Green Monarch Ridge Trail# 69, ID

Overview Green Monarch Ridge rises steeply from the southeast side of Lake Pend Oreille, where the Clark Fork River reaches the lake. The trail follows the crest of the ridge and over the summit of Green Monarch Mountain.


Hike The trail starts at a parking area at the northwest corner of Johnson Saddle. The climb starts immediately from the north end of the parking area. You will quickly notice this is a popular trail with the dirt bike crowd, as deep ruts have been formed down the center of the trail. There's also a lot of loose rock on the trail in places. Sometimes, trail damage from the dirt bikes is annoying, but on the flip side, the riders do a lot of brush clearing on the trails in North Idaho. Without their clearing, a lot of trails would quickly become severely overgrown and nearly impossible to follow.Initially, views are limited, but as you climb, you can start to get glimpses of Lake Pend Oreille to the north and the Coeur d'Alene Mountains to the south. Trees obscure a lot of the view, but don't worry, there will eventually be some good viewpoints. The trail quickly climbs to the top of the first "peak" on the ridge, then immediately loses all of that elevation as you head west-northwest. The descent is steep in places, with loose footing in places.

At the saddle on the east side of Green Monarch Mountain, the climb begins again, steep at times. About a quarter-mile from the summit of Green Monarch, the best views of the trail appear. There are some good breaks in the trees, and you can clearly see Lake Pend Oreille from Clark Fork all the way over to Sandpoint. The Cabinet Mountains are visible to the northeast, and the Selkirks are visible to the northwest. Use caution at the cliff edge, you are standing at 5000' and the water straight below you is at 2060', quite a drop.

If you were only interested in this trail for these views, you might as well turn around here or at the summit, a short distance away. After the summit of Green Monarch, the trail drops steeply off the west side of the peak, down to the saddle between Green Monarch and Schafer Peak. Trail 69 ends at that saddle, where there is a junction with Schafer Peak Trail 68 and Tepee Gulch Trail 105, but there is no signage indicating that fact. If you've reached that junction, you can either turn around or continue on one of the other trails for a longer hike.

2025-07-01 LindaAnn