Hikes in Idaho: Scotchman Peak (Trail #65)

Basic Information

• Name: Scotchman Peak Trail
• Where: Cabinet Range, Idaho
• Distance: 8 miles
• Maximum Elevation: 7,009 feet
• Elevation Gain: 3,631
• Time: 5-6 hours
• Difficulty: Hard
• More Information: Day Hike! Spokane, Coeur d’Alene, and Sandpoint

Google Earth Map fo the Trail

Scotchman Peak Elevation Map

Directions

Scotchman Peak is located just outside of the small village of Clark Fork, Idaho.  From Spokane take I-90 East to Coeur d’Alene.  From Coeur d’Alene take Highway 95 north to Sandpoint.  From Sandpoint take Highway 200 east around Lake Pend Oreille to Clark Fork.

Once in Clark Fork make a left at the Chevron Station and on to Main Street.  The road eventually turns into a well graded dirt road called Mosquito Creek Road.

This is where a lot of people have difficulty finding the trailhead.  Once on Mosquito Creek Road do not look for road identification signs or Scotchman Peak signs because there are not any.  What you have to look for is brown colored Trail #65 signs like the ones pictured below:

If you make the turns on every road labeled with a Trail #65 sign it will lead you right to the trailhead.  After turning off Mosquito Creek Road, the road does become rougher, but sturdy passenger cars can make it to the trailhead if driven with care.

Parking

At the trailhead there is parking for about ten vehicles.  There was only two vehicles parked there in the morning when I arrived.

They were camping in a small clearing near the trailhead.  When I came back from the hike the lot was completely full with about an additional 20 cars parked on the side of the dirt road.  A major positive of this trailhead is that the parking lot does have two porta-potties for visitors to use.

Narrative

I have been looking to do more hiking within northern Idaho and according to my book Day Hike! Spokane, Coeur d’Alene, and Sandpoint, the Scotchman Peak Trail is one of the best hikes in the area.  After reading many user reviews everyone seemed to agree this was a great hike, but many complained about how steep it was.  Steepness never scared me off from doing a trail and thus on a recent Saturday I made the 2 hour 20 minute drive from Spokane to the trailhead just outside of the village of Clark Fork.  On my way to the trailhead I saw a big sign that warns of the dangers of grizzly bears in the Cabinet Mountains. During the hike I made sure to make plenty of noise and kept good situational awareness to avoid any bear encounters.

At the trailhead there are a number of signs posted that warn hikers about touching the goats or allowing them to lick equipment.

The goats are hungry for salt and like to lick sweat off of hikers and the gear they are carrying.  This leads to possible negative interactions between hikers and the goats.  In one case in Olympic National Park, an interaction between a hiker and a mountain goat turned deadly.  This actually led to mountain goats to be removed from the Olympic Mountains.  The Scotchman Peak Trail was actually closed back in 2015 because of how many hikers were touching the goats.  So please everyone who plans to hike this trail, keep away from the goats; I promise you can live without your Instagram moment featuring a goat.

From the very start of this hike the trail begins its steep ascent up Scotchman Peak:

The first part of the trail through the forest seems like a never ending switchback, but the steepness of the trail really wasn’t that bad.  About a half mile into the hike there is actually a nice view looking down into the valley below:

The next view I had was at the 2 mile mark where there is a really nice viewpoint once again looking into the Clark Fork River Valley:

What is interesting about the Clark Fork River Valley is that this is where 12,000-15,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age, that a great glacial dam was formed.  This dam created what was then called Lake Missoula.  When temperatures warmed the ice dam broke and caused possibly the greatest flood the world has ever seen.  These great floods happened multiple times as the dam froze again and broke up during warming cycles.  The repeated flooding is what caused the Eastern Washington Scablands that can be seen today.  The below picture is of a information signboard along Lake Pend Oreille explaining the region’s Ice Age history:

About 2.5 miles into the hike is when the meadows area is reached.  At the meadows is where the first views of the stunning Lake Pend Oreille can be seen:

Here is a panorama picture of the view from the meadows:

Lake Pend Oreille is the largest lake in Idaho and the 5th deepest lake in the United States.  Because of its remoteness and its deepness Lake Pend Oreille is home to a U.S. Navy base.  Yes you heard that right, there is a Navy base in Idaho!  Even more amazing is that the Navy base is where new submarine technology is tested.  This fact made very clear to me how deep this lake is that submarines can conduct testing here:

At about the 3 mile mark the trail begins to exit the tree line:

After exiting the tree line the trail comes to a steep rocky section.  It is here that another big sign has been installed warning people to stay away from the goats:

From this point the trail increasingly began to ascend up talus rock that would sometimes shift under my feet:

Despite the shifting rock, the trail for the most part is in great shape as it pushed towards the summit of Scotchman Peak:

As I neared the summit I kept stopping to take in the views because they were absolutely incredible in every direction:

The final push to the summit was steep, but not difficult:

On the top of the mountain there is an old rock shelter that at one time served as a fire lookout:

This area of the summit is wide with plenty of room for people the sit at.  I even spotted the U.S. Geological Survey Marker here for Scotchman Peak:

The views from the top of the mountain were incredibly clear the day I hiked up Scotchman Peak.  Here is the view looking down on Lake Pend Oreille:

Here is an even closer look at the lake where Sandpoint is visible:

Down below I could see the small village of Lake Fork as well:

Here is the view looking towards the northwest, where way out in the distance I could make out the Selkirk Range that runs along the border of Washington and Idaho:

Here is a close look at the Selkirks where snow was still visible on the some of the peaks:

Here is the view looking northeast towards Canada and Montana:

Looking towards the southwest, I could even see the 5,833 foot Mt. Spokane:

Here is a very wide panorama picture of the view:

What most people don’t realize is that the peak where the rock shelter is located at is not the true summit.  The next rocky ledge over to the east is where the true summit of Scotchman Peak is located:

To get to the true summit I had to drop down into a small draw:

I made sure not to get too close to the edge because a fall here would be fatal:

I easily found a rock chimney that I could do an easy Class 2 rock scramble up to the summit:

Here is the view from the true summit looking back over to the rocky slab I was just on:

This next picture shows the view towards the south, looking down into the Clark River Valley where the glacial dam during the last Ice Age was located at:

Here is the view looking east at the mountains that are inside Montana:

Here is a wider angle picture of the view to the east:

Here is the view looking north where in the distance the mountains inside of Canada were visible:

Here is a wider angle picture of the view towards the north:

I spent about 45 minutes up on the summit of Scotchman Peak before other hikers began to show up.  There was about 8 other hikers that began coming up to the summit which became my cue to go ahead and head back down.  On the way down I was rewarded with constant views of the beautiful Lake Pend Oreille until I hit tree line again:

A unique aspect of this hike is how tiring going down is.  The constant decline for the four miles down the mountain really gave my quadricep muscles a real work out. I was definitely happy to see the trailhead for this hike when I reached it:

Conclusion

I made the hike up Scotchman Peak in 2 hours and 15 minutes spent about 45 minutes on the summit and then made it down in about 1 hour and 45 minutes.  So in total I did the whole hike in under 5 hours.  Overall this is the best hike I have done in northern Idaho so far; the trail is in great shape, it was a challenging 8-mile hike, and the views are incredible.  The hike is even made better due to the possibility of seeing mountain goats.  I did not see any the day I hiked, but this trail is well known for its goats, just don’t touch them.