Pyramid Ball Lakes - Selkirk Mountains

This past weekend I took a three day backpacking trip into the Selkirk Mountains (the range between Priest Lake and Bonners Ferry just north of Sandpoint) with my good friend Jim Czirr, Nate Cropper, and Craig Nelson. With the beginning of summer around the bend, the outdoor tastebuds in us enthusiasts for God's creation begin to salivate with anticipation for the coming months in the outdoors. The beginning of June is an early time to get out into the mountains with all the snow still remaining; however the past few weeks of heat have managed to melt most of the mountains snow to allow easy access to this trailhead and the system of lakes and peaks in the area.

We drove in the first night and camped at the trailhead while the sun went down. Craig told crazy marine stories and share with us a hollywood story line him and his buds came up with.

Saturday we woke with God's alarm clock, AKA the 4:30 sunrise. Once the sun's up in the wilderness, there aint no more sleeping one can do in a tent. We cooked oatmeal over a camp stove and got ready for the long hike ahead of us. At about 8am we left the camp site and ventured up the beginning of the trail to Pyramid lake (picture above). Half of this section was snow free and the rest was covered in deep snow drifts that one of us every now and then non-chalantly fell into up to our knees. An hour later of trekking and trying to find the trail in the snow we arrived at the east end of Pyramid lake. It was partially frozen but gorgeous in the sunlight.

From here we took off on the second leg to Ball lake, the southern alpine lake in this area. The snow was so deep that it was impossible for us to find the trail after Pyramid lake. We knew which direction Ball lake was so we started out towards it but realized after about a half an hour we were hiking too far in the wrong direction, we had passed it. We were hiking along the face of a ridge and were constantly falling into holes under the snow drifts. However the view down the Trout Creek valley from here was definitely breathtaking. After realizing we were going too far south we traversed straight up the ridgeside that we were on. Jim led the way and created a ladder of steps in the snow that we each climbed at about a 60 degree angle up the ridge. We were exhausted at the top of the ridge and rested for a while before continuing on the ridge towards Ball lake. After traversing the ridge above Pyramid lake we sloped down into the bowl that is Ball lake. We pulled up and had lunch in this frozen lake. I guess the word "Frozen" means nothing to Jim because he definitely went for a naked man swim in the only unfrozen part of the lake and then ran around like a 8 year old in Toys R' Us on the frozen icetop. At this point we were beginning to feel the sun's effects on our skin. We had plenty of sunscreen on but it can only do so much when your at 6500' and the sun is attacking you from the sky and reflecting off of the snow itself. It was pretty much a convection oven in which every part of our skin that was showing was becoming cooked!

After spending lunch on the frozen lake, we hiked out of the bowl and leg three toward pyramid peak, 7380'. The snow was tiring our legs out from all the sinking that was happening and the wasted energy that is associated with it. We made it to the top of the ridge that runs from Ball lake to Pyramid peak and began sliding down on our rear ends on some parts of the ridge and traversing other parts. We made it to the base of Pyramid peak at about 1:30 and began the straight hike up the mountain. I don't advise hiking straight up a snow covered mountain above 6000'. Needless to say after recovering from bedrest and my appendectomy, i needed a little push from the guys to get to the top. But o' the wonderful 360 degree view from the top of Pyramid peak. We crashed here for about 45 minutes before beginning the final leg down to our campsite at Pyramid lake. We ski'd down Pyramid peak on our boots and made the quick hike out back to the eastern edge of Pyramid lake where we set up camp and made a fire. We were dog tired, Craig went to bed at 8:30 and the rest of us were out soon enough. We couldn't have found a better camp site and crashed for the night. The next morning we arose with the sun once again and bushwacked our way back to the trailhead with the help of my GPS, a wonderful little tool. Who needs a trail when you have a GPS, heh. We made it to the car around 9:00am and conquered the Pyramid-Ball alpine lake area. Real men are forged in times like this. God has created a wonderful wilderness area just north of Sandpoint that all should take time to explore and see! To God be the glory now and forever!