6725-foot Eddy Peak is in the Selkirk Range of Northern Idaho
and is located between Priest Lake and the Selkirk Crest. The hike
up provides some excellent views of the Southern end of Priest Lake
and mountains to the West. From the summit, it almost seems that
you could reach out and touch the rugged Selkirk Crest only about 2
miles to the East. The Eddy Peak Fire
Lookout Tower was once located here, but was torn down in 1959;
the remains of the tower are still there to explore.
Getting there: Follow the Eastshore Road (road #1) North along
the East side of Priest Lake to just past the Indian Creek
Campground. Turn right off the Eastshore Road onto road 2/27; this
road almost immediately forks, take the right fork continuing on
road 2/27. Continue about a mile and a half to the next fork, and
take the left turn onto road 27. Travel about another mile and a
half to the intersection with road 278, and take the right turn
onto road 278. The way quickly becomes much rougher and steeper --
a high-ground-clearance vehicle is recommended. Road 278 winds its
way up 3 or 4 miles ending in a series of quite long switchbacks.
These switchbacks intersect an old Jeep trail that was most likely
the original road to Eddy Peak and that is now the first part of
the trail to the peak. Any of these intersections make a good place
to park and start hiking. Waypoints for these intersections are
provided:
N48° 37.914' W116° 45.011', elevation 5130' (1595 vertical feet to
the peak)
N48° 37.928' W116° 44.919', elevation 5210' (1515 vertical feet to
the peak)
N48° 38.003' W116° 44.717', elevation 5490' (1235 vertical feet to
the peak)
There is a tree at the third waypoint with
"EDDY PK" and an arrow painted on it showing the way up the
Jeep trail. Follow the trail to the summit. The Idaho Department of
Lands office at Cavanaugh Bay on Priest Lake has a pretty good
map of the roads around Priest Lake that is available for a
reasonable price.
The cache is a .50-caliber ammo box painted grey, with "EDDY
PEAK CACHE" written on it.
This cache was placed with permission of the Idaho Department of
Lands Priest Lake office.