Goodbye Montana… Hello Coeur D’Alene ID…

All good things must come to an end and so did our stay in Montana… We did enjoy one more day of huckleberry picking  and one last visit with our new friends Liz, Auggie and Bear. The next day we said our goodbyes to Liz and pulled out of her place (see her blog for photos of our departure) and began our westward trek. Several hours later and some 175 or so miles we pulled into our site in Idaho at Kahnderosa River Campground.

Kahnderosa River Campground is on the Coeur D’Alene River and our site facing the river provided a very scenic viewpoint. The biggest drawback to this park is its proximity to the highway but you can’t have everything now can you? We also had a power issue at our site twice was resolved by plugging our power into the unoccupied site next to us. The next morning our power was restored and all was as it should be.

Being adjacent to the Centennial Trail was one of the big draws to stropping here but with the daytime temperatures hitting the 90’s we didn’t plan to bike on the trail. We did do a drive around the area and took a nice dirt road into the mountains along a scenic creek. We had hoped to spot a moose but didn't.  However the drive was pleasant and the scenic creek made up for it. We found the Mission Restaurant known for Huckleberry Milkshakes but when we found out it had a bar inside we opted to sample a few cold beers instead. We chatted with a couple of jovial guys just off work from the sawmill in town. Apparently the sawmill has been their family owned business since 1918...nice, interesting fellows.

Our last day in Cataldo, Idaho we decided to head into the town of Coeur D’Alene. We ad found a hike near “The Resort” that took us alongside the bank of Lake Coeur D’Alene and then to the top of Tubbs Hill. One thing we noticed was how much drier this area is as compared to where we were staying in Montana… the fire danger here is extremely high!

The hike was a nice one that is also popular with young kids out of school who like to dive from the rocks into the clear waters of the lake below. Once the trail started heading up to Tubbs Hill the people thinned out until we were the only ones. It appeared the heat had everyone else nearer the water .  As we pushed on we were beginning to think we should have stayed near the water as well. Once we summited we hoped to have some nice views of the lake but we actually had better views down lower where there were fewer trees in the way. A nice enjoyable hike nonetheless…

After the hike we strolled the "World's Largest Floating Boardwalk" surrounding the resort and enjoyed watching the sailboats, jet skiers and sea planes landing. We also enjoyed looking at several yachts for sale parked along the boardwalk. Afterward we strolled into town noticing most of the tourists were in swimsuits since there are also two large beaches and a couple of city parks along the lake.  It was a happy bustling town full of vacationers.

The next morning we packed up and left and drove the short distance of 50 miles to our next spot at Liberty Lake Campground, a park I choice for its location despite not finding any reviews on it. Hopefully a decision we wouldn’t regret…