Wilderness Pack Trips - Alpine Lake Trips

The dozens of alpine lakes in the Selway - Bitterroot Wilderness create unique opportunities for us at WCOA. We can tailor a trip for you and your party that can be as relaxing or as extreme as you desire. Many of the lakes we trek into just once a year and some we see only once every two or three years.

The two trips described below are our most popular. They are not without adventure, but in many ways refined, tried, and true. Guests from 7 years old to 75 years old have enjoyed each of these alpine lake trips.

Emerald Lake Pack Trip (6 days)

This is a lake destination pack trip in which you can be camped at the lake early on day 2 of the trip. Days 2 through 4 are spent camped on the lake where fishing, swimming, day hiking to Bill's Lake or just relaxing in camp. In the afternoon of Day 5 we hike back up to the mule camp and prepare for the final Day 6 ride out.

We could describe to you every bend in the trail and each view along the way, but that would be too much like telling you what happened in the book. This is your adventure and what you find along the way won't be the same as the last visitor as it would be in a theme park. Artificial things are what you should be leaving behind for a while. We will assure you the untold beauty on this journey will take your breath away throughout its entirety. These lakes produce the largest and best fighting fish of all the Selway lakes we travel to.

This trip requires the participants to be in good physical condition, as we ride 6+ hours on the first and last day and often ask the group to get off and lead their animal down the steeper grades. Also, to reach the camp at the lake we must hike down a steep ridge that descends nearly 1000 feet for 1 to 2 hours. Just the same, we must do the same hike out often taking 3 to 4 hours. Each person in the party may be asked to carry some of the gear and equipment but only what they are comfortable with.

• $1500 per person + 6% Idaho state sales tax
  $1200 per person (19 years & under) + 6% Idaho state sales tax
  
  Add on days
  $250 per person + 6% Idaho state sales tax
  $200 per person (19 years & under) + 6% Idaho state sales tax
  
  - Minimum of 4-person party to start a trip
  - WCOA may be able to help put together a party to get trip started

Patsy Anne Falls Pack Trip (5 days)

This pack trip is more of a traditional pack trip in the sense that it requires moving camp daily except on layover days. The mules and horses are a bigger part of the whole journey and much of the fishing if you choose is done in larger creeks and streams along the way, with lake fishing being a possibility on your layover day. You will ride a minimum of 46 miles during the 5 days, with the opportunity for extra riding to visit lakes or explore more country on your layover day.

Again during the course of this trip you will enjoy the Selway beauty and serenity to its fullest. You will gradually climb until, before you know it, you're sitting high in the Bitterroot mountains, awestruck by it all.

Your layover day at Patsy Anne Falls will give you the time to visit one or two of several alpine lakes near the Montana border either by day hiking or riding. Another option is to just hang out at camp relaxing and watching for wildlife in the open high-country basins around you.

• $1250 per person + 6% Idaho state sales tax
  $1000 per person (19 years & under) + 6% Idaho state sales tax
  
  Add on days
  $250 per person + 6% Idaho state sales tax
  $200 per person (19 years & under) + 6% Idaho state sales tax
  
  - Minimum of 4-person party to start a trip
  - WCOA may be able to help put together a party to get trip started