Italian Canyon Loop

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Italian Canyon Loop

An Excellent 4 Peak Adventure in the Beaverheads
August 31, 2026
Italian Peak East (11,004') - Tuscany Peak (10,776') - Willow Creek Peak (10,356') - Little Caesar Peak (9,041')

Italian Canyon is a remote valley located in the Beaverhead Mountains of far eastern Idaho. The canyon is home to a pleasant trail that gives access to a handful of peaks on the continental divide, and the border between Idaho and Montana in this area. My main objective was 11er Italian Peak East, and we also climbed Tuscany Peak (Idaho top 200 peak), Willow Creek Peak, and Little Caesar Peak.

	Michael and I met at the trailhead the night before, and were hiking by 7am.
	The trail heading up Italian Canyon is scenic and easy to follow.
	Michael had already climbed Italian East, so when we reached a switchback in the trail ~9600', he started toward Tuscany Peak while I continued a bit higher before heading to the saddle southwest of Italian. From here, I went pretty much straight up the ridge, which wasn't bad.
	Here's a view east from the west summit of Italian, previously thought to be the highpoint pre LIDAR measurements. A continental divide marker placed here.
	Italian Peak East is the actual highpoint, and Idaho's lowest 11er. For my route, I’d have to decide between a direct line along the ridge, or dropping to the right for the Lopez route.
	After a couple exposed class 4 moves on this 20' high section, and at least 1 more that would be tough to downclimb, I elected to retreat and do the Lopez route. (Turns out I’d already done most of the hard moves.)
	So I followed ledges taking me south a bit.
	From Tom Lopez's report, I recognized this chimney as the way up. It was straightforward, with a little low 4th class near the top. No trouble to climb up, a little trickier on the way back down.
	A little more work to do after the chimney. Pretty easy going up, a little more caution required on descent.
	Somehow managed to forget to take photos from the summit, but enjoyed a snack there before retracing my path to the west summit. Next up, a ridge traverse to Tuscany Peak where Michael was waiting. Eighteenmile Peak in the distance.
	Looking back on the two summits of Italian Peak.
	No major obstacles on the way to Tuscany Peak. Near the summit, you have to cheat to the east side of the ridge in a couple places. From here I could see Michael snoozing just below the summit.
	After a PBJ on Tuscany, we continued northwest, dropping down on the Montana side briefly to avoid some tricky sections of ridge. Further on we enjoyed a nice section of ridge walk before dropping to the saddle southeast of Willow Creek Peak.
	Looking back on Tuscany from the saddle to the northwest.
	Summit shot from Willow Creek Peak after an easy climb from the saddle.
	Willow Creek Peak summit shot looking northwest toward Jump Peak, Eighteenmile Peak, and Cottonwood Peak.
	From Willow Creek Peak, we dropped off the west side, then chose a long scree descent back down to the valley.
	Once back down in the trees, I decided to tackle DDP "Little Caesar Peak" while Michael made quick work of the trail back to camp. Terrain on the north ridge of this little peak was easy to navigate.
	Willow Creek Peak from Little Caesar, includes a good view of the long scree gully we descended.
	Tuscany Peak and Italian Peak from Little Caesar.
	After a pretty easy descent from Little Caesar, I made the pleasant 3 mile trail hike back to camp.
	Map of the route. 14 miles and 4900' elevation gain round trip in 10 hours of hiking. A great day in the mountains! Many thanks to Michael for joining and waiting for me, and to Brett for inspiring the route.

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