Sandpoint, ID

On a breezy fall day my family and I decided to take a walk along the shoreline of the lake on the Pend d’ Oreille Bay Trail. We drove past The Seasons, giving a friendly wave to the security guard as we passed (the road is a public right away so there is no reason to stop) and found a gravel parking lot just past the water treatment building. We parked our cars and found several signs pointing to the trail head that runs parallel along the railroad tracks until it dips down near the shoreline. We headed towards the trail and began our walk.
As we walked along the trail which curved back towards the water we were treated to peek-a-boo sites of the lake. The trail was lined in trees, all showing off their best fall colors. The path is dirt and slightly uneven, however it did not require special hiking shoes. There were several people on the path, even some with dogs all enjoying the beautiful day. This was my first time on the path so I was full of questions. My dad’s girlfriend, who had been there many times before informed me of a few things about the trail. For starters it was located on private land for the most part and you have to receive permission in order to walk on the path. There are plans to help make this a public path, but until then they ask that you call or email for permission. She also told us that the path was believed to have spirits. This path was ironically mentioned a few weeks earlier in the local newspaper in an article about the “hauntings” around town. Along the path we were told there was a large black rock, and some call this the Black Rock trail because of this rock. The black rock is actually a slag heap left from a former smelter. Although it is kind of gross it is actually interesting to look at.

Once we had reached the black rock and the end of our walk, we wandered around the beach as the lake water had been lowered to it’s winter level. A word of advice, I would not get to adventurous walking around here as I stepped into a few sink holes in the mud. My dad took a look at my shoes once I had gotten back to the shore and joked that they almost lost me out there. With no chance of that we headed back to the car. Once we had gotten back to the parking lot we walked over to the edge of the hillside near the water treatment building and found located on the beach an old building. The building had seen better days since it was pretty much demolished but left behind an interesting site. We had finished our walk and left quite satisfied with the beauty of the fall trees and scenic views of the lake.

If you would like to take the Pend d’ Oreille Bay Trail, remember permission is needed until this becomes a public trail. To gain permission you can call 866-877-3995 or please visit this site http://www.penddoreillebay.com/ and register there. More information about the path becoming public and organized walks can be found at http://www.pobtrail.org/aboutus.shtml.

To get to the trail from 1st street, turn right onto Bridge Street. Turn left at The Beach House restaurant and follow the road through The Seasons, about a 1/3 of a mile. You will reach a parking lot where there are several signs that say “trail” pointing to the trail head. The trail leads left out of the parking lot, towards the railroad tracks.