Today I completed a short late season hike on Coeur d’Alene’s Fernan Lake Natural Area. This 54 acre preserve is located on the south shore of Fernan Lake on the eastern edge of the city of Coeur d’Alene. It is accessed through a trailhead located on Potlatch Hill Road.
The trailhead overlooks Interstate 90 and the older parts of the city. That’s Rathdrum Mountain in the far background, a great place to hike.
Looking back towards the west from the small gravel parking area you have a view of the north end of Lake Coeur d’Alene with Tubbs Hill just beyond the golf course.
Soon after starting the hike you will pass through a ravine with cedars, hemlocks and ferns. I helped make this trail about twelve years ago.
This short section of trail is shady and damp.
They’re are three distinct ridges that the hiking trail traverses. The first is at the trailhead and the last is at the high point. This is the middle one and the shortest of the three. The hike to this point is mostly downhill.
This natural area at 54 acres is relatively small but as it is on a steep slope with over a four hundred foot elevation difference from the ridge lines to the lake there is probably over two miles of trails on it. The main trail connects the high points and two other loops descend all the way to the shore line.
Between the shorter ridge and the high point the trail crosses two mostly seasonal creeks. As it is fall they were almost completely dry. One of them has a small bridge over it.
The last part of the trail to the high point passes through an open pine forest.
The main trail ends at a power easement with open views across the small lake. That’s Canfield Mountain across the way, a place some people like to hike. The power lines are part of one of the oldest long distance transmission lines in the country. This line was built to connect the Post Falls Dam to the mines in the Silver Valley well over a hundred years ago.
The end of the main trail is a nice place to linger and enjoy the views.
On the way back I took the loop trail down to the lake shore. Fernan Lake is a small water body that has been degraded by excess nutrients over the last couple of decades. It is a nice place to kayak in the spring but suffers from algae blooms in the hot months.
An organization, The Fernan Lake Recreation and Conservation Association, works to bring awareness to the challenges this body of water faces and promoted projects to mitigate the causes of the algae blooms while repairing the damage already done.
Here is a view of the Fernan Lake Natural Area cross the lake from Kootenai County’s boat ramp in Fernan Village.
While not an epic hike by any means, the Fernan Lake Conservation Area is a nice place to stretch your legs for an hour or so. It is right on the edge of Coeur d’Alene, very easy to access and you usually have the place to yourself. Another little hidden gem in Kootenai County.
