208-245-2531 or 208-245-1134
Here is the National Forest Link The garnets
found here are called "star garnets" because of a unique property that
causes some of them to display a reflection like a four or six pointed star.
India is the only other place in the world where star garnets like these are
found in any quantity. The 12-sided (dodecahedron) crystals found here range
in size from sand particles to golf-ball or larger size. Gem quality
faceting material is also found at the Garnet Area.
The Forest Service has developed the Garnet Area as a
place where the public may collect these unique gems in a safe and
environmentally friendly way. In the past, people would dig in the stream
bed in search of the garnets. Now, due to concerns for water quality,
aquatic habitat, and public safety, the Forest Service provides a stockpile
of garnet bearing gravels from which people can gather material to run
through one of two sluice boxes in search of garnets. Check out the Idaho
Panhandle National Forest’s
Garnet Area photo gallery
showing the steps one takes to get from gravels to garnets.
Open Memorial Day through Labor Day, closed the rest of the year. Purchase a
$10 adult or $5 children's permit to find your own garnets. Buckets,
shovels, and special screen boxes are provided at the site. Hours of
operation: 9am-5pm daily from late May to early September. Directions:
From St. Maries, Idaho,
follow Highway 3 south 24 miles to Road 447. Proceed southwest 8 miles on
Road 447 to the parking area. Permits, information, and the sluice area are
a 1/2 mile hike up 281 Gulch.
888-265-4554·
www.festivalatsandpoint.com
In August, 2007 The Festival at Sandpoint will celebrate its 25th season of
music in Sandpoint. What began in 1982 as a quest by a few pioneering and
visionary classical music lovers to bring symphonic music to their town of
5,000, has expanded to become one of the largest arts organizations in
Idaho. As The Festival has grown it has continued to honor its original
mission to bring classical music to the area, however, it has expanded its
vision to include quality jazz, blues, folk, world, and popular music. The
Festival now draws audiences upwards of 20,000 per season throughout the
region to its diverse and eclectic summer concert series, presented on the
shores of Lake Pend Oreille.
The Festival at Sandpoint, like Sandpoint, defies categorization. Audiences
have enjoyed everything from Alexander Toradze & The Spokane Symphony to B.B.
King, from Tony Bennett to Lyle Lovett, from John Prine to George Benson,
from Nancy Griffith to The Blind Boys of Alabama, and from Brian Setzer
Orchestra to Wynton Marsalis. The Festival has endeavored to bring great
music of all genres to its hometown, making Sandpoint a great place to live
and a great place to visit.
800-688-5253
http://www.cdaresort.com Coeur d'Alene has the world's longest floating boardwalk, located
at the Coeur d'Alene Resort. It was built in 1986 and required 1,600 float
logs (each 32 feet long) 28,000 pounds of spikes, and 8,000 pounds of bolts
to complete. The boardwalk is anchored by 150 tons of concrete along with
strategically placed pilings.
The world's largest floating boardwalk circles The Coeur d'Alene Resort on
Lake Coeur d’Alene, for one-half mile. It is open to the public without
charge daily from 6am to 11 pm. A rest area about midway contains picnic
tables surrounded by geranium-filled planters and a spectacular view of Lake
Coeur d'Alene and Tubbs Hill.
An arched bridge takes walkers over the boatway and an automatic drawbridge
which swings open to allow tall-masted sailboats access to the 3300 feet
marina.
Plus, the resort boasts the only floating green at its world-renowned golf
course.
There are two components to Hope. One being the cities of Hope and East Hope
along the International Selkirk Loop that overlooks Lake Pend Oreille. The
other is the Hope Peninsula, with Sam Owen Park, hundreds of tame deer,
turkeys, and bunnies. There you will find the Beyond Hope Resort with its
great restaurant, a plexi-glass encapsulated complete section of the Berlin
Wall, and Kullyspell House, the first permanent white trading post in Idaho.
Hope began to grow in 1882 when the Northern Pacific came through and in
1900 set its Rock Mountain division point in the hillside village.
Incorporated in 1903, the village was named in honor of the veterinarian who
tended the construction horses. A wise and kindly man, Dr. Hope was widely
respected. Hope was the largest town in the area during the 1880s, achieving
prominence as the Rocky Mountain division point on the Northern Pacific
line. Engines turned around in the large roundhouse, and the railroad built
shops, offices, and a "beanery" there.
The Hotel Jeannot was able to capitalize on this business with its location
right above the depot, and with it's tunnels providing easy access for
passengers to the hotel. Many say that the tunnels were used to entertain
these Chinese “coulees,” who were normally not allowed in the establishments
that served the locals and travelers.
When the division point moved to Sandpoint, Hope started to become the draw
it is today. The hotel continued to attract people until the 1960's, partly
because the picturesque setting of the town beside Lake Pend Oreille
attracted many tourists. Some of them prominent, such as; J.P. Morgan, Teddy
Roosevelt, Gary Cooper, and Bing Crosby.
Hope has such a large artist population, it is considered North Idaho’s
first Artist Colony. Edward Keinholz was our first World-famous creator. Now
the Artists’ Tour makes so many stops in Hope that it may be difficult to
visit each studio in the area in just one or two days. Hope enjoys a
wonderful summer season, and in addition to the boating are some famous digs
such as the Floating Restaurant and Dock of the Bay. Icehouse Pizza
regularly has open air concerts, and the Hope Market has some of the best
Gourmet faire in North Idaho.
888-823-2626
www.selkirkloop.org
Marvelat
the awesome beauty around every corner of the International Selkirk Loop, a
450km /280-mile scenic drive encircling the spectacular Selkirk Mountains in
northeast Washington, northern Idaho and southeast British Columbia. Play on
the Loop’s crystal clear rivers and lakes, or traverse its mountain trails
to view snow-capped peaks and the extraordinary variety of wildlife. Explore
charming communities with fascinating history, fun festivals and picturesque
settings.
Nearly the entire Loop route follows rivers and lakeshores, which
historically were used for transportation, by native tribes, explorer David
Thompson, gold seekers on the Wild Horse Trail, and early settlers. Today
the Loop’s lakes, rivers, and trails are a vast uncrowded playground with a
myriad of opportunities for year-round recreation, scenic beauty and unique
cultures.
Explore the International Selkirk Loop and discover the wonderful surprises
that await you around every corner!
www.fws.gov/kootenai/
208-267-3888
This 2,774-acre refuge, located five miles west of Bonners Ferry off Highway
95, is home to over 300 different species of wildlife. The refuge provides
resting and feeding habitat for migrating waterfowl such as mallards,
northern pintail. American wigeon, Canadian geese, cinnamon and blue-winged
teal, common goldeneyes, wood ducks and many others. Many of the birds
migrate here in the spring and stay to nest on the refuge in the large ponds
and high grasses ideal for ground-nesting birds. The refuge is open daily
during daylight hours.
The Lake Coeur d'Alene Scenic Byway travels an area where the lakes,
mountains, and beautiful summer weather have made it one of the most famous
summer playgrounds in the Northwest. It is a land of dense forests, giant
aromatic cedars and wildflowers, where one can view the largest nesting
osprey population in the Western states on the shores of Lake Coeur d'Alene.
Punctuated by lapis blue flowing rivers, cascading over waterfalls, sitting
still in azure lakes, North Idaho allows you to taste the sweetness of wild
huckleberries, smell the aroma of fresh cut timber and bask in the
friendliness of a casual and relaxed countryside that looks like a backdrop
to a Norman Rockwell painting.
Begin your lake tour off exit 22 on 1-90 at Wolf Lodge. Head south on Hwy 97
as it winds 38 miles along the lakeshore to Harrison. You can return by two
routes. Hwy 3 returns to 1-90, takes about two hours and covers 80 miles.
Hwy 97 continues south to St. Maries. From St. Maries, take Hwy 5 to Heyburn
State Park. Return to Coeur d'Alene by Hwy 95 through Plummer. This route
takes 3 to 4 hours.
Lakedance Film Festival has gone
through some changes since its beginnings four years ago. Its founder,
Trevor Greenfield, wanted to bring a world-class event to small-town
Sandpoint, Idaho. In the first year, there was no major sponsor, and the
event was in the red. For the previous two years, Schweitzer Mountain Ski
Resort sponsored the film fest, and last year they went into the black,
making a small profit for the first time.
Schweitzer declined to be the
backer this year, and Laser Image stepped in. Good timing too, because
Lakedance was named to the Top 100 Film Festivals this year.
Three years ago I started the
Cedar Street Bridge art show called the Sandpoint Art Break as a two-day
event that was put on in support of Lakedance. I have also catered the
special events during the fest since its inception, continuing this year
through my affiliation with Dish Home Cooking.
The first night in 2009, on
Halloween night, the turnout was so-so, but the following Tuesday the crowd
was among the largest ever for the Panida Theater.
I ran the concession stand, Evan's
Brothers Coffee Roasters served awesome espressos, and a great time was had
by all.
888-SANDPOINT
http://www.lakependoreillecruises.com/
Their main boat, the Shawnodese, was built in 1966 in San Diego as a ferry
to Coronado Island. It spent a few years on Lake Mead as a tour and fishing
boat with a six pack license. From there, it went to San Francisco as a crew
boat taking crew personnel out to larger ships. It was also used to lay
cable in the bay. Lake Pend Oreille Cruises bought the boat in 1992, and not
long after the refurbishing was completed, cruises on the West’s 2nd
largest lake began. Now, in addition to cruises, private charters, dinner
tours, and even jet boat rentals are offered. A great way to experience Lake
Pend Oreille any way you choose.
208-769-1414 Drive a few minutes north of Sandpoint and you come to one of the jewels of
North Idaho: the Macarthur Lake Wildlife Corridor. Animals occasionally
travel long distances, and these corridors help facilitate their crossing.
McArthur Lake, about halfway between Bonners Ferry and Sandpoint, Idaho, is
a key corridor. It is the shortest distance between the Selkirk Mountains
and the Cabinet and Purcell Mountain ranges for hundreds of miles north or
south. If you look on a map with elevation lines showing ridges and valleys,
you can see that there is a mere 5 miles of rural valley bottom between
these two mountain ranges. In one study of wildlife corridors in Idaho,
about 1/3 of the areas identified as important corridors were considered
high priority. McArthur Lake is one of these high priority corridors.
Very few valley bottoms in the world are without some type of human
development. The McArthur Lake Wildlife Corridor is no exception. There are
homes and farms present there, and most of the residents use their land for
natural resources such as timber harvesting or agriculture. As a passage for
wildlife, it is no wonder of the abundance of deer and elk, moose and fowl.
McArthur Lake area is located next to the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge.
It is a home for migrating waterfowl as well as big game, such as white tail
deer, moose, and black bear. The lake allows for great fishing and moose
viewing in June. Spring and Fall make it the ideal place for bird watching.
The area is open year-round with special restrictions during nesting season.
