Banner Creek Summit is a mountain pass

Mountain pass

A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...

 in central Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

, at an elevation

Elevation

The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....

 of 7056 feet (2150 m) above sea level on State Highway 21

Idaho State Highway 21

Idaho State Highway 21 is the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway, primarily a two-lane highway from Boise to Stanley. With two-thirds of its length in Boise County, it passes by historic Idaho City and the village of Lowman to the western edge of the Sawtooth Mountains, then along their northern...

, the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway. It is located on the border of Custer County

Custer County, Idaho

Custer County is a rural mountain county located in the center of the U.S. state of Idaho. Established in 1881, it was named for the General Custer Mine, where gold was discovered five years earlier . The population was 4,342 at the 2000 census; it is estimated to have fallen to 4,166 by 2007...

 and Boise County

Boise County, Idaho

Boise County is a rural mountain county in the U.S. state of Idaho. The population was 6,670 at the 2000 census; it was estimated at 7,571 in 2007...

, also the border of the Challis and Boise National Forest

Boise National Forest

The Boise National Forest is a US national forest located north and east of the city of Boise, Idaho. It is about 2,612,000 acres in size, ranging in elevation from 2,600 to 9,800 feet . The mountainous landscape developed through uplifting, faulting, and stream cutting...

s, immediately northwest of the Sawtooth Range

Sawtooth Range

Sawtooth Range, Sawtooth Ridge, and Sawtooth Mountains may refer to:*Sawtooth Range in Alaska, United States*Sawtooth Range in California, United States...

.

Banner Creek Summit also marks the divide between the Salmon River

Salmon River (Idaho)

The Salmon River is located in Idaho in the northwestern United States. The Salmon is also known as The River of No Return. It flows for through central Idaho, draining and dropping more than between its headwaters, near Galena Summit above the Sawtooth Valley in the Sawtooth National...

 and Payette River

Payette River

The Payette River is an river in southwestern Idaho and is a major tributary of the Snake River.Its headwaters originate in the Sawtooth and Salmon River Mountains at elevations over...

 drainage areas. The highway follows Banner Creek, a tributary of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, on the north side of the summit, and Canyon Creek (South Fork - Payette River) on the south side.

In road distance, the summit is about midway between Stanley

Stanley, Idaho

Stanley is a city in Custer County, Idaho, United States. The population was 100 at the 2000 census. The center of population of Idaho is located in Stanley.-Geography:...

 and Lowman

Lowman, Idaho

Lowman is a small unincorporated rural census-designated place in Boise County, Idaho, United States, nestled along the banks of the South Fork of the Payette River in the central part of the state...

. This section of SH-21 is usually not maintained during the winter months, due to light traffic and heavy snowfall.

External links

• Idaho Transportation Dept. - Division of Highways - mountain passes
• Visit Idaho.org - official state tourism site
• Idaho Byways - Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway