Lake Pend Oreille

Wow, what a day!

There’s nothing quite like spending the entire day out on a beautiful mountain lake.

This time, it was Lake Pend Oreille (pronounced: ponderay) in Sandpoint, Idaho. This is about 40 minutes north of Coeur d’Alene on highway 95.

Pend Oreille gets its name from the French, who gave their own name to the Kalispell people (the native people from the area). Pend Oreille means “hangs from the ear,” which came from the large shelled earrings that the Kalispell people wore.

The Kalispell people now live in a reservation on the Western part of Montana that borders Idaho.

Some friends of mine, who I met when I worked in an ER back in Colorado and moved up here before me, bought a boat, and were kind enough to invite me along.

We packed the boat with food, beer, and towels, and hit the road.

We decided to dock at Sandpoint City Beach, which is right downtown. It was just about the easiest process we could have asked for. No extra fees, no lines; thank goodness for places in Northern Idaho.

At first, our mission was swimming, so we drove across the lake to a more shallow cove to find warmer water.

Lake Pend Oreille is the fifth deepest lake in the nation, its deepest point being 1,150ft deep! There is a Naval base located off this lake for testing and training due to the astounding depth of the lake. This also means that swimming can be extremely frigid, especially near the deeper parts. Luckily, we got a warm day and stayed closer to the edges to swim, making it chilly, but completely tolerable.

After our first round of swimming, we decided to tour around the lake a bit.

The entire lake is massive, with a surface area of 148 square miles, and 43 miles long. So, we couldn’t tour the entire lake, but we did see some amazing views!

Lake Pend Oreille is popular for all kinds of water sports: kayaking, paddle boarding, swimming, sailing,

wake boarding, and water skiing. We only swam for this round, but people all over were enjoying the lake in every which way.

Castle Von Frandsen is a real castle on the coast of Lake Pend Oreille. It is used for filming (The History Channel did a program on it) and events, although it is under construction currently.

Though I didn’t have time on this trip, I would add an extra stop to the local museum in Sandpoint to learn more about the places we saw off of the water.

Although it’s a little town, it comes with a rich history.

We ended this beautiful day on the water with a gorgeous sunset. Enjoy…

It is so worth it to enjoy the local gems. 

I am always thinking that I have to catch a flight to find something beautiful and worthy of photos, never stopping long enough to notice that I live in such an amazing place.

Adventure on,

Rach