Near the small, beautiful town of Challis, Idaho, is a walkthrough ghost town that has several beautiful structures. This town is called Bayhorse, and it has fallen under the umbrella of Idaho State Parks. There is a $7 fee per vehicle to visit and walk around Bayhorse, which takes around 30 minutes. Bayhorse ghost town has quite a lot of structures to see. And if you visit the ghost town, make sure to make the drive up to Big Bayhorse Lake.
Bayhorse Ghost Town
Bayhorse, like most ghost towns, was a mining town focused mostly on silver. It was established in 1877 and had about a 40 year run, falling into ruin by the end of World War I. Though much of the town no longer exists, there are still several amazing structures in Bayhorse. Please note that you cannot enter any structure in this town as there is still a high level of mercury in the buildings. If you’d like to visit a ghost town with buildings you can enter, try Custer Ghost Town, which is down the road closer to Stanley.
When you arrive at Bayhorse, there is a large parking lot. Pay the fee in the envelope. It is handy to plan on $7 cash or a check (gasp!) so that you have exact payment. Then walk up the hill to our favorite building, the saloon. This traditional building with a second level balcony over its facade looks like something right out of the old West. We half expected a cowboy to fall off the deck during a gunfight.
To the right, there are several buildings and signs, including one nice house. Back to the left is a very large mill. There are several ways to approach, but the top path reaches a dead end. We recommend the middle path, which cuts through and around a few other remaining buildings.
Make sure to loop back around to the beginning where there are several more signs and two large buildings. One sign explains that they have no idea what this building was for. Near the parking lot, there is an area with some pieces left over from the mining town with signs. We appreciated all of the information signs throughout the Bayhorse Ghost Town.
Big Bayhorse Lake
After our visit to the ghost town, we continued up the road to Big Bayhorse Lake. The lake was beautiful, lying in its high alpine meadow. We skipped rocks and walked partway around the lake. This was at least as nice as the ghost town, and the road was very passable (though Little Bayhorse Lake is 4WD recommended). There is a trail that connects Big Bayhorse Lake and Little Bayhorse, but we were running out of daylight and it was starting to rain, so we headed back down to Challis. The trail between the lakes is 2.6 miles roundtrip and mostly flat other than a climb down to Little Bayhorse and then back up again. We loved how beautiful it was at Big Bayhorse and there were wildflowers all along the road up to the lake.
