Boat charters and tours
Probably the most elegant power vessel for a cruise on the lake is the Shawnodese, crewed by Captain EJ, First Mates Kimberley and Emily and naturalist (and co-founder) Linda. The 43-foot classically styled ferryboat accommodates up to 36, with daily hour-and-a-half cruises out of City Beach and additional specialty cruises for history, birds of prey and others. Check out Lake Pend Oreille Cruises, or call 208-255-5253..
For a skippered sailing experience, new in 2020 Cloud Nine Sailing Charters sails out of Bayview under the helm of Captain Bruce Robertson and wife Barb. The Cloud Nine is a 29-foot Cal2-29 sloop that accommodates up to six passengers for cruises of two hours or longer. (208-263-3610)
For more information, go to the Super Directory and see Tour Guides & Outfitters.
Boat rentals/service
In Sandpoint, Sandpoint Marina in the Old Power House (208-263-3083) on Sand Creek offers marina services. Sandpoint Boat & RV Rentals operating at Sandpoint Marine & Motorsports, 195 N. Triangle Dr. in Ponderay, rents boats, houseboats and personal watercraft for use on Lake Pend Oreille and Priest Lake, as well as RVs (208-263-1535). Also, the Alpine Shop, 213 Church Street (208-263-5157) offers boating accessories and paddlecraft sales.
Action Water Sports, owned and operated buy elite athletes and Sandpoint natives Nate Holland (two-time Olympian, six-time X Games gold medalist) and Pat Holland (World Cup medalist) offer lessons in all water sports and a full line of rentals including boats, jet skis, kayaks and stand-pp paddleboards. Click to their website or swing by their Sandpoint location at 100 N. First Ave., behind Starbucks on the Sand Creek boardwalk; or call 208-255-7100. Now serving Hope at their new location at the Floating Restaurant with a full line of rentals; call 208-255-6761.
Sandpoint Watersports offers ski and pontoon boats available at reasonable prices, with 24-hour reservations possible online or by calling 208-920-9292. Located at Dover Bay Resort next to boat launch and marina. Boats are also available for long-term rentals – and ask about the Dover Bay Resort discount.
Water Craft Rentals, located at 63 McGhee Rd. #107, 208-265-9672, offers most all boats used on Pend Oreille Lake. Power Boats, Kayak Rentals, Fishing Boats, and much more.
Seasonal moorage is available through the City of Sandpoint at City Beach Marina and The Windbag Marina, also at City Beach. The city also accepts reservations for visitor moorage. (208-263-3613). Day use moorage is available at City Beach on the east side of the boat launch or at the boardwalk along Sand Creek (not accessible to sailboats).
Nearby in Sagle, the Bottle Bay Resort & Marina has rentals including a ski boat, pontoon boat, wakeboard boat, deckboat, fishing boat, a SeaDoo, kayaks and paddleboards available through A Day On the Lake Rentals (208-755-4958 or 208-661-1870). A Day On the Lake Boat Rentals also opens a second summertime location at Willow Bay Marina, 9 miles west of Highway 95 on Dufort Road in Sagle, with ski and pontoon boats, along with paddleboards and kayaks (208-755-4958 or 208-661-1870).
In Dover, the Dover Bay Marina offers moorage, canoe and kayak rentals, and other services.
In Hope, Hope Marine Services offers rentals of various power craft (208-264-5105) and also boat sales and service. BC&M Houseboat Vacations rents houseboats for sightseeing, fishing or family vacations on Lake Pend Oreille at Hope. (208-255-5750).
Holiday Shores/East Hope Marina (208-264-5515) offers moorage and numerous services, including fuel and pumping-out station.
In Bayview, MacDonald’s Hudson Bay Resort (208-683-2211) on the south side of the bay in Bayview rents a 20-foot sailboat, 15-foot fishing boats and canoes.
For more information, go to the Super Directory and see Marinas & Boating Services.
Paddling Routes
Paddling around the lake’s shore in a kayak would require approximately 118,539 strokes with an oar to follow the 111 miles of shoreline. Barring the time and energy need to make a circumnavigation of the lake, there are plenty of dandy paddle routes that will allow you to experience its wildness, from its mountain heights to its watery depths, from its quiet coves to its broad expanses.
If you don’t own your own canoe or kayak, rentals are available at a number of businesses around the lake. See the Boat Rentals & Service page for leads to marinas closest to the departure point you prefer, or check the Super Directory under Marinas & Boating Services. Full Spectrum Tours leads kayak tours on the lake and offers rentals. Click to go to Tour Guides & Outfitters in the Super Directory.
Below are some good lake routes for the paddler, listed in order from the south end of the lake and moving north and then east.
Eagle Boat Launch
Canoeists and kayakers can find easy access to the lake launching from Eagle Boat Launch, a large, modern facility at Farragut State Park located just south of Blackwell Point on the west side of Idlewilde Bay. Another launch site for paddle craft, at the very end of the lake, is Buttonhook Bay. This small, sheltered bay offers a serene, placid sojourn for paddlers who can carry their watercraft down the short trail to the docks. It’s a two- to three-mile paddle one-way (two to four hours round-trip) to Steamboat Rock from either launch site. Mountain goats thrive at Bernard Peak near Echo Bay after being planted there in the early 1960s from Snow Peak in the North Fork of the Clearwater. Paddlers may skirt the shore where the point juts out into the lake to spot the white beasts in their precipitous home. You’re quite likely to see at least some of the 30 or so that live on the cliffs. Spotting scopes are found across the lake at the Willow Day Use Area inside Farragut State Park.
Talache Landing
It’s a popular put-in area for kayakers and canoeists coming from Sandpoint and Sagle. From the water, it’s a short paddle to reach Forest Service public lakefront north of Mirror Creek (the original landing from which iron ore was shipped by barge) or south of Talache Beach, towards Maiden Rock and past several homes. It is also a convenient put-in for those paddlers who would like to try primitive camping on one of the colorful pebble public beaches in either direction.
Garfield Bay
A protected bay, Garfield Bay is well-suited to canoeing or kayaking. From here to Green Bay, the shoreline is rocky, but there are some nice stony beaches to enjoy swimming and picnicking. Launching from Garfield Bay it is a one- to three-mile one-way paddle to Green Bay, depending on where along the shoreline you land.
Long Bridge to Dover
Though not technically the lake, the water west of the Long Bridge to Dover is often considered Lake Pend Oreille. Boaters can depart from Memorial Field, Dover Bay or Springy Point to explore downriver. People in kayaks and canoes sometimes put in at Springy Point and paddle across the river to Dover or east and west along the southern riverbank. Paddlers may also depart from Dover Bay and explore its many bays and estuaries; the marina here rents canoes and kayaks.
Boyer Slough
Going northeast from Sandpoint City Beach by canoe or kayak, and crossing Pend d’Oreille Bay, it is two and a half miles one way to Boyer Slough. The mouth of the slough opens to the north out of Kootenai Bay between Ponder Point and Kootenai Point. As it is the shallowest part of the lake, it is best experienced at full pool. This is a fairly open expanse of water, and it can be rough if there’s a strong south or west wind. Launch at Sandpoint City Beach or at the south end of Pend d’Oreille Bay’s shoreline and paddle for up to four hours round trip.
Sunnyside Access & Hawkins Point
Sunnyside Access and Hawkins Point are suitable for launching small boats for fishing or paddling the Pack River Flats, or for paddling west around the peninsula to Fisherman Island.
Pack River Wildlife Management Area
Launching at the Pack River Flats, boaters can explore the Pack River Wildlife Management Area, designated as a no-wake zone. Explore downstream of Highway 200 to the railroad trestle, or go upstream from the highway into the delta, where only non-motorized craft are allowed.
Hope area
In the Hope area east of Sandpoint, paddlers can cross Ellisport Bay from the Hope Boat Basin or Pringle Park or launch from Sam Owen Campground to tour around several small islands including Warren, Cottage, Pearl and Memaloose. Memaloose was once an Indian burial ground and sacred site. The islands are private, so don’t go ashore without permission.
Clark Fork Delta
The Clark Fork Delta is a paddler’s paradise. There are sloughs, channels, islands and backwaters to explore where you literally can get lost. 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. There are three main channels of the Clark Fork River Delta – north fork, middle fork and south fork. If you explore the delta alone, you can rack up several miles of paddling.The delta is a wildlife paradise with numerous songbird and waterfowl species here, as well as heron, grebes, loons, ospreys and bald eagles. The far southern channel of the south fork of the river from the Johnson Creek boat launch is a favorite paddle route of many. The distance from the Johnson Creek launch site to Lee’s Point and the lake, along either of the south fork channels, is less than two miles one way. From the navigation lights at Lee’s Point near the mouth of the Clark Fork River, the shore below the Monarchs stretches across an area known as “Long Beach.” Some people camp along this stretch managed by the Forest Service. Although the campsites are primitive, there are a couple of vault toilets.
Lower Clark Fork Water Trail
Some paddlers like to access Lake Pend Oreille via the Lower Clark Fork Water Trail, launching from Avista’s Clark Fork Access Site. From here you can paddle downstream with the current all the way down this seven-mile stretch to Johnson Creek Access Area, the Clark Fork Drift Yard, or points farther west along the north shore of Lake Pend Oreille, which is best avoided until midsummer when currents slow down. Estimated paddling time is from two to five hours depending on the current and whether you choose to float downstream to a shuttle car at Johnson Creek Access Area or just west of the Clark Fork River bridge.
Sailing
IF YOU’RE A SAILOR there is perhaps no lake in the American Northwest which offers so splendid a sailing opportunity. Bear in mind, however, the lake is so large and the surrounding topography so varied you’ll find distinctly different prevailing conditions depending on where you’re sailing. Also keep an eye out for storms.
The majority of sailors on the lake berth at Bayview, at the southern tip of the lake. The prevailing winds here are from the southwest when weather is brewing, though morning winds in summer usually come from the east. The mountains surrounding Bayview are quite precipitous, however, and can often block wind.
Those setting sail from Sandpoint will encounter three different wind patterns. With a weather front coming through, the winds are usually from the southwest. On other occasions, a north wind will blow down from Canada, usually coming up during the night, blowing in the morning and dying by noon. But most typically in the summer, a light but steady easterly wind will come up in the early afternoon.
The winds around Hope are the most unpredictable, and departing from Garfield Bay is challenging because it faces south into the prevailing winds.
Resources for lake sailors:
- The Sandpoint Sailing Association website includes information about sailing, plus a calendar of regattas and events. This group races most Thursday nights and Saturday mornings in summer and always welcomes newcomers. Windbag Marina is the only place on the lake besides Bayview where a sailor might find replacement gear – a modest collection of lines and hardware is for sale in a small shack on the dock.
- The Lake Pend Oreille Yacht Club is based in Bayview, which is home to hundreds of sailboats thanks to water depths that enable owners to keep their boats in the lake year-round. The club has both cruising and racing calendars, with races on Wednesday evenings in summer, a spring and fall series, and even a frozen New Year’s Day race for those who haven’t drifted off to the ski slopes. The Bitter End Marina is home to the majority of the masts, and races begin from there or MacDonald’s Hudson Bay Resort.
- Sailboat rentals: One marina on the lake rents sailboats, MacDonald’s Hudson Bay Resort in Bayview (208-683-2211). For more information, go to the Super Directory and see Marinas & Boating Services.
- “Hidden Treasure in North Idaho.” 48 Degrees North, a Northwest sailing magazine based in Seattle, writes about the thrills and challenges of sailing Lake Pend Oreille (story begins on page 44).
