Everytime I’m up on Grandmother Mountain, I look to the east and see the bald dome of Lookout Mountain rising over the Marble Creek drainage and I long to stand on top and look down from the other side. Finally, with my parents and sister visiting, I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to try out this trail.

There are several mountains in northern Idaho named Lookout. This is not the ski area on the Idaho-Montana border off of I-90. This is not the peak in the Selkirks north of Sandpoint of the same name. This is in the St. Joe National Forest, accessed from FS-301, the same road that leads to Freezeout Saddle and the Grandmother Mountain trail outside of Clarkia.

Lookout Mountain is unique for this area because its summit is completely bald, offering spectacular views in 360 degrees. The summit stands at 6789 feet above sea level and overlooks Lost Lake, the nearest glacial tarn of considerable size to the Moscow Area. This trail is absolutely beautiful and probably seldom used compared to the neighboring Grandmother Mountain trail. The trailhead is only 7 miles farther down the road, but due to the rough road conditions, it took an extra hour of driving to get there. Despite its apparent remoteness, the trail and trailhead are in great condition. The trailhead features several developed campsites with picnic tables and fire rings along with a well-maintained privy. There are also two other small campgrounds nearby. Next time I hike this trail, I may have to spend the night.

From the trailhead at Orphan Saddle, it’s a 4-mile walk to the summit of Lookout Mountain. The trip isn’t very difficult, though you’ll begin your journey with a 600 foot ascent in just under a mile. By the time you start getting tired, you reach the ridge at 6500 feet and the journey becomes a relaxing meander through a mixture of hemlock forest and grassy field. The next two miles are gentle, holding elevation until the Widow Peak trial splits off, and then gently descending into the saddle above Lost Lake. The last mile is a 700 foot ascent to the summit, and though it may seem steep, you’re on the spine of the ridge with views that get better with every step you take. Take as much time as you need and eventually, you’ll find you can’t go any higher.

The return journey isn’t too bad. The descent on the way out was gradual and not very noticeable, but you may notice the uphill on the return. However, it’s still gentle compared to the two ascents (now descents) on the way out. In short, this may have become my new favorite local hike. Unfortunately, it is such a pain in the butt to get to that I’ll probably still stick to Grandmother Mountain as my go-to escape to higher elevations.

Map and elevation statistics

More Photos

My father-in-law and his wife have been visiting us since last Wednesday. Before coming out, he had asked if we could go on a little male bonding trip into the backcountry for a night. So, I set about looking for a short and easy hike to a spectacular place. I figured he had probably never spent the night under the rocky peaks next to a glacial tarn, and the high lakes are also one of my favorite places to spend a night, but most of the lakes around here are either fairly strenuous hikes, long hikes, or take nearly all day to get to the trailhead. Stevens lake originally came to mind, but Erin thought that might be too steep, despite the short 2.5 mile hike in. So I kept looking around and found Loon Lake out of McCall, which isn’t really a high mountain tarn but a morain lake at the base of a glacially carved valley.

I was all set to go to McCall when the heat wave hit Idaho. It was over 90-degrees in Moscow, and not much cooler in McCall. So I thought about some place that was a bit higher up: the Seven Devils. The loop trail around the seven devils is on the easy side of moderate, and Cannon Lake is only 4 miles in from the trailhead. At 7000 feet, the temperatures were much cooler than anywhere else. Then I checked the weather and noticed a good chance of rain in the McCall area, but less of a chance at the Seven Devils.

The trail to Cannon Lakes is short and sweet. It’s not difficult at all except for a few downed trees to navigate around. This is a beautiful walk around the east side of the Devils, descending through a lush forest of Mountain Hemlock and then traversing the mountainside through the burned forest, now on its way to recovery, but for now lined with lupine, paintbrush, and a variety of other wildflowers. The trail crosses a few creeks and at about 3 miles, meets up with the Cannon Lakes trail. From there, you ascend back up to 7000 feet over the next mile, traversing through beautiful flower-laden alpine meadows. The toughest part of the hike was the return trip, where we had to ascend about 1000 feet over the course of 1.5 miles back to the trailhead.

Cannon Lake sits in a basin between She Devil and Tower of Babel, both of which are visible from the trail, but disappear behind some closer formations as you approach the lake. The peaks tower over 2000 feet and really instill a sense of awe. Because we were on the west side of the range, the sunset was fairly lackluster, but sunrise was spectacular. The high peaks receive the first light of the day and are quickly bathed in the pink alpenglow of the sun emerging from the horizon. Normally, I’d be up to witness the first light on the peaks, but on this trip, I slept in, woken up only by my father-in-law who beat me to the morning view. Luckily, I rushed out of the tent just in time to catch the whole face bathed in pink before the color completely faded.

Friday’s hike in was on a very hazy and muggy day. The air was cooler up on the mountain, but the view was almost nonexistent. You could barely make out the mountain peaks across the Salmon River canyon. Despite the threat of thunderstorms, we had a clear night with blue skies and sunshine the next morning. The haze had thinned out on Saturday and the temperatures dropped a bit never exceeding 70. It was the perfect hiking condition.

When we returned to the car, I decided to show him the campground, and it’s a good thing we did. A mountain goat was hanging around one of the campsites. I then took him up to the Heaven’s Gate Lookout to get him over 8000 feet and get a view of Hells Canyon. Our stay at the tower was cut short by an approaching thunder storm that we watched approch over the high peaks. I’d say we timed this trip perfectly. The rain hit as we started our descent back into Riggins.

There’s one precaution to take when hiking into the high country this time of year. I had underestimated the course of mosquito season, and it seems we had hit the motherload. I also made the mistake of dismissing the need for bug spray. I generally don’t use it because I hate putting chemicals on me and introducing them into the environment. But given how bad the mosquitoes were, I’m willing to reconsider.

The heatwave has hit the northwest. Today’s temperatures on the Palouse rose into the high 90’s, and tomorrow it may break 100. I wanted to hike so I can get in shape for backpacking next month, so I thought I’d take the dogs up to Freezeout Saddle and hike to Grandmother Mountain. But when I got up there, it was also hot and somewhat muggy, so we didn’t make it very far. I brought the camera, but got no pictures on this trip. The summer wildflowers are starting to bloom: beargrass was in its early stages, and the lupine had buds, but no open flowers yet. Plox was open, creating a colorful ground cover in places. The glacier lilies had already gone to seed. But overall, we should see the full color in the next week or two. Already, there is less snow on the trail than there was when I brought my parents up at the end of July last year. This holds good promise that the high country is now open for business.

The best part about today’s excursion was the wildlife sightings, nearly all of them from the car as we were headed down. The only wildlife I spotted from the trail was a fesh pile of bear scat. But on the way down, I came across a very colorful Western Tanager, an elk on the road, a family of skunks (mom and 3 juveniles, I believe), and what I believe to be a wolf. As I came to the bottom of the incine where the road meets the creek, I saw a large dog standing in the intersection. It looked like a husky, definitely bigger than a coyote, but I was also far away so it’s hard to tell. It ran off, and I kept driving, but then I saw it again in the road, running away. I tried to catch up to it to get a better look, but it darted off to the side and then I lost it. I’m not absolutely positive it was a wolf. Coyotes are much more common and more likely, but this was bigger than any coyote I’ve seen, though smaller than a wolf should be. It was more grey and white, rather than the brownish-grey that the coyotes are. It could be a feral dog. Either way, it surely wasn’t tame as it spooked at the first sight of the car. So, it could be a wolf, but I’m not positive, and I hesitate to call it as such. It’s exciting, nonetheless.