Today I want to tell you about a terrific inland paddle - yes, for all of you who are fortunate enough to live on or by the ocean, you may wonder about us inlander sea kayakers. Well, I can tell you that in Washington State and in Idaho (places I've done a lot of inland kayaking in) that there are bodies of water which look like the ocean and which provide pristine paddling experiences. This entry is about one of my favorite paddles - to Kalispell Island on Priest Lake in Idaho.
I'll post a few photos so you can get the picture :-) but let me tell you that Priest Lake offers three bodies of water for sea kayaking. There is Priest Lake - offering about 25 miles in length with seven islands (two with public campsites) and wonderful paddling. Then there is the "thoroughfare" a 2.5 mile long, winding river (no rapids and little current) which ends at the lower mouth of Upper Priest Lake. The upper lake is three miles in length.
What's special about Priest Lake, the thoroughfare and the upper lake is that 99% of the land is owned by either the State of Idaho or the federal government - which means little or no development and, in this case, no commercial forestry. Those attributes, and the lake's location at the foot of the Selkirk Mountain range makes this a very special paddling (camping, hiking, geocaching, and boating) spot.
Here are a few links:
Priest lake map: http://www.priestlake.com/bigmap.html
Here's a site, GoNorthwest.com, that I do some writing for and their information about Priest Lake: http://www.gonorthwest.com/Idaho/north/Priest_Lake/Priest_Lake.htm
Below are some of the photos I've taken of the paddle from Hills Resort, near Kalispell Bay, out to Kalispell Island.
Happy paddling! Please email with any questions, etc. I'm happy to provide "local knowledge" about this area.
Dave Dean (davedean57 at hotmail.com)
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