Circumnavigating Lake Coeur d’Alene

Lake Coeur d’Alene sprawls across the mountains of northern Idaho, resembling (with a bit of imagination) an arthritic seahorse – spindly and stooped and marked by knobby bays and inlets. It stretches twenty-five miles from end to end, with over a hundred miles of shoreline. Since I’d decided to use the lake as a setting for part of my first novel, I felt a need to get a feel for it. So, one day in late spring, after all threat of snow had passed, I started out on a road trip around the lake.

Lake Coeur d’Alene

No lake:

I headed east on I-90, then south on Highway 95 along the lake’s western side. Although the road is fast and well maintained, being the main road to Moscow and Lewiston, it provides almost no lake views. To see it up close here, you have to take side roads to Kidd Island, Mica, and other bays. I took a couple of those roads on subsequent visits. They lead to networks of lovely lakeside homes and a public dock or two. That day I continued south, into the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation, past the Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort and Hotel to the small town of Plummer. At this point, the need arose for a rest room. In front of me loomed the Warpath Smoke Shop and Trading Post. I entered. Though the façade is a bit tacky – a buffalo statue greeted me at the door – the store has an impressive selection of high-quality Indian merchandise, from blankets to beads.

Many lakes:

From the trading post, I followed State Route 5, and got my first roadside panoramic views of Lake Coeur d’Alene. Except that what I saw isn’t Lake Coeur d’Alene, I found out after the careful study of a map. These waters go by a variety of names – Chatcolet next to the popular Heyburn State Park, Benewah to the east, Hidden and Round lakes slightly to the north. In the midst of them flows the St. Joe River, highest navigable river in the world, where logs are still pulled to lumber mills. Two strips of land border the river as it empties into the lake, bisecting the water and, I assume, giving rise to the different names. Route 5 continues to the small timber and mining town of St. Maries, set in a picturesque valley next to the St. Joe River. Here I turned north on Route 3, following the St. Joe before it merges with the lakes. At about this point, the roads become confusing, a triangle of routes 3 and 97 and O’Gara Road. Where to go? The choices: stay on Route 3 past a chain of lakes nestled along the Coeur d’Alene River before connecting with I-90 some 25 miles east of Coeur d’Alene. Or head north on 97 along the eastern side of Lake Coeur d’Alene. Each route is known as a scenic byway. I kept to my original plan and headed north on 97.

Here’s to Harrison:

Harrison

Approximately a third of the way up the lake, Route 97 loops into the historic community of Harrison, in times past the largest town along Lake Coeur d’Alene. Once a stop for steamboats plying the waters of the lake and adjacent rivers and for a railway leading to the coast, Harrison served the region’s booming lumber and mining industries. A frontier town, it boasted buildings tumbling down the hillside onto pilings in the water, stores, newspapers, churches, hotels, even an opera house. Today the town, with scarcely several hundred residents, serves the pleasure boats that crisscross the lake in summer months. There is a lakefront beach and several marinas, restaurants, and ice cream shop, all of which reminded me of beachside communities on smaller islands in the Caribbean. In addition, the popular Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes passes through Harrison. For more information, start at the Visit North Idaho website.

Time’s up:

After lingering for a while in the historic town, I realized I faced a long journey back to Spokane. Focusing more on driving than sightseeing, I vowed to return soon and complete the journey in leisurely fashion. That will be my next blog.