I made the hike to Gypsy, highpoint of Pend Oreille County, before the annual closing of the road 6 miles from the trailhead at Bear Pasture on Aug 15th. The road is in pretty good shape until the last couple of miles where brush is encroaching. Lots of ripe berries at mid-elevation but sparse higher up.
Once at the top of Crowell Ridge, leave the trail and walk north. Some sections have a clear boot path others don't. The going is easy though and one generally just stays on the ridge top. The hike to the top of 7177 promises a nice view of Gypsy and Watch Lake below and is worth the extra few steps.
The last bump, 7077, can be bypassed on the east by a well-defined boot path unless you feel like some extra elevation gain.
There is no benchmark or register that I could find on the summit but the views up north into Canada and back to Crowell Ridge are excellent. Big bang for your buck on this hike. You can extend the hike a little further with a ridge ramble out to South Fork.
The northern end of The Crowell Ridge Trail is in excellent condition.
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