Thursday July 3, 24.9mi/40.1km

Calder Mt (892.9/5410ft) to Roundtop Saddle (869.0/5710ft) (ID) + 1.0mi Roundtop Mt

I had a great night of sleep at my cozy little spot in the ridge. The trail exceeded my expectations today, both in scenery and in ease of hiking. For a such a remote location such as this, it was surprisingly well maintained.

I had great views all day, and enjoyed the fact that the trail went around most of the bumps instead of over them.

Much to my surprise, there was even a large pond way up here near the top of the ridge.

I wasn’t expecting to see water most of the day, so I grabbed another liter. And just around the next bump, there were even a few little remaining snowfields.

Mt Pend Oreille, My highpoint for the day, was gradually getting closer.

When I passed through a saddle, the trail would be directly on top of the ridge, and it was amazing to have a view to both sides.

Once I got to the shoulder of Mt Pend Oreille, The trail contoured around the summit, so I made my own XC route directly up to the summit.

It was actually pretty easy, I just had to skirt those little snowfields. It was quite windy on the summit, but I still lingered to enjoy the 360° view.

I think that’s Lake Darling down in the distance. The view back over the summit ridge, to the west:

I poked around and even found a little benchmark to identify the summit spot.

I retreated from the summit, and quickly was back down on the main trail, and out of the wind.

It was just such a nice trail all morning. I could enjoy the views all around me without having to stare at my feet watching for rocks.

Around noon, I came to a little summit called Lunch Peak, which seemed way too convenient. So I stopped and had lunch at its little fire tower lookout.

The main part of the fire tower was locked (but it can be reserved for overnight use!), but could still get pretty epic views from the balcony all around it. Looking North to where I would be hiking all afternoon:

After lunch I had an hour of easy roadwalking, to connect to the next ridgeline trail. This trail passed through a burn area for a couple miles, always sad to see such a high intensity fire.

After an hour in the burn zone, the forest started to return.

It was just such a pleasant afternoon of hiking, there weren’t even any bugs up here. As I gradually climbed along the ridge I started to get views of Lake Pend Oreille.

While I was having a snack in a talus field, I was being chirped at by this little critter.

I took a quick side trip to the summit of Roundtop mountain, which for some reason had a little underground shelter on the summit.

I found that a little creepy but I lingered on top for awhile admiring the views of the lake Pend Oreille, far below.

Since I had a phone signal, I updated my maps and a few other things, and then continued another mile to camp in a saddle just past the mountain.