Utah Life Visits Sandpoint, Idaho
Sep 21st, 2008 by admin
Sandpoint is located in the Idaho panhandle on Lake Pend Oreille. We recently took a family vacation up there to spend time on the lake and hike/explore around the area. The lake itself has 111 miles of shoreline and it is 1,152 feet deep. (the navy tests submarines in here) It is surrounded by three mountain ranges: The Cabinet Mountains, The Green Monarchs and The Selkirks.
We camped in the Sam Owens campground, right on the water, in Hope. Here is the view from camp above and our camping spot below.
We took a day trip even further up north past Priest Lake to hike around some giant cedars in the Roosevelt Grove of Ancient Cedars. On the way there, from the car, we passed several piles of bear (grizzly?) scat just loaded with huckleberries in the dirt road. We were a little chicken when we arrived at the trailhead but got over that pretty quickly once we were surrounded by the beauty of trees 4-12 feet wide and possibly 800 - 3,000 years old.
The boys are trying to climb up one of the giants where we stopped for lunch, below.
During our stay we also traveled up to Bonners Ferry and visited the Kootenai Wildlife Refuge. We took a short hike and saw some salmon swimming in the river and plenty of birds (we kept our bird dog on a leash). The landscape was very similar to Utah with a flat valley surrounded by mountains. The picture below is from the driving tour through the refuge.
The picture below is taken at camp. Our boys loved playing in the lake the most. They would collect driftwood and float the “boats” out into the lake. The lake was crystal clear with river rocks lining the bottom. Occasionally a boat, sail boat or sea plane would go by. The boys fished a few times but never caught anything.
After camping a week straight in a primitive campground we decided to check into the Edgewater Hotel in town. We were a little sad leaving our perfect camp spot but everyone cheered up once we saw the view from the deck of our room, below. Scott and I enjoyed a peaceful moon rise every evening while the boys slept from a hard days playing.
The picture below is from a hike we did south of Sandpoint in Sagle. It climbed way up high following the cliff side along the lake, offering some beautiful views. Way down below us was yet another secret beach that we discovered. There seemed to be plenty of open space along the shoreline for people in search of privacy. There were also several public beaches, boat ramps and parks.
Cami and Cosmo having a swim in Lake Pend Oreille.
Overall, we had a great vacation. It was a welcome change to the high desert environment here in Utah because of the surrounding forests and the lake. We returned home to find that the trees have begun changing and fall is in the air.
