In Northern Idaho, nestled against the eastern border of Washington State, is the lake National Geographic Magazine once called one of the five most beautiful in the world. The lake was originally scoured out of the mountains by glaciers and later enhanced by the construction of a dam on the Spokane River. For a time in the late 1800s the lake was the busiest steamboat port west of the Mississippi, serving as an important shipping point for the mining boom in the Silver Valley.

This thirty two mile long lake is a boater’s paradise with over forty bays and one hundred miles of shoreline. It has good sandy beaches and several marinas. A favorite outing is to boat 48 miles down Coeur D’Alene Lake and then up the St. Joe River to St. Maries.

One of the most extensive boating facilities on the lake is Blackwell Island Recreation Site with four launch lanes and 520 feet of boarding and shot term moorage docks. For landlubbers, there is also an elevated, handicapped accessible boardwalk trail with wildlife viewing decks.

The lake features two boat access campgrounds. Mica Bay Boater Park, about seven miles south of Coeur d’Alene by boat is a developed campground with four mooring docks, a swimming beach and sixteen tent camping sites. Windy Bay Boaters Park, ten miles beyond Mica Bay, has seven mooring docks and fourteen tent camping sites. Both require campers to pack out their own trash.

The city of Coeur d’Alene is a popular resort city. The world’s longest floating boardwalk runs 3300 feet from Independence Point in the city park to the foot of Third Street. Independence Point is also the departure site for scenic lake tours which are offered several times a day from late April to late October.