| Scouts Scramble to Summit Geocache Trip Report |
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| Scouts Scramble to Summit Geocache   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: Idaho, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 48.61320°N / 116.7041°W Date Climbed/Hiked: Aug 13, 2005 | Page By: dluders Created/Edited: Aug 14, 2005 / Object ID: 170331 Hits: 243 Loading... Page Score: 0% - 0 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
On a crystal-clear Saturday, seven members of Spokane's Boy Scout Troop 171 spent a wonderful day in the mountains. The drive up from the Priest Lake shoreline took about 50 minutes. We passed a trio heading off to climb Chimney Rock, and several families with young children.
As we climbed higher, there were increasingly better views of both Priest Lake to the west, and of Hunt Lake to the south. Birds circled high above the western knob of Mount Roothaan that was straight ahead.
As we neared the top of the saddle, our sense of anticipation quickened our pace. When we saw Chimney Rock and the majesty of the Selkirk Crest, all we could say was "Wow!" Pictures don't really capture the beauty of this vista, which is one of the best in the Northwest. On this clear day, we could see 70 miles into British Columbia, Canada, Washington State, and Montana.
We peered through binoculars to see if anybody was climbing Chimney Rock, but it's popular west face is hidden from view.
We scrambled over to the western knob, and had fun rock-hopping. We decided to tackle the true (eastern) summit knob of Mount Roothaan and find the geocache there. It was a bit slow-going for the young Scouts to scramble up the large rocks, but after 1/2 hour they summited and found the geocache under a ledge near the top.
We had to be careful with our footing and not get careless, since the summit point is rather small and the dropoffs to the north and east are very steep. We retraced our steps back to the saddle, then picked some small huckleberries on the way back down to the trailhead.
This hike and scramble offers some of the best scenery of alpine terrain for the moderate effort involved.
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