NP did in fact consider multiple options for crossing the mountain barriers of northern Idaho, but in the end their crunching of the numbers told them it would be to their long-term benefit to loop their main line northward around Lake Pend Oreille through Sandpoint. Longer, but faster and easier. At first, this route did have a short 2.2 percent hump to cross outside Missoula at Evaro Hill, but NP later improved on that with its low-grade cutoff between St. Regis and Paradise. NP did manage to build a branch over the Bitteroots via Lookout Pass, and tried (but failed) to find a reasonable way to continue westward to Coeur d'Alene via Fourth of July Pass. The 4-percent grades on Lookout are now part of an extensive network of rail trails in the Inland Northwest which include the MILW grade over St. Paul Pass.