plowed/maintained. We took a jet boat up to Granite Creek drop off and left our car at Pittsburgh landing for this ~28 mike hike. 

The trail initially is grown in a bit but still easy to follow. There are some sections where you cross large (previously farmed) meadows along the river where you are just as likely on a cow path as the proper trail. But the trail always follows the river so you can find it again before you cross another rock ledge. There are lots of ups and downs along the way, it is not just flat along the river. There is actually little rive access for the first day, which we hiked to Sheep Creek. Here there is a cabin and a large grassy area that we camped, also nice to have the side stream for water. It looks like the cabin gets rented out so maybe camp further away in busy season. The second day we made it to Kirkwood Ranch. There is a big climb before getting into the ranch, but the views are stellar from Suicide Point. There are many established campsites at Kirkwood just above the river, and flush toilets. There is also a history museum for the canyon. This was the only place we saw other backpackers, coming in from Pittsburgh Landing. There is a large climb directly out of Kirkwood then more gently rolling back to Pittsburg Landing where there is free camping and some picnic tables. 

What to watch out for: we went early in the year to avoid the rattlesnakes and the heat, which start in April. Jet boating season also gets serious April so it's not exactly a quiet hike, although it feels remote. There is plenty of poison oak along the way and there are also ticks. When the river is high or it is raining, more chance that you will get your feet wet on the main trail or fording side streams, but we didn't have any issues.