Mt. Roothan / Chimney Rock, Fun in the Selkirks

Zuzu and I went on a little trip today. This hike was in the Selkirks, on the east side of Priest Lake - from where I posted the paddling pictures. We drove waaaay back into the woods up to a site on Horton Ridge where a fire lookout used to stand. I originally wanted to go all the way to Chimney Rock, but I wanted to take the dog along, so we cut it just a little shy and went to the top of Mt. Roothan.

Mt. Roothan as seen from the trail.



The ever intrepid Zuzu in front of the very common layered, uplifted granite. The trail is beautiful in it's own right. It's ashen gray granite dust and the entire trail glitters from all the quartz and pyrite flakes. It's like following the Yellow Brick Road in some spots.



Gunsite Peak is just to the south of Mt. Roothan. Pretty easy to see how it got it's name. Hunt lake is nestled down below the three peaks. Gunsite will probably be the next trip. I wonder if there are trout...?



This is one of the local holy grails of climbing: Chimney Rock. You can see the convex side of the Roothan Cirque on the right. Many moons ago during a party, a couple of climbing buddies and I decided that we would absolutely be hot sh*t if we were the first to do a full on winter mixed ascent. Well, once we sobered up and actually hiked up to Chimney in the winter a little reality set in. It was so socked in we could hardly see two feet in front of our faces. I'm sorry I didn't go back. Doubly sorry, now that I'm fat and old. A mixed ascent on that sucker would have been absolutely badass.

Hello? Jenny Craig...?

What doesn't show up in the picture is the thunderstorm that was moving in from the North. Chimney Rock is colloquially known as "The Lightning Rod." Horton Ridge should have been named "Lighting Rod Alley." I've never seen anything like it. All along the ridge, virtually every tall tree on the apex of the ridge has been fried by lightning. (Well, they used to be the tallest anyway...) It's just eerie. I can only imagine what it's like during a storm up there. The thunderstorms in the Selkirks are generally intense enought to leave you with two choices: hunker down or haul ass. The only place to hunker down was beneath a table of granite between the false summit and true summit of Roothan.

We hauled ass.

Back at the truck, we saw a group of three firefighters who were headed down the ridge toward the lake to take care of several fires in the area. It was pretty funny. I saw the fires coming down the mountain, and was getting concerned enough that my first plan was to call 911 back at the truck. What did I see halfway home? The helicopter nailing them with the bucket. Anyway, Horton ridge doesn't look like it will be a real fun place to be tonight, I hope those guys (and gal) are OK. They weren't looking too thrilled about the job ahead when they left their truck. (Note to self: To lose weight, become a Hot Shot. Those turkeys are FIT! )

Another day of adventure in North Idaho.

It's days like today that I realize that I could live elsewhere, but I could never be happy.




Chimney Rock and the Roothan Cirque from the summit of Mt. Roothan. You can see the storm brewing and can actually see some rain in the distance.


Another pic of CR that better shows the two features. I think virtually all of these features were formed during the great flood when the ice dam in Montana burst. (This was a long time ago.) The Inland NW has some pretty spectacular geological history. Almost everywhere you go, you can look back into time and think about how the area came to be.

[And to the person who left the Promise Keepers jacket at the summit, please go get it yourself - it's still there. I would have drug it down but it stunk so bad from whatever $2 cologne you wear, I refused to soil my backpack with it. Is that crap supposed to be bear repellent or something? Works great as people repellent...]