We began our bushwhack up to the top of the ridge that led to Roman Nose Peak. We were excited to see the Selkirk Range from up high, since it made such a great impression on us yesterday when we drove back over the border.

As it turned out, our hike up was a little more daring than we expected. We found ourselves climbing up a very steep and slippery slope toward the ridgeline. It wasn’t pretty, but we made it up in good time, and even got a little rock scrambling in.

Going across the ridge was rather effortless. We had a great view of the lower Roman Lake, and the going wasn’t too tough. But soon enough, the ridge became a little obnoxious to traverse because there was no defined trail. Not only that, but the smoke from the fires in Idaho began to hurt our lungs, so any time we had to go uphill, it became a struggle.

But our challenges were rewarded when we reached the summit of the Roman Nose. There had once been a fire tower on the top, and the foundation still remained there from when it toppled years ago. Even the debris from the tower still laid on the ground. The Selkirk Range didn’t look nearly as grandiose as it did from the bottom, but we were still impressed by the landscape.

The irony behind summitting the Roman Nose was that we had no idea that we were on the correct mountain at the time. I remember reading that there was a collapsed fire tower there, but as we looked out across the ridge, we saw another peak that resembled our destination. Thus, we scrambled down the boulder field and scampered up to the top of that peak.

We later learned that it was Bottleneck Peak, and was actually worth the detour. From the top, we saw an interesting rock formation that looked like a tower across from us. We surprisingly had service and found out that it’s called Chimney Rock, and a lot of people actually climb it because it is the easiest route to the top is a 5.3. Maybe we’ll be back someday.

The worst part of the day was going down. We had to navigate to the bottom via a steep meadow, which transitioned into a brushy area that we had to whack our way through. The troubles weren’t over though. After we got through a boulder field and found our way to the lake when we crossed through the pine trees, we had to take our shoes off and walk through the shallow, slippery part of the lake. Because we had our phones and camera with us, swimming across the lake to the actual trail was not an option.

While traversing around the lake, we saw our friend Nick from afar. We had a brief chat, which went surprisingly well even though we were almost a quarter mile away because our voices echoed throughout the valley. A rough 15 minutes later of stepping over slippery rocks and sticks, and we were back on the trail. We met Nick at a rocky area where we sat for an hour and a half and enjoyed the sights and the water. Lauren jumped in while I sat on my butt, and we genuinely enjoyed doing nothing for a little while.

On the way down, Nick showed us where the wild huckleberries were in addition to some of the various campsites in the area. When we reached the bottom, we briefly visited the lower lake and then booked it back to the ranger station before heading out for some authentic Mexican food.