Wow did the weather change in central Idaho when the calendar flipped from August to September. From hot and dry to cool and wet in what seemed like a blink of an eye. First, we were waiting for smoke to clear, then rescheduling trips due to incoming snow. With all that shuffling we found a short clear weather window and we headed to the Gospel Hump Wilderness for a backpack trip. We enjoyed our first trip to the Gospel Hump last year, and it was time to get back to this local wilderness for some more trail time.
We started the hike at the Rag Station trailhead. The trail starts out following a historic wagon road, and although we haven’t found much information on Rag Station we suspect it was a trailside station for people travelling the road. We found the site on the ground, but it has been cleaned up and we couldn’t find a sign of whatever was there in the past.
The trail follows Slate Creek as it climbs into the wilderness area. The changing of the season was apparent and it was nice to see some color along the trail.
After about five and a half miles we arrived at our first destination, Slate Lake.
We had the lake all to ourselves, except for the cows loafing around the shoreline. We enjoyed a cool quiet night before continuing further into the wilderness.
Another four miles on the trail led us to Indigo Lake.
Indigo Lake provided another quiet night in the woods, with good views of the peaks surrounding the lake. The next morning we started the return trip the way we came in.
We found a nice meadow beside Slate Creek for our last night. Three nights in the woods and we had yet to meet anyone else. This was my kind of backpacking trip.
All that was left was a short hike out the next morning. We did get a bit of rain the last night, but it cleared up to a starry sky pretty quickly. We packed up our (dry) gear and headed back to the trailhead, meeting the only people we saw over the course of four days. Cool fall weather, blue sky, a couple mountain lakes and some time in the woods. What’s not to love?
A note on the trail: The trail conditions were pretty good overall. The cows were definitely damaging the lower portion of the trail trampling through wet spots and ruining the trail tread and drainage, but we were happy to find it cut out from efforts earlier in the year. (As of 2026 the Nez Perce Clearwater National Forest was posting trail maintenance status here, which is sure helpful. We’ve planned trips we couldn’t complete in the past due to too many trees down, and no maintenance.) Up higher there were more deadfalls, but the forest was open enough to get around them without too much trouble. We’ve found a clear trail is not a guarantee with all the fires, dead trees and storm damage, as well as staffing cuts, so we were happy to see the trail maintained. Unlike some areas that see a lot of overuse, our two trips to the Gospel Humps have been quiet with lots of solitude. If you get the chance, get out there and get on some of the trails and go see this fabulous wilderness!
Thanks for taking us along to Gospel Hump Wilderness. Question: do you prepare and dehydrate your dinners at home? I like the bags you use. Could you elaborate on them?
I gotta say I like your choice of music.
Silvia, yes we bought a dehydrator (an Excalibur 9 tray for ~$200) last winter and started making all our own backpacking meals. Compared to the cost of freeze dried foods we figure we’ve already paid for the dehydrator with one season of backpacking (not to mention running all sorts of other things through it). We use mylar bags, they are quart sized with a zip top. We dry ingredients in batches (or purchase e.g. minute rice, cheese powder, etc), build the meal at home based on a recipe, then heat seal them with a vacuum sealer (I understand an iron may also work). We purchased them from Azure Standard, (and they also have all sorts of other supplies for this sort of meal prep) but I’m sure you can find them at several retailers. For short soaks a freezer ziplock also works, but for a longer “cook” the mylar retains heat much better. I also built a ‘bag cozy’ out of a piece of reflectix and duct tape to aid in heat retention and it works great – after 30 minutes the meal is still piping hot. For dehydrator recipes and other how to’s I recommend backpackingchef.com if you want to learn more about dehydrating.
Mylar bags we bought ($.25/ea): https://www.azurestandard.com/shop/product/household-family/storage/mylar-bags/mylar-bags-zipper-top-525-mil-8-x-10-1-quart/27072?package=PS039