Living the good life from the Rockies to the Cascades and beyond.
Author: jake idaho
I am retiring after working forty years in the parks and recreation field. I have lived and played in the Inland Pacific Northwest for the past 18 years and would like to share some of the best outdoor experiences I have discovered and hopefully many more ones in the near future.
I drove out to Heyburn State Park on the south end of Lake Coeur d’Alene to take a short hike on the Indian Cliffs Trail and to check out Idaho’s oldest state park.
Heyburn State Park was established in 1908 and is the oldest state park in the Pacific Northwest. The park is located between Plummer and St. Maries Idaho about an hour south of the City of Coeur d’Alene. The St. Joe River empties in to the lake within the park.
The trailhead for the Indian Cliffs hike was about two miles in to the park from the visitor center on State Road 5. Just after you cross the Trail of the Coeur d’Alene’s after Plummer Creek there is a parking area. At the first junction take a left for an easier limb and better views.
After the junction, the trail climbs at a moderate grade through a forest that slowly becomes more open above and parallel to Plummer Creek.
After three quarters of a mile the trail passes through an area that was impacted by a wild fire thirty years ago. The fire left many surviving ponderosa pines and the state worked to restore the original open floor habitat after that. It reminded me of long leaf pine/wire grass habitat in Florida.
After climbing about five hundred feet, we were treated to views of the lakes and wetlands below. That’s the mouth of Plummer Creek where it enters the lake.
Across the canyon we had a view of the railroad that still services the lumber mill in St. Maries. We got to see the weekly or so train that still runs on this line. This is the same line that I hiked on beyond St. Maries that is now abandoned.
As we got towards the top of the ridge the views got better. You can see the channel of the St. Joe River in the middle of the lake. Over a hundred years ago the Post Falls Dam raised the level of the lake flooding the lowlands on the south end of the lake. The river banks being somewhat higher still bracket the old river channel creating a “river in a lake”.
It was a overcast and for this time of year, a very humid day. It was the first time I sweated in seventy degree weather in many years. It did end up raining a little which is god send for the guys and gals that work so hard to keep wild fires contained. This tree looked like it had experienced more than one serious weather event in its time.
Further along the ridge there were rock outcroppings. For about a mile the views across the lake were unimpeded.
Indian Cliffs are not a straight drop off but there are boulder fields at the base covered in moss. A rolling stone gathers no moss.
After descending down the slope we were treated to a couple of surprises. Those of you that follow this blog know I love Western Red Cedars and this little grove was a gem.
A little further we came across one of the largest White Pines I.ve seen. Western White Pine were decimated many decades ago by an invasive disease and almost became extinct in there native range. Luckily some trees were resistant and the U.S. Forest Service has been working on using the genetics from these trees to breed a new generation of White Pines. This one obviously predated the blister rust.
After completing the just over three mile loop with a five hundred foot elevation gain we checked out the day use area for the park. The Trail of the Coeur d’Alene’s passes through it and in the distance you can see the bridge for the trail over the lake.
If not here’s a better view. The bike ride from Plummer to here is about seven miles and all down hill. The lake looked a littler rough today due to passing thunder storms. Glad I didn’t choose to kayak.
I took a sixty mile drive east to the Montana border at Thompson Pass to complete my annual pilgrimage to one of my favorite mountain lakes and as usual took a side trip on the way home to see some big trees.
From the turnout on the state line at the top of the pass, a short gravel road leads you to the trailhead for the Lake Revett Trail. The trail is very well made and easy to follow.
Unlike a lot of these trails that pass through thick second brush with limited views, the Lake Revett Trail quickly brings you to open rock slopes with big views down the canyon.
After crossing open rock slopes, the trail descends in to a mature forest with lots of big trees.
The trees, mostly hemlocks are covered with moss. Thompson Pass is just about the wettest place in Idaho receiving as much precipitation as the southern Appalachians mostly in the form of snow. This little corner of the Inland Northwest is almost a temperate rain forest.
By the end of August all of the snow is long gone and the streams start to dry up. Here the outlet creek from the lake above still has enough flow for a pretty little waterfall.
After crossing the creek, the trail climbs using a long gentle switchback. Somebody spent a lot of effort making this trail many years ago.
The walk to the lake takes less than an hour even with lots of stops to enjoy the scenery. The mountain to the west of the lake is Granite Peak.
To get a better view of Lake Revett I scrambled a little way up the lower slopes of Granite Peak. Going off trail can be rewarding and risky. The worst part is going back down hill. Without a trail the foot placement takes some serious care.
This is about as far as I wanted to push it. The ridge on the other side of the lake separates it from Blossom Lake, another mountain lake with a trail that starts right at the turnout on Thompson Pass.
It was a beautiful day for a hike.
The hardest part of the hike was bushwacking back down to the lake. A rough trail follows the shoreline. This photo shows the effects of snow loads on the trees as they grow. Almost anyplace with a steep slope had trees with curved trunks like these.
It was time to head back to the trailhead while taking plenty of time to appreciate the big views along the open slopes.
Sometimes it nice to check out the little views too.
One last look at the mountain scenery before returning to the trailhead. I wonder what the name of the mountain in the far distance is.
The ratio of effort verses reward makes this one of the best little hikes around. The drive time is well over an hour from my house, probably closer to two, but it is a scenic drive as well.
On my way back down the valley towards my next destination I made a quick stop in Murray, an old gold mining town. They still have a few of the original buildings from it’s mining days. Now the place is mostly a stop along the road for folks seeking outdoor adventures.
I love the old Masonic Lodge building. Murray has not one but two family friendly eating establishments and a museum. It is a great place to grab a meal and a cold beer.
Three miles west of Murray I turned off on Eagle Creek Road. A six mile ride on a road the becomes progressively narrower and rougher brought me to the trailhead for Settlers Grove. On the way I passed through a large area that experienced a devastating wild fire a few years ago.
A footbridge over Eagle Creek leads in to the old cedar grove.
The Eagle Creek fire burned all around the old grove. It took a heroic effort to save the old trees and I’m glad they did. It would have been ashamed to lose these survivors of the Big Burn in 1910. Only a few old growth groves managed to avoid being destroyed from that event.
Walking among these trees is a treat.
It’s hard to convey the size of these trees through pictures without something use for a scale. Some of them are estimated to be over 600 years old.
After walking through the grove it was time to drive back to Coeur d’Alene. Until next time.
Thursday I headed to Boundary Dam near the Canadian border to check out a couple of places I always wanted to kayak, explore the area a little and spend the night camping.
My first stop was at the overlook for the Box Canyon Dam and old railroad bridge outside of Ione along the Pend Oreille River. This old rail line is now abandoned, but as recently as ten years ago they operated a tourist train along this stretch.
A little further along the scenic byway there’s a rest area from which a short walk brings you to Sweet Creek Falls. Two trails access the falls. This is the lower trail.
The upper falls trail provides a different perspective of the cascade.
Sweet Creek Falls is a gem and easily worth a thirty minute delay. They’re are even picnic tables along the trail, some with views of the falls.
After about three hours of driving with a couple of stops, I arrived at my destination for the day, a recreation area just above Boundary Dam. You can see the dam’s Vista House on the right side of the picture on top of the bluff but it was closed and they weren’t giving tours either. I wanted to take a photo of the face of the dam. This is the dam that was used as the set for Bridgetown in the Kevin Costner movie, The Postman. Tom Petty played the mayor of this fictional post apocalyptic settlement.
The dam wasn’t the main reason I came all this way, well sort of. It did create the reservoir I planned to kayak on so there’s that. Boundary Dam is over three hundred feet high and backs up the Pend Oreille River over seventeen miles to the town of Metaline Falls. Immediately above the dam is Forebay, a substansial body of water with a campground on it. All of this is managed by Seattle Power and Light.
After picking my campsite, I unloaded the kayak and headed around the bend to check out Peewee Falls. This amazing waterfall drops straight in to the lake at the end of a deep cove. It is not visible from the recreation area or the dam.
I lingered around the falls and took a few photos. The sun was heading down putting the waterfall in the shade and the wind was picking up so I headed to my next destination.
A narrow opening at the south end of Forebay lead me to Z Canyon. This spectacular canyon was flooded by the dam a century ago and is now very popular with boaters and kayakers despite it’s remote location.
All along the way upstream there are interesting rock walls and a new view around every bend. The wind was intermittently building up which made for a lot of work. The few boats that came by created much more turbulence than I expected because the steep rock walls of the canyon reflected the wakes and in places it was like being in a washing machine.
After a mile or so, I came to the end of Z Canyon and at this point there is an island separating the main channel from a more protected slough. the Everett Slough Campground is located here and here I was able to land and take a break.
While floating over shallow water I came across this sight. Apparently the level of the water fluctuates daily depending on the power generation needs the result being that flowers and weeds that grow on the wetlands are sometimes covered in water.
I captured this amazing image and thought it looked a lot like an impressionist painting. Drowned daisies.
On my way back down the canyon, I came across an upside down tree. It looked like this Western Red Cedar had been growing like this for many years.
After getting back to the campground I took a trip exploring the area in the couple of hours I had before sundown. I checked out Gardner Caves in Crawford State Park and saw a hole in the ground surrounded by a fence. They have a very limited tour schedule and I missed the last one so I took a little hike and came across a sign that let me know I should turn around.
I drove across the river and towards Canada to find the Vista House and that’s when I found out it was closed. At least I got this view of Hooknose Mountain from a scenic overlook.
The next morning the lake was like glass and with the light coming from the east I decided to take the same trip again looking for a more relaxing and photogenic experience.
I got one. The waterfall was in full light creating a rainbow effect and the skies were perfectly clear and blue and the moon made a cameo.
It was early and I had the place to myself.
At least until the first boat showed up. Now it was time to explore Z Canyon again only this time wind and boat free.
It was much more relaxing this time.
There are a few small caves in the cliff sides along the canyon. I’m not sure how far they go in and wasn’t interested in the tricky landing and steep scramble up the bank to find out. After all there might be a grizzly inside.
Z Canyon is an amazing place and I would be happy to kayak it again. From the boat launch to Peewee Falls and then up the canyon and back only took three hours.
On the way back since the lake was still glass flat, I took the longer way across and was treated to this view of the falls with Hooknose Mountain in the background. It was still early so I packed up and headed to my next adventure.
Sullivan Lake was about a forty minute drive through Metaline Falls and east another few miles.
On the way I stopped at the Old Mill Pond Historic Site as was recommended by a friend of mine. This is the view of Sullivan Creek downstream from the old dam site. The creek drains Sullivan Lake and ends up emptying in to the Pend Oreille River in Metaline Fall.
I don’t know how long ago my buddy was here but it turned out they removed the dam seven years ago draining the 64 acre lake to restore the place to a riverain habitat. The dam hadn’t been used for power generation in over fifty years but they kept it in place as people liked to use the lake for recreating. There was a bunch of interpretive signage explaining the reasons and benefits of removing the dam.
So it was back to Sullivan Lake. I launched at the day use area for the west campground. A grass airstrip separates the east and west campgrounds. This bluff was just east of the east campground.
Sullivan Lake is over three hundred feet deep. It is a natural lake that was raised twenty-five feet by a small dam at the outlet. The west side of the lake is bordered by a scenic road and the east side is basically uninhabited, just steep slopes down to the shore.
The shoreline was to be honest kind of boring. The main draw for this body of water is the incredible water quality. Kayaking, you could see the bottom in thirty feet of water. I didn’t swim at Boundary Dam because, well because it is downstream from Missoula and Butte Montana, Sandpoint Idaho, Newport Washington and lots of other smaller town. The water looked okay but I knew where it came from. Sullivan was a much better place to take a swim.
So I found the only place on the eastern shore with a small beach and did just that. There was not one other boat or kayak on the lake in the middle of a warm clear summer Friday.
So I started the two and a half hour drive back to Post Falls and took the less traveled county road on the east side of the Pend Oreille River when I discovered a pull out for Manresa Grotto. They had a vault toilet so I decided to stop.
I’m glad I did. It was a fascinating place with small caves and historical significance.
It was a great place to stretch my legs for a few minutes. I was surprised that I had never heard of it. Another hidden gem in the Pacific Northwest.
The only downside was that the place seemed to be popular with vandals and was heavily graffitied. The biggest cave smelled like they sacrificed skunks in there over the years.
So I finished my tour of the Pend Oreille Scenic Byway and drove the rest of the way home. Three decent kayak trips in two days was the highlight. All of my short on foot walks weren’t long enough to call hikes but did add a little variety. I liked Peewee Falls and Z Canyon so much I paddled them twice and would be happy to do so again.
I drove down to Moscow Idaho to ride the Latah Trail and the extension through Troy down Bear Creek Canyon.
The Latah Trail starts right at the edge of Moscow Idaho the home of the University of Idaho. A bike trail continues west through Moscow and on to Pullman Washington. Both towns are in the area known as the Palouse Prairie, one of the premier wheat growing regions in America.
The Palouse Prairie is in both Washington and Idaho. On our side of the state line it covers large parts of Latah and Benewah counties as well as a small corner of Kootenai County. Moscow is the largest town in the Idaho portion of this region of rolling hills and pretty farmland.
The first seven miles of the trail parallels State Road 8 on an old railroad grade south of the highway mostly through rolling farmland.
On the way, the trail crosses over several small bridges that were built to give farmers access to there fields. There is one short section were it appears that the local governments could not secure the railroad right-of-way so the trail had to be routed down the hill to the highway and along that road until it rejoined the original alignment.
The trail slopes up to a tunnel under State Road 8 and them continues another mile paralleling the highway through a landscape that slowly becomes more forested.
The underpass looked fairly new. A bridge over the old rail road had to have had a lot more clearance.
The four mile section of the trail between the underpass with State Road 8 and the City of Troy is very scenic.
A local road is crossed on what is obviously a replacement bridge.
Along the way there are still various signs left over from the trails days as an active railroad. According to interpretive signage, the railroad used to connect Moscow to Lewiston in a round about way. Moscow is about two thousand feet higher in elevation than Lewiston.
At eleven miles, the trail hits the zero mile mark at a little park as you enter Troy. Troy is a very pleasant small Idaho farming and lumber town. A one mile long connection trail continues towards Bear Creek Canyon, but it’s just as easy and more scenic to pedal through downtown.
On the south end of town there is an interpretive sign showing the four mile long extension of the Latah Trail down Bear Creek Canyon. This part of the trail is relatively new and wasn’t here the last time I biked the route.
There were several old steel frame bridges over Bear Creek along this section. The creek was barely flowing this time of the year.
The last four miles of the trail descended steeply into the canyon. The area felt extremely remote and I saw not a single other person on the trail either going out or coming back.
It was a warm and hazy day. The skies were full of high level smoke from a wildfire in Montana. At least I couldn’t smell the smoke, but blue skies would have been nice.
All in all the Bear Creek Canyon extension of the Latah Trail was very nice with smooth pavement, no road crossings and lots of scenery.
It did however come to an abrupt end. The grade down to this point was steep enough that you could coast all the way. That meant only one thing. It was going to be a climb back to town.
Four miles back to Troy, another mile through it and then two more uphill and it was nice to see this sign. This is the high point of the line. After this it was mostly downhill all the way to Moscow.
Now I was almost back to the town it’s residents purposely mispronounce the name of just to be weird. Being Idaho’s college town that’s not the only thing they do to be different in Moscow. It was surprising how hard online information from the managing agencies is to get especially as this is the home of the University of Idaho. I did a little research and am still not certain who the managing agency is.
Right at the trailhead I found a tiny piece of history imbedded in the pavement of the side street.
I ended up pedaling 32 miles on this trail. The main drawback from my point of view is that it is a ninety minute drive from my house. The Palouse is beautiful and Bear Creek Canyon remote. There is a six mile gap in this old rail line due to a washout and a private land ownership issue before another public trail, the five and a half mile Ed Corkill Trail between Kendrick and Juliaetta picks it up again.
Today I finally made it to Blue Lake, one of the chain of lakes along the Coeur d’Alene River. I put in at the Thompson Lake Access and took a quick look at that lake as well.
I drove down State Road 97, also known as the Lake Coeur d’Alene Scenic Byway to just short of Harrison. Before I started my kayak trip, I took a dirt road around Thompson Lake. Here is a view of the backwaters of Harrison Slough and the State Road 97 bridge over the Coeur d’Alene River.
I stopped to take a photo of weedy Thompson Lake. Didn’t realize that I parked right below some old boys deck. We chatted and he told me how after forty years the view still wasn’t old to him. Told me about all the bear, elk and moose he’s seen recently. Only in Idaho.
I made my way around the lake and admired the old buildings off to the side. Idaho may be one of the fastest growing states in the country, but this area actually had more people half a century ago.
At the Thompson Lake Access, which was on the river, I made a sharp left and paddled under the rural road bridge to take a quick look at Thompson Lake.
Thompson Lake was pretty but it’s not the lake I drove all the way here to see. About two thirds of the lake basin was covered in weeds and the rest looked to be awfully shallow. It was cool to see the old farms along the shore.
At the primitive boat ramp, the state had a nice map showing the Chain of Lakes. Upstream you can see Swan Lake which I recently visited.
I returned to the river and headed upstream. There’s pretty much no current this time of year and on week days the boat traffic is light. The ones who know what they’re doing stay on a plane when they pass. That makes for a lot smaller wakes. Across the way are some rocky slopes.
About halfway to Blue Lake I found a river bank to land on. A narrow band of dry ground separated the river from an extensive marshland.
Across the river the path of the Trail of the Coeur d’Alene’s was in sight. You can see the bank along the river as well as the beginning of the small rock cut in the hillside.
I thought this was a nice picture of the river bank and some cottonwood trees. At this point I was very close to the channel that accesses Blue Lake.
There is a bridge at the start of the channel. I am not aware of a railroad ever being at this location and assume that the steel was salvaged from one that was abandoned. If I’m mistaken it would be nice if someone would enlighten me. The Trail of the Coeur d’Alene’s was a railroad, but it’s on the opposite side of the river.
A short but scenic channel leads to the lake. A sign on the way in informs the boater that all of the shoreline of this lake is privately owned and that trespassers will be prosecuted.
When you arrive at the lake, you’re on the western side of it. The eastern shore looks much more inviting.
So I headed that way and was soon treated to views that show just how big this hidden little gem of a lake is. Unlike most lakes in the chain, Blue Lake is mostly weed free and appears to be much deeper than the others in the chain. Specific information about this lake is hard to find.
The eastern shore featured a series of small rocky headlands interspaced with green forested coves.
I kayaked to the north end of the lake were a larger wetland continued around the bend. If the water was higher I would have liked to push up a little ways to see if this was a seasonal creek that fed the lake.
I turned around and followed the eastern shore back enjoying the views, There was one other boat on the lake and they mostly stayed at anchor to let their little ones swim.
I stopped in one of the coves to savor the solitude and the views. Blue Lake is a very pretty body of water and very few people visit it.
Sometimes the small things are the ones where you find the most beauty. I didn’t “land” but I did get out of the kayak here.
So I headed back to the boat ramp and ran into a big commercial group of tourism kayakers preparing to launch. I would have been miffed that they blocked the ramp, but a nice young lady helped me carry my twelve foot Old Town Loon to my truck, so it was all good. On the way out I snapped this photo of the old Springston Bridge that now sits condemned. This is a common turn around point for some of my bike rides.
So I stopped in beautiful Harrison Idaho and treated myself to a single scoop waffle cone at the Harrison Creamery and then took the longer but better way home on State Road 3.
On the way back I stopped at a scenic overlook to take a photo of Swan Lake, the site of one of my recent kayak adventures.
I ended up paddling for a little under four hours. Blue Lake is definitely a hidden gem and I’ve wanted to check it out for years. It is a little hard to get to as Harrison is the furthest point on the lake away from my house and the paddle up the river takes over half an hour. This one s right up there with Swan and Killarney as far as scenery goes.
Today I rode the twelve miles of the Spokane River Centennial Trail inside of Riverside State Park, out and back. It was the first time in at least a decade.
I tried to access the trail at the T J Meenach bridge at the base of Doomsday Hill, but a crazed meth-head was yelling at me and anyone else driving down the road so I opted to start at the Fort George Wright Military Cemetery Trailhead instead.
This is the warning sign I was greeted with. I really never see these in Idaho. There were several other cars already parked so I decided to take my chances.
The old military post cemetery was well kept by the staff of nearby Fairchild Airforce Base. This area used to be an army post named after George Wright, a man who had a controversial past as it related to his treatment of native Americans. Apparently as part of the recent movement to rewrite history, the old post and the nearby major roadway were renamed. The only reference to the original name is the cemetery.
Immediately after the cemetery, the trail descends on a screaming grade down towards the river. This is by far the steepest grade I’ve ever encountered on a bike trail. I smoked by brakes to keep from gaining to much speed to control my bike. The photo doesn’t do it justice but we’re talking about maybe a 10% grade for a half a mile.I had to walk my bike back up the hill. There was no way I could have pedaled it.
Additionally, the first two miles of the trail had just about the worst surface I’ve ever encountered on a bike trail. The bumps were big enough to throw you off the bike and the weird gaps in the trail (expansion joints?) could easily catch and pretzel a bike wheel. I thought about giving up for a minute.
So it was with great trepidation when I saw the sign that told me the bikeway was ending and that the next part was going to be on share the roads. Surprisingly the grades were milder and the pavement in far better shape.
The old park scenic drive had been segmented many years ago so that the sections that still supported automobile traffic were by and large dead ends to trailheads used by hikers and bicyclist. There was next to no traffic on them and they were well maintained.
Soon I came across an old scenic overlook. This is looking back to the east up the river towards downtown Spokane.
Looking the other way there was a commanding view of the Bowl and Pitcher rock formations. These are the most popular places in Riverside State Park, but are usually accessed from the other side of the river.
Using the zoom on my basic phone camera revealed a nice view of downtown Spokane maybe five miles to the southeast. The highlands behind it are Dishman Hills, a popular in close to town place to hike.
Looking down the river from the bluff the view was of a flood plain pine forest between dry grassland slopes.
The old park scenic road was largely built during the Great Depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps. At the trailhead, the roadway was blocked to vehicles and was truly a bikeway again, only this time with a much better surface. As it was made for cars, some of the hills were fairly challenging for a bicycle.
A little further was the site of the camp for the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps). The only reminder of this camp that supported a couple of hundred young men working on park improvements is the old fireplace from the recreation building.
At the McLellan Trailhead there was a nice map to show you where you’ve been and how far you have to go.
The trail continued along the old park road, some of which was open to vehicle traffic and most closed to it. For much of the ride, the Spokane River was near the trail with pretty views.
This one was one of the nicest. I thought it looked a little what I imagine Ireland looks like with the emerald green and peaceful water.
There are some nice rock (basalt) formations along the way. Most of the canyon carved by the Spokane River in the park is basalt.
A steep grade brought me to a place I recognized and yes, I had to walk my bike back up this one too. My brakes got a work out.
Around the bend was the bridge over Deep Creek, a place I hiked and posted about last spring. A lot of people land here in kayaks to swim and hang out.
Deep Creek here is a backwater of the Spokane River. There is no flow at all this time of year. The hike up the canyon is scenic but with it being in the mid-nineties today I rather be on a bike. It was a little on the toasty side.
In addition to the “bikeway” and sections of the old scenic park road, two short sections of the trail were share the road on public streets with generous shoulders. These parts of the trail were lightly traveled mostly by the few folks that live off of them and in really good shape. It was an easy way to get from point A to point B.
A couple of miles before the trail ends it passes by Nine Mile Falls and the dam of the same name. This hydroelectric plant is well over a hundred years old and still in use.
The last time I rode this trail this is were it ended. Since then they added a couple of miles starting behind this elementary school and continuing through pine flat woods.
The two miles of brand new pavement winds through an open ponderosa pine forest on the way to it’s final destination.
Just before the end of the trail, it descends towards the river on a series of well made switchbacks.
The trail ended at a recreation area with a boat ramp and a swim beach. It wasn’t anyplace special, but it was a place to end the trail While standing on the dock, I got one last pleasant surprise.
A low flying B-52 out of Fairchild Airforce Base orbited the lake. I used to see those regularly in Florida back when Orlando International Airport was McCoy Airforce Base. They are an impressive sight. Hard to believe a few are still in service after sixty years.
Combined with the Spokane Valley section and the urban section of the Spokane River Centennial Trail, the twelve miles or so of the Riverside State Park section makes for a forty mile long bike way from the Idaho State line to the Nine Mile Campground and Boat Launch. The North Idaho Centennial Trail continues east to Higgins Point for another twenty four miles. This twelve miles of the trail is by far the most challenging.
After a full day of kayaking and hiking out of the Lion Head unit of Priest Lake State Park I called it an evening and got ready of the next day. I got up at about 5:00 AM, packed up my camp as quietly as possible so as to not disturb my camping neighbors and headed to the opposite side of the lake.
My destination was the Kalispell Bay boat ramp an hour and a half around the lake. On the way I made a quick stop at the public docks in the town of Coolin to snap a couple of photos.
In the distance I could see my goals for todays paddle. Kalispell Island is on the left, tiny Papoose Island in the middle and Bartoo Island on the right. That’s a lot of open water to cross. Lower Priest Lake is over nineteen miles long and over three hundred feet deep.
The Lake is so large, it took me almost an hour and a half to drive from Lion Head on the north end to Kalispell Bay around the bottom of the lake and back up the other side on the southwest shore. This was the view of my islands from the boat ramp. I launched about 7:00 AM and was the only one doing so at that hour. It would get a lot busier later.
I aimed for the far south point of Kalispell Island with the glare of the rising sun in my face. This point is off limits to boat campers and open for day use only, so I landed and took a brief break.
From here I had a nice view across the water to Papoose and Bartoo Islands. Kalispell is the more accessible and poplar of the islands for camping. You can see the water clarity here.
Priest Lake is called North Idaho’s crown jewel for a reason. It is the most remote of the big lakes in the panhandle and a water sports destination for the entire region.
This was the first of my three landing spots for the day. Boat camping on Kalispell and Bartoo Islands is a very popular pastime. If I had a boat and the time in my younger days I would have loved to have brought the family here.
On the way to Bartoo Island I passed by tiny Papoose Island. This little piece of land is closed to all public use. There’s not much on it anyway, it’s just a halfway point in the middle of a lot of open water on the way to Bartoo Island.
Off of Papoose Island there are some dangerous submerged rocks that are marked by a buoy warning boaters of the hazard. It would suck to hit one of these while speeding through an otherwise deep channel.
I paddled around the south end of Bartoo Island exploring the scenery which varied from rocky bluffs to sand beached and even marshland. A lot of the camp sites were full.
I almost expected to see a moose, but the island usually has a lot of folks on it.
Some of the rock formations on Bartoo Island must be two hundred feet above the shore.
This was my second landing place on Bartoo Island with Papoose and Kalispell Islands in the background. This particular campsite was unoccupied.Unlike a lot of lakes in North Idaho, Priest Lake is known for its clean sandy beaches.
Bartoo Island has it’s share of hazardous off shore rocks as well. Luckily my kayak only needs about six inches of water.
So I paddled back across the straight by Papoose Island and aimed for the center of the south shore of Kalispell Island when I came across about the most beautiful cove you could imagine.
There were three camp sites on this cove and I was shocked to find all of them unoccupied but all had reserved signs on them. I had the place to myself. It was the perfect place for one last swim in the lake.
There were amazing headlands on both sides of the cove. From the the west side I had a very nice view of the islands I had recently visited or kayaked around.
The headland on the east side of the cove had tall rock bluffs and a view of these amazing camp sites.
I wondered why these of all the sites on the island were empty. I ran into a volunteer worker for the campground and he explained that entitled folks with money to burn book the three sites all summer in two week blocks using different names to continue the reservation charade so they can come out anytime the weather is nice and it’s convenient. If I wanted to camp that would suck. For me as a day user it was awfully nice to have the place to myself.
So I finally had to head back to the boat ramp by circling the island. It’s bigger than it looks at first. I got to watch this bird do it’s thing hammering at the dead wood for a few minutes.
By the time I got to the boat ramp four hours later the place had turned in to a zoo. All the parking was gone and it seemed like a hundred people were just milling around waiting for their rides to the islands. Early bird gets the worm. On my way back I made one last stop at the bridge over the Priest River not too far from the outlet to the lake to take one last photo. Apparently this river is very popular with rafters and tubers in the summer. During melt off it’s a class five challenge for the real white water enthusiast.
The drive home took me only an hour and a half as I left from the southern end of the lake instead of Lion Head at the north end. On the way home it hit one hundred and three degrees Fahrenheit. That’s about 39 Celsius for my foreign exchange students. Glad I was off the water before noon.
On Tuesday I made the two and a half hour drive to the north end of Priest Lake with my camping gear. I had a reservation at the Lion Head unit of Priest Lake State Park.
The first thing I noticed at Lion Head is that this amazing wreck that I photographed years ago has finally fallen apart to the point that it isn’t all that recognizable anymore. This old wreck is right next to the boat ramp. That’s my old rig in the background with my kayak on top.
On a bright sunny day were the temps were heading into the triple digits, I launched my kayak at 9:00 AM and made my way across aptly named Mosquito Bay towards the entrance of the channel that connects Lower Priest Lake to the upper lake.
Looking back across Mosquito Bay towards the campground I noticed a notch in the mountains east of it. If I had time after my ride my plan was to check out a place about six miles up that valley. On the right side of the photo you can see the end of the replacement breakwater that protects the outlet of the Thoroughfare.
The Thoroughfare is an about two and a half mile long flat water stream that connects the two lakes. The entire course of the waterway is a strict no wake zone which makes kayaking it much more enjoyable than it otherwise would be.
As it is wide and relatively deep, the waterway has a minimal current and the paddling is easy. A lazy river indeed, at least after the snow melts. I read that it can be very challenging in the late spring.
About half way to Upper Priest Lake, a small stream called Caribou Creek flows into the waterway from the east. It is just big enough to push a kayak up about a thousand feet and around several bends. The ice cold water is crystal clear.
Caribou Creek was so cold I could hear my kayak contracting from the temperature difference. My feet got cold in a hurry too. Not a place you would want to go for a swim.
It was funpushing it as far up this stream as I could in my Free State America brand kayak. This tree across the creek finally told me I shall not pass.
It was a short trip back to the Thoroughfare. I wish I could have traveled up this amazing creek all day, but even if I got around the deadfall across the stream, it was getting awfully shallow in a hurry.
Around one more bend is the lake with the Selkirk Mountains in the background.
As soon as you enter Upper Priest lake there is a camping area complete with bear boxes and picnic tables on the east side of the river. Here is where the rules for the lake are posted. Upper Priest Lake is a no water ski zone. Tubing and wake boarding are prohibited as well.
Upper Priest is a lot smaller than the main or Lower Priest Lake, but it’s still an impressive body of water at about two miles long north to south and an average of half a mile wide. The deepest spot is about 119 feet below the surface.
This interesting rock is well off shore near the south end of the lake.
Rocky bluffs dominate the eastern shoreline.
About two thirds of the way towards the north end of the lake I found this wonderful little beach and had it to myself. By now it was hot so I cooled off in the clear blue water. It almost looked tropical.
It would have been a nice place to camp. There are several beaches mostly on the eastern side of the lake and most of them had someone camping or visiting in a boat. This one was unoccupied.
The Selkirk crest is east of both Lower and Upper Priest Lakes. Many of the granite peaks are over seven thousand feet above sea level making them the highest mountains in the Idaho panhandle.
Four and a half hours after I started, I was back at my campsite and took another swim, this time in Lower Priest. This is the beach behind my campsite.
The kayak trip in itself would have made for a successful trip, but I still had five or six hours of daylight left so I decided to check out the Natural Sliding Rocks east of the campground.
This stream, Lion Creek enters the lake just south of the campground. A forest road follows it up the canyon for five miles before it ends at a trailhead for the sliding rocks.
Large granite outcroppings loom over the trailhead. Here you’re getting into the heart of the American Selkirks. This mountains continue into Canada.
The peaks on the south side of the creek are even bigger.
The rocky single track trail was a little over a mile and a half long each way. It had a bit of a grade and numerous small stream crossings, one of which was at the base of a pretty little waterfall.
About half a mile in I came to this beautiful place with bare slabs of granite and open views down the canyon. It was a nice place to linger but these are not the sliding rocks. These rocks would kill you if you tried to slide down them.
The trail overlooked the creek at many places. Here a deeper pool of emerald green water made for a nice picture.
I love me some giant red cedars and here I did come across a nice grove of old growth. By now the rays of the sun were noticeably hitting the ground at a lower angle indicating time was getting short.
Just before the Natural Sliding Rocks, the trail forces you to cross Lion Creek itself. It was about mid thigh deep and extremely cold.
And finally I reached the sliding rocks. I wasn’t about to try them myself. I was the last person here for the day and an injury would have been a big problem. Beside that, I didn’t feel like hiking the mile and a half back soaked and cold.
I heard there was a sizable waterfall or to be more accurate a cascade just above the sliding rocks so I found it. I pushed a little further looking for the pool at the top in the failing daylight, briefly lost the trail and decided that it was time to turn around. This is a popular place for folks to visit, but the idea of being the last one out in the dimming light and knowing there are serious critters in the Selkirks encouraged me to make good time on the way back.
On the way out I paused to take one more photo of this impressive cleft in the granite canyon wall. Those are probably one hundred foot tall trees on the top.
Just before the trailhead I caught up with a few stragglers with kids in tow so I grabbed one more photo, this time of that pretty little waterfall I saw on the way up. Next came the five mile drive back down the canyon to the campground on the lake.
Due to the heatwave dusk turned into a purple haze as I enjoyed the view from behind my campsite. I’m glad I wasn’t the only one kayaking on this beautiful day on this beautiful lake.
I called it an evening and made plans for the next morning. A four and a half hour paddle followed by a three and a half mile hike and two lake swims made for a full day, oh and let’s not forget the two and a half hour drive to the campground.
I recently revisited the section of the Trail of the Coeur d’Alene’s from Plummer to Harrison and back. For an earlier description of this ride check this post.
The first fourteen miles of the Trail of the Coeur d’Alene’s is located on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation and managed by the tribe. My starting point is the trailhead just off US-95 in Plummer.
Plummer is the headquarters of the tribe and the trailhead features a memorial to all of it’s members who gave their lives in defense of their country, be it the United States and also those who defended their homeland against the United States.
Plummer is located on the Palouse Prairie, an area of extremely productive and beautiful farmland. The first mile goes through a small piece of it.
Just before entering Plummer Canyon, the trail crosses an active rail line with branches to a lumber mill south of town and another that crosses the lake to St. Maries. The continuation of the line to Santa was the subject of an earlier post.
The next six miles of the trail follows Plummer Creek on it’s almost seven hundred foot descent to the lake at Heyburn State Park. For an old railroad, it is extremely steep.
Early on the trail uses an old railroad bridge to cross the creek. There is a noticeable lack of shade here.
That’s because the upper part of the canyon experienced a stand replacement fire a couple of years ago. It seem like lots of my recent trips have been through areas effected by wildfires in the last few years.
It will be interesting to see who the habitat recovers over the next couple of decades.
As you approach Heyburn State Park, Idaho’s oldest state park, you pass through an area that has been managed to restore an open canopy ponderosa pine forest. These areas did not burn during the recent wildfires.
About seven miles in the trail finally reaches the shore of Chatcolet Lake which is basically an extension of Lake Coeur d’Alene due to the water level being raised about eight feet a century ago. Across the lake there’s a nice view of the St. Joe Mountains.
The state park has a trailhead next to the park’s boat ramp.
Past the park the trail crosses the lake on a modified old swing railroad bridge. This is one of the highlights of the trip.
The original structure including the bridge tenders shack was elevated and new approaches utilizing a stair step configuration were built so that the bridge can always be open. When used as a railroad, the bridge was typically swung in an open position to allow unimpeded boat traffic and closed when trains passed over the channel.
The stair step design makes climbing to the top relatively easy and descending can be exciting. If no one is coming towards you and you feel a little reckless, you can get a little air on the way down.
The next seven miles of the trail follows the shore line of Lake Coeur d’Alene. In places some of the bays were shortened to maker the old railroad straighter. The areas inside these berms have become wetlands instead of open water.
Conversely where promontories were bypassed scenic rock cuts reveal the underlaying geology dominated by basalt.
At mile marker 15 the trail enters Harrison. Harrison is one of the oldest towns in Kootenai County and was even briefly the county seat. It is a great place to stop and enjoy an ice cream cone or an adult beverage, take your pick. I find the two of those don’t mix very well.
The best is yet to come. Now you get to recrosse that amazing bridge and then grind it up a very steep seven mile long grade usually in the face of the prevailing winds. At least you have time to appreciate the rock cuts along the way.
For My Fourth of July, I hiked the Mica Peak Conservation Area outside of Spokane Washington. This 1700 acre preserve is owned and managed by Spokane County and was acquired as part of their conservation futures program.
Mica Peak at 5200 feet is a prominent landmark in the area made more distinctive because of the large radar dome at the summit which is visible throughout the region. The Federal Aviation Administration owns the site and for that reason the top of the mountain is off limits to hikers.
The trailhead for the property is located at the end of Belmont Road out of the small community of Mica which is about six miles south of Interstate 90 on State Road 27.
The first part of the hike travels on an old service road through about one mile of private property with open ponderosa pine forests on both sides. The climb is surprisingly steep and you can clearly see the mountain you’ll be walking up ahead.
The open forest with mostly a grass understory is typical of drier, hotter and often south and west facing slopes.
As you gain elevation the views open up. In this photo you can see three other hiking spots in the same frame. The high peak in the background is Mt. Spokane, a Washington State Park I visited earlier this year. The bare hills in the foreground are in Spokane County’s Saltese Uplands Preserve and the ridge to the left and in front of Mt. Spokane is Antione Peak which I recently visited and wrote about.
The variety of wildflowers along the trail was impressive.
As you gain elevation, the habitat becomes thicker with more fir trees and dense shrubs limiting views in sections. The main trail (service road) up the mountain is called Moonshine for some reason. I used the California Creek Trail, a single track, to make the nine mile loop.
This trail uses several switchbacks to climb the mountain. As usual the trails on Spokane County Conservation Areas are extremely well built and well marked. You’d have to try to get lost.
Near the high point of the California Creek Trail you hit open slopes with some outstanding views. The habitat also changes to something resembling an alpine landscape. It really isn’t one but it does look a little bit like it.
You are rewarded with big views of the Spokane Valley. Not everything out there is urbanized yet. There’s still some pretty farmland between the mountain and the city.
You can also see out to the southwest and part of the Palouse Prairie on the other side of the mountain.
This is about as close as the trail gets to the summit and the radar dome. It’s still a good half mile and two hundred feet of elevation away. A short descent from the trails high point brings you back to the Moonshine Trail and the long trip back down.
Fitting colors of some wildflowers for the day of the hike.
On the way down you pass by a couple more open ridges. Sometimes it’s nice to pause and appreciate small views too.
After this open ridge, the trail rapidly descends back through much thicker vegetation.
One more view out to the Palouse Prairie earned a look of that geological oddity, Steptoe Butte another place I have visited recently.
After four hours, nine steep miles and more wildflowers, I was back at the trailhead.
There’s considerably more trails that can be explored on this site. One trail connects to Liberty Lake Regional Park. Liberty Lake Park is a great place to hike, but I will have to wait until an extensive improvement project that is currently underway is completed.
