Church and Donaldson

Published on 2026-08-28 by Michael Stanton

Kevin and I had talked about meeting up to climb Church and Donaldson this summer. I was away on various trips for a long time, and it was great that suddenly our window opened. We knew there would be a bit of rain Friday, but we weren't worried about big thunderstorms. Let's try it!

I took my camper to the trailhead. They guided me in on the phone because I'd taken a different road, and they could see me in the distance. I had to go slow because of the low point at the trailer hitch of my car/camper combo. We got things set up, talked a few minutes and went to bed, keen on a 5 am start.

Logan, Erica, Lisa and Kevin, no scrappier gaggle of mountaineers t'be found!

Logan approaches the first cliffs of the West Face of Donaldson

A similar shot

In the morning, the family headed up first, and I followed a bit behind. I was keen to enjoy my little stove, where I made oatmeal and chai tea for breakfast. However, as I started walking, it began to rain. In fact, it began raining pretty hard!

Oh well...I'll bet it'll stop eventually. I stumbled along in the dark and the rain, thinking this was a new experience for my life in Idaho!

It was easy enough in the stream gully or just on the side. As the country opened up a bit, I caught up with the others. We chatted about this and that. In particular, this incredible story:

It has everything...fascinating history...chills...spills...secretly moved bones!

We were supposed to be standing in a meadow. Erica said "I don't see much of a meadow," and Logan pointed to a baldish grassy slope behind us and said "Look!"

I had to agree with Erica, I really couldn't hear the cowbells nor could I see Heidi gamboling around this place! But we were also bedevilled by a gray sky and spitting rain. So we hitched up our belts and switchbacked up another 1000 feet to reach a lakebed, now marked only by greenish algae. Lisa left her purple down jacket here under a rock. Since we'd been talking about the bones of a strong, 60-ish, peasant stock man found with bits of purple cloth clinging to them, we worried that marmots would take Lisa's jacket and re-enact the scene in the decades to follow in the cool, dry space under the rock.

The cliffs really are vertical, and today, wet and dripping!

The crux decision point for us, whether to breach the cliff right or left of this little saddle. Church Mountain looms behind.

The crux moves. About 20 feet with 2 or 3 distinct slippery sections

Lisa is glad to know we can make it

Leaving these "cryptic" thoughts, we marched up to the headwalls guarding the West Face of Donaldson like a moat. We craftily moved right on a ledge between two walls, while Kevin and Logan told us how they'd gone straight up a cliff drainage here last time with Marie. Now we had to make little choices of left or right, occasionally climbing short cliffs. We had a GPS track from Bray, but had already deviated from it.

Eventually we gained it again, but I didn't like the smooth, wet rock we'd have to climb to stay on that track. Kevin espied a different break in the cliffs off to the east. He found it good, with little upturned ledges for many of the steeper sections. Still, there were a few tough moves. We made it through this, and were on top 10 minutes later after a triumphant ridge walk to the north.

Erica reattains firm ground

A shot from the distance shows the isolated nature of our little headwall problem

Kevin makes sure Erica's feet monopolize the few vertical edges

On top of Donaldson!

Awesome! Actually, the sun briefly came out right on top. As clouds closed back in, and we slowly became intimidated by the ridge to Mount Church, and as we begin to shiver a little bit, Kevin harranged us down, ever down to the notch between the summits. We marked the spot for later descent, but began an up and down scrambling journey to the other peak. Wind, clouds and a bit of rain harried us. Logan was out in front much of the way, supervising downclimbs. It probably only took 30 minutes, then we were on Mount Church. Again, curiously, the sun came out!

Many pictures were taken. I was pleased to see that I only have one "12er" to go, and Lisa and Erica now only have one as well! Mine is Hyndman, theirs is Lost River Peak. Hmpf!

A 'selfie' picture

This is the 7th 12er for Lisa and Erica

Looking back along the ridge to Church. Party members can be seen on the left, while Donaldson lurks in sullen repose...

Our party arrives on Church Mountain's summit, where a ray of sun catches Erica's golden hair!

We started down, enjoying the fast-moving clouds which added drama to our day. It felt like a long ways to our notch. Finally we found it, and followed a sometimes-tedious traversing way almost due south. We kept wanting to follow scree basins directly down (west), but we knew we might get cliffed out. Occasionally, a cairn marked the way. We watched a large family of bighorn sheep move below us then up to safety in cliffs to the west. Eventually we reached our clever ledge system between vertical walls, and were then home free, rushing to retrieve Lisa's purple stole before any mammalian thefts could occur.

We stopped and ate lots of food here at this drained lake. The rain had stopped, and weather seemed better to the west. Now we descended with big, open views easily enough all the way into the narrow canyon.

Lisa admires the great gulf of space in our ascent valley

Two 12ers in one day? Nice!

The 8th 12er for the ladies!

Erica ensures history is recorded. One of those peaks behind is Borah.

For the last bit, Logan and I made a wide-ranging discussion between Catholicism, religion in general, the vagaries of psychology, the perfidy of communism, and the requirement to be earnest in your works and thought. By gorry, these are the best of things...to discover what you really think!

At the car, heavy black clouds approached. Everyone helped me hook the trailer up, Kevin even manfully lifted the whole thing up with a heroic grimace as the rain began spitting, and plopped the tongue down on the hitch perfectly. Why, thank you sir!

We skedaddled, pockets full of rich experience...

AI assisted image: High Church officials cognizant of their solemn duties!

Happily returning to the notch between the peaks

The clouds moved rather dramatically

Creatures of the high mountains!

Migrating below...

AI assisted image: A great summit, a genius-level summit for certified geniuses, like us, though we aren't prone to bragging!

A cinematic descent from the high Tibetan plateaus.