Maiden Rock Trail #321

(Fallen, spiky tree.)

 Idaho hiking has been some of the most enjoyable hiking I have done. It was just over a year ago that I hiked in to Settler's Grove of the Ancient Cedars. (I believe the road to Settler's Grove remains washed out to this day.) This weekend we tackled a much shorter hike - Maiden Rock. Maiden Rock is a large outcropping of stone that juts into Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho's Panhandle. It is the largest and deepest lake in Idaho - so deep that the U.S. Navy reportedly uses it for submarine practices.

I say we tackled this hike, because it was strenuous. It is a short hike - depending on the source, around 4 miles round trip. The two miles in are a fairly steady descent which becomes steeper and has a few switchbacks as you near the lake. That means that the hike back out is a grueling ascent - at some points the dirt was just a few inches from my face as I huffed and puffed up 45° angle hills covered in loose dirt and rock. Granted, I'm not in great shape. I think my sister would have whizzed up the trail with fewer huffs. However, it is rated moderate for a reason, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who didn't bring water, decent shoes or a hiking stick. (Disclaimer: Chris did not use a stick and was fine.) My point is, this is no Liberty Lake Trail to the cedar grove and back. This is a much narrower, steeper and rocky trail.

That being said, this was a great hike and a super fun day. The lake was incredibly clear and the water was a great temperature.

When we parked at the trailhead and started walking in, I was glad to note that an earlier report was right - most of this trail is shaded - which is perfect for two part-time hikers and their shaggy beast.

We saw a bunch of different mushrooms. I can't even begin to identify them, but they were interesting colors and textures and shapes. The only one I recognized was ghost pipe, and that is because of my sister. They were a fun change from the usual brown and white mushrooms I tend to see. There were a lot of them too!

Let's see, red mushroom...

...ghost pipe...

...pink bumpy mushroom...

...yellow-ringed pink mushroom...

...shelf mushroom...

...goblet-shaped mushroom...

...yellow cauliflower fungus...

...yes, that's my foot - this fungi was huge. No, this is not foot fungus!

After we passed the mushrooms, we moved on to some rockier terrain.

We didn't have to climb this! This is just looking up the shale covered hillside.

This was taken when we were heading back to the car.

Many of the rocks at the bottom that were shaded were covered in moss. This must be a pretty wet place most of the year.

We reached one point that was at the base of two hills, rocks on one side and dead trees on the other, and it was markedly cooler there. It was like walking in nature's air conditioner. It was great. We experienced this on the way back, also, and not only in the same spot. We noticed that where a stream of water came out of the ground from under some rocks, there was also cold air blowing from that spot. Well, not blowing exactly, but you could totally feel this crisp, cold air and the rocks themselves were very cold. It was pretty awesome. I really wanted to move the rocks aside and look underneath - there has to be some kind of caverny thing going on under there. Alas, the rocks were way too big and heavy.

Moving just a few feet onward up the trail the warm air enveloped us again.

Continuing on toward the lake, we saw all kinds of berries. I don't know what any of them were except for the thimbleberries, which I was very excited about. I was a little disappointed not to find any huckleberries, but the thimbleberries were awesome. I have actually never seen so many thimbleberry bushes in one place ever. They were all along the road leading to the trailhead, and they were scattered along the trail - very thick in some places. I took a picture of all the different berries we saw, but they all turned out blurry!!

A blue berry on a single stalk.

Yellow berry with spider.

Salmon colored berries.

Thimbleberries!

A very dark, almost black berry.

Shiny, waxy red berries.

Coming down onto the beach, I knew that there were supposed to be four campsites there. I wasn't sure if we'd see anyone - there was only one other car at the trailhead, and there were three trails leading out of that parking area. I was not at all prepared for the sight we did see, but it was kind of neat. Boats!

There were four boats parked there with a fifth one jockeying into place, and there were a couple families and another dog. They all looked at us a little funny as we crashed out of the bushes, but we didn't care. We probably did look pretty dusty from the trail. Chris fell on his butt once and I wound up falling about three times coming down that slippery dirt hill. (When we got home I found out I literally have bruises on my butt from hitting so hard.)

The lake was awesome! I took a picture of the namesake, Maiden Rock (above, with the boats) and then we moved down the beach a ways to a more secluded area. Lake Pend Oreille was absolutely beautiful and we took full advantage.

Odin couldn't wait to get in. He swam for a long time leash-free today. :)

The absolute worst part of this trip was that I forgot my camera at home. That's why there are all of these skinny, blurry camera phone shots. Better than nothing I guess, but I was looking forward to using my camera today. Oh well.

I'm not sure I would do this trail again. I told Chris that next time we'll just drive to a lake and get right in. Being in the lake was my favorite part. I know the hike was good for us though (as bruised, scratched up and exhausted as I am) and I couldn't think of a nicer way to spend the day than to try out a new hike and have another "happy place" memory to think about when I'm at work.

Cheers!