Lake Pend Oreille: The Lake Towns
A number of small communities dot the shores of Lake Pend Oreille and provide lake access and amenities. Following is a guide to the lake’s towns. Scroll down to read more about the lake towns, or click on the town name on the map at right to jump to that town’s description.
Sandpoint
With about 8,600 residents, Sandpoint is the largest community on the lake, offering the most services for lakeside recreation. For its size, Sandpoint has unusually fine dining and shopping, almost all of which is located downtown, within walking distance of the lake. Art galleries and antiques can be found throughout the city, and many businesses display the work of local artists.
Sandpoint offers public docks, picnic facilities, and long-term moorage. There are numerous hotels and other places to stay in town, including lakeside lodgings. The most interesting architectural feature of town is the Cedar Street Bridge Public Market, with retail shops and dining.
Just two blocks from all the downtown action is Sandpoint City Beach, the town’s splendid waterfront park, which historically was a traditional Kalispel Indian village called Qp Qepe. And north of that is a two-mile-long gravel waterfront trail, the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail. City Beach has a paved trail encircling it. Other paved trails connect Sandpoint to Sagle south via the Long Bridge, to Dover to the west, and to Ponderay to the north.
For more about Sandpoint, browse the Sandpoint Online Community and Visitor Guide sections, and check out other pages from the Sandpoint Online home page.
Dover
Just west of Sandpoint, the City of Dover is a bedroom community incorporated in 1988. Although the town is technically on the Pend Oreille River, many people still consider the waters west of the Long Bridge to be part of the lake all the way to Dover.
A one-time logging town, Dover’s old lumber mill is now home to the City of Dover Public Beach and Park set within the boundaries of the new Dover Bay waterfront community, where’s there’s seasonal and visitor moorage for rent. Boat gas is available at the Dover Bay marina dock, as are canoe and kayak rentals. The Dover Bay development transformed the land around the old lumber mill, with 285 acres and over a mile of shoreline, into a major development with a 274-slip marina, hundreds of homesites, condos, bungalows for vacation rental, common open space, boardwalk, a waterfront village area with a café, market and fitness center.
Dover is connected to downtown Sandpoint via a bike path that is part of the Sandpoint-Dover Community Trail. Paved and flat, it’s an pleasant three-mile walk or bike that runs parallel to U.S. Highway 2.
Kootenai and Ponderay
These twin towns just east of Sandpoint are part of the greater urban area. Bordering Sandpoint is Ponderay, which has blossomed as a commercial center. Ponderay is home to the Bonner Mall, as well as a number of retailers and big-box stores. The Sandpoint Elks Golf Course lies within the Ponderay city limits, and the town is also the gateway to Schweitzer Mountain Resort for skiers arriving via Highway 95. There are several motels in Ponderay, along with a number of restaurants. To Ponderay’s east is Kootenai, which has a small commercial district along Highway 200 and encompasses residential areas including Ponder Point and Kootenai Bay. There is currently very limited public access to the lake from either of these towns.
Trestle Creek
About 10 miles east of Sandpoint is the tiny community of Trestle Creek, built on the rocky delta of its namesake. At Trestle Creek, there are both public recreation facilities and private resorts. This is a popular area for scuba divers since a train derailment into the lake in 1904 left several railcars underwater to explore. Trestle Creek Recreation Area, managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is a day-use area only with no fee for public access. This area is named for the original Northern Pacific Railway’s 6,500-foot, curved, wooden trestle built in 1882. At low water, the old pilings of the trestle are still visible. The existing train crossing was built in 1904. Trestle Creek is an important spawning stream for bull trout and kokanee salmon in the fall.
Hope and East Hope
Once a booming railroad town, Hope hugs the hills of the northeastern shore of Lake Pend Oreille, about 14 miles east of Sandpoint. Hope and East Hope have a colorful history reaching back to 1882 with the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
Hope has some of the best views of the southern arm of the lake and the Monarch Mountains, and is a great place to visit by boat or car. Several public and private boat launches are in the city, including the best deep-water launch on the north end of the lake, the Hope Boat Basin under the bridge at the west end of town. Boaters’ services and moorage are available. Hope also offers excellent restaurants and some of the most beautiful lodging on the water.
For campers, several RV sites are available on the Hope Peninsula at parks like Island View and Beyond Hope. The peninsula is a game preserve, and the white-tailed deer are prolific and easily spotted, especially during evenings. The peninsula is also home to Sam Owen Campground and Recreation Site, maintained by the Forest Service as a fine campground with a boat launch and dock, swimming area, volleyball, hiking trails, and interpretive site on David Thompson.
Clark Fork
Traveling east from Sandpoint along Idaho State Highway 200, the last town you pass through before the Idaho-Montana state line is the small community of Clark Fork. A variety of services are available here, including restaurants, coffee and retail shops, groceries, lodging and RV parks.
Incorporated in 1912, this historic community on the Clark Fork River was first an important railroad camp in 1882 with the building of the Northern Pacific Railroad. It also prospered as a center for lead and silver mining in the early 1900s. The town still has the flavor of its early beginnings, and descendents of some of the original pioneer families still live here.
Clark Fork has two public parks, one with a ball field north of town, and the other south of the highway. The latter is a relatively quiet place for a picnic with a table shaded by old willow trees. West of Clark Fork, the marshes and wetlands around Denton Slough and the Clark Fork Delta are part of the Lake Pend Oreille and Clark Fork Wildlife Management Areas. They are home to a tremendous diversity of waterfowl, fish-eating birds and mammals. In fact, the Clark Fork Delta is a paddler’s paradise. There are sloughs, channels, islands and backwaters to explore. Launch sites are at Johnson Creek Access Area, Denton Slough or the Clark Fork Drift Yard boat launch, commonly used by fishermen and waterfowl hunters.
Bayview
At the southern tip of the lake is Bayview. Next door to Farragut State Park, it was Spokane entrepreneurs who built this sleepy town as a resort community, welcoming its first permanent residents in 1910. Bayview is a haven for boaters with numerous marinas, some of them with courtesy docks for customers, including sailboats.
This lakeside community is home to hundreds of sailboats, and you’ll see a lot of float homes and houseboats moored in the marinas, too. They have been a part of the Bayview experience for generations. This is one of the most popular boating and sailing areas on the lake. There are several fine restaurants and eateries around town too.
Bayview has its own colorful history. The town began in as a little resort town and quiet residential area. That changed with World War II in 1942, when the Farragut Naval Training Station was built on more than 4,000 acres surrounding the bay. Tens of thousands of recruits subsequently passed through Farragut during the war years. The Navy still has an acoustic research detachment in Bayview. However, most of the base was turned over to the State of Idaho, and is now Farragut State Park. Farragut is one of the state’s finest parks in a dramatic natural setting and features more than 40 miles of trails for hikers and bikers to explore.
Lakeview
Across the lake from Bayview is the tiny community of Lakeview, which sprouted up with the first mine in the area in 1888. Early in the 20th century, it was a popular summer resort. While there are no longer services here, it still is a beautiful spot on the lake for summer visitors, making a great stop for boaters and folks touring the Forest Service roads that surround the lake. The county maintains a public dock flanked by private property. Lakeview is surrounded by abandoned limestone mines. Much of the community is situated on a bench well above the lake. Three miles above Lakeview is the Happy Hermit Resort that operates year-round, catering to snowmobile enthusiasts in the winter.
Garfield Bay
This quiet lake community was once the site of a prospective mining town that ended up in scandal. Formerly called Midas, Charles Flaty, a homesteader and conductor for Northern Pacific Railroad, renamed the town in admiration for President James Garfield. It has served as a fishing and resort community since the 1950s.
By road, Garfield Bay is 15 miles from Sandpoint and right in the middle of the western shore of the lake, making it an 18-mile boat ride to either Sandpoint or Bayview. There are courtesy tie-ups, boat gas, convenience stores. Bonner County maintains a public boat launch, swimming area and campground.
The open cove with its marina, boats, and rustic homes offer a delightful repose. The modern campground facilities and adjacent beaches, tucked back and protected at the head of the bay with its pleasant green lawn, make it an ideal family destination with plenty of space for relaxing and playing. It is open year-round. Garfield Bay is also a well-protected bay for canoeing or kayaking, although, as you round the point toward Green Bay, it can get choppy. The shoreline is rocky, but there are some nice stony beaches to enjoy swimming and picnicking.
Bottle Bay
This small community is wrapped around a well-protected inlet about five miles southeast of Sandpoint by boat boat or 12 miles by car. The bay started as a seasonal residential area in the 1950s. This long, bottle-shaped bay still has many of the lake cabins that were built back in the days of commercial whitefish and kokanee fishing. On the west lip of the bay is Sourdough Point, a private residential area that used to be a winter settlement of fishermen who toughed out the harsh, cold months surviving on sourdough bread and smoked fish. Today, Bottle Bay is still primarily a residential area, and Bottle Bay Marina and Resort offers a small restaurant, gas, boat launch, moorage, cabins, and canoe, paddle boat, and kayak rentals.
