Lake Killarney Idaho

I recently had the opportunity to revisit one of my favorite local places to kayak. Lake Killarney is one of the chain of lakes along the Coeur d’Alene River and the furthest one upstream that is accessible from the river by boats. This seven hundred acre lake has a couple of islands in it one of which has a public dock and allows boat in camping. There is an Idaho invasive weeds watercraft check station just before the turn off to the lake. Here is the website where you can purchase invasive weed stickers for your boat or kayak. Today I spent a full four hours exploring this gem of a lake.

I launched my kayak at small boat ramp and campground managed by the Bureau of Land Management located three or four miles up Lake Killarney Road from State Road 3.

A quick paddle south brings you to the outlet for the short channel to the Coeur d’Alene River. There is a large sandbar off to the west side of the opening that is popular for boaters to anchor on and relax during warm weekend days.

Just past the outlet creek, I came across these two guys browsing on aquatic vegetation on the south side of the lake.

I think I’ve seen at least a couple of moose every time I’ve paddled this lake. There are extensive wetlands around it and almost no one lives along the lake’s shoreline.

Near the southwest corner of the lake a long narrow channel is worth exploring. It ends a couple of thousand feet later at a small elevated forested “island”.

In places the channel was separated from the main body of the lake by a narrow band of aquatic vegetation.

From near the end of this waterway I had a nice view back towards the boat ramp I started from.

Exploring this dead end channel is an adventure, however this is one of the only places in North Idaho I’ve ever been bothered by biting flies. It was nice to get back to open water and away from these tormenters.

Once back to the lake itself my next goal was to paddle around the larger of the two islands on the lake. Although it has inviting places to land a least part of this island is privately owned.

The water on the backside of this island is just weedy enough to keep power boats out. A large rock stands guard in the middle of the channel between the island and the rocky peninsula on the mainland.

The remains of some kind of structure makes for an interesting backdrop. This may have once been a logging tramway for the transport of felled trees to deeper water on the lake from were they could have been floated down the river and ultimately to the mills on the north end of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Or the rows of old pilings could have been for something completely different. A logging tram is just my best guess.

Between rocky cliffs and extensive marshlands, finding easy places to land can be a challenge.

I found this place on the west side of the lake that nicely filled the bill as far as a place to land and relax. I checked and it is on public property.

I continued heading north along the west side of the lake until I came across Popcorn Island, a boat in facility managed by the BLM with a dock, vault toilet and a campsite.

At the far north end of the lake Fortier Creek empties into it and feeds an extensive area of marshland. It is only possible to paddle up this tiny creek a couple of hundred feet before the vegetation gets too thick to go further.

It is still a nice place to stop my Free State America brand kayak and enjoy the view.

On the way back down the west shore line I checked out a couple of places I missed on the way up. Next time I might land and explore this little piece of high ground as it is also publicly owned.

Four hours later it was time to head back to the boat ramp. Lake Killarney is my favorite lake on the chain to explore although Swan Lake and Blue Lake are pretty awesome too.

One of my first posts on this blog was about kayaking Lake Killarney. This is the first kayaking adventure I felt warranted a follow up.