I hiked on Rathdrum Mountain last weekend. This local favorite is twenty minutes from my house and is one of the trifecta of awesome natural areas owed and managed by local cities in Kootenai County along with Coeur d’Alene’s Tubbs Hill and Post Fall’s Qemilin Park. Rathdrum Mountain Park is owned and maintained by the City of Rathdrum, Kootenai County’s fourth largest city.
The trailhead is surrounded by a lush cedar forest with some very large trees. A perennial creek flows through this forest.
There are several small creeks along the hike and in the spring time parts of the trail can be muddy.
The main trail is named Storm King Parkway. It is an old service road that winds through an impressive forest with many extremely large trees. This cedar is the largest I have found and it’s difficult to appreciate the size of it by taking a picture.
Further up the trail, more open ponderosa pine forest provide a drier contrast to the damp cedar woods usually found along the streams.
The more open forest has an abundance of wild flowers at different times of the year.
Most of the first three miles of the hike are heavily wooded, but occasionally openings in the canopy provide glimpses of the open slopes higher on the mountain.
On the way up there are a couple of views out over the town of Rathdrum and of the prairie beyond it.
After about an hour and a half, I made it to the open slopes on the east side of the mountain. This is where the views really open up.
In the far background, you can see part of Lake Coeur d’Alene. The tiny bump right in front of the lake is Tubbs Hill.
Across the valley is Mica Peak, a prominent mountain just past Post Falls. Qemilin Park is near the base of those distant mountains.
The rocky slopes are beyond the city owned property. Most of the land up here is owned either by the Idaho Department of Lands or timber companies like Inland Empire Paper. You can buy day use and seasonal passes to hike Inland Empire Paper lands from various vendors in the area or on line here.
This was my turnaround point after two and a half hours of hiking and pausing to admire the views and gaining about 1500 feet of elevation. You are still miles and a thousand feet short of the summit and through previous experience, I found there is no practical way to get to the top from this direction.
After five hours of walking it was good to be back down among the giant cedars near the trailhead.
No hike to the Rathdrum Mountain Park would be complete without saying goodbye to fellow that runs the place.
I love this hike. It’s long enough to really stretch your legs on and very easy to get to. On the way back, check out Westwood Brewing Company in the town of Rathdrum if you have a chance.
Total Squach country.
I like the squachman 😀. What was the distance of your trek?
There are several routes you can use hike up the mountain. The main trail and the one I hiked up this time is an old forest road and the round trip to the open slopes is about six miles.