Climbing Meade Peak - Preuss Mountains Idaho

Meade Peak is the second highest mountain south of the Snake River in Idaho. It's the highpoint of the Caribou national forest and the Preuss Mountains. Meade Peak is also the highest point in Caribou and Bear Lake counties. With 2,497 feet of prominence, Meade is the 46th most prominent peak in Idaho. The peak was named for General George Meade, who fought in the United States Civil War.

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There are several ways to access this peak but the way most people have done it is via the right hand fork of Georgetown Canyon. Several miles north of Montpelier Idaho is the small town of Georgetown. In the center of Georgetown is a green sign pointing to Georgetown Canyon. Hit your odometer and at 2.4 miles the pavement will turn to dirt. Continue straight for another 0.8 miles to the (likely) unsigned turn for the Right Hand Fork. Hit your odometer again and take this road as it drops downhill a bit. A fork is quickly hit and go right again. This 3.8 mile section to the trailhead can get rough in places. There are some mud holes, some chunky rocks to drive over and lots of narrow passages that will scratch your paint. But even with this, some regular cars have made it, although most agree, high clearance 4WD is necessary. At 3.8 miles is a small clearing with a white rock fire ring. A small road continues further to the right to an old mine. An older road (now a trail) is the one you want on the left.

From the clearing, follow the tread up the valley. The goal here is to walk far enough to get past the numerous rock pinnacles below the summit of Meade Peak. At some point, you will need to bash some brush on the left climbing up to the ridge. The brush is only bad down near the valley bottom. Once you obtain the ridge, it is just a ridge climb to the summit. A faint trail exists on the ridge, sometimes along the slopes of the north side to avoid rock outcroppings.