Copper Butte hike
At 7140 feet, Copper Butte is the highest summit in the Kettle River Range. Get ready to walk through old-growth, fire-succession, and subalpine forests as well as some of the most prolific alpine meadows within the entire range.
Round trip: 9.5 miles
Elevation gain: 24000 feet
Difficulty: (5/5) Very Difficult
Trailhead: From SR 21 just north of Republic, follow County Road 284 (Fish Hatchery Road) about three miles to Echo Bay Mine. Now follow FR 2152 east for three miles to FR 2040. Bear left and at five miles from the junction with FR 2152 turn right on FR 250. In 1.5 miles more, find the trailhead, on the left.
At 7140 feet, Copper Butte is the highest summit in the Kettle River Range. Of several ways to reach this lofty peak, no route is as beautiful as the Marcus Trail. By way of this lightly traveled trail you'll walk through old growth, fire-succession, and subalpine forests as well as some of the most prolific alpine meadows within the entire range.
Begin in an open forest of giant ponderosa pines and Douglas fir. After half a mile, enter a large area that succumbed to a fire in the early 1900s. By early summer, waist-high fireweeds bombard the burn with a profusion of purple. You'll soon reenter a mature forest of fir and larch. In two miles the trees yield to hundreds of acres of resplendent meadows. In early summer enjoy a dazzling floral show of bistorts, lupines, yarrows, roses, golden peas, asters, buttercups, locoweed, bluebells, and paintbrush.
At 3.5 miles is an intersection with the Kettle Crest Trail, in a high saddle alone the ridge. Turn left and head north for 1.25 easy miles to the summit of Copper Brute. Once home to a fire lookout, horizon-spanning views still remain of the Cascades and Idaho's Selkirks, Mount Spokane, and British Columbia's Rossland Range.
