Visiting the Priest

Yesterday Eli and I drove to the north end of Priest Lake, about a 90 minute drive. Accompanying us were Eli's sister Brit and their mother, Mag. We carried three bikes as well. After parking the Subaru, we walked 1.5 kilometers along the shore line trail to reach the campsite infested by the Rinck and Price families, friends from the greater Sandpoint metroplex.

The campsite was on the lake shore with the Selkirk mountains in the background. When we arrived, most of the men and boys were out wake boarding on the lake, but eventually both boats returned and filled the camp with teenage energy.

After settling in for a while, a group of six of us (led by 12 year old Jansen Rinck) biked that same shore line trail north for 7.62 kilometers to Upper Priest Lake. Our group included Eli, Brit, Diane Rinck, Debbie Price, Jansen, and me. Mag stayed in camp on the shore of the lake, enjoying the view. The ride is one of those magical single track routes where you feel that the elves just scattered before you came around the last corner. It is technical in places, but not physically demanding. After everyone but Jansen and I took a swim, we road back to camp for lunch. Then, about 3 PM we returned to the car, loaded the bikes, and drove back to Sandpoint.

Lower and Upper Priest Lakes get a fair number of visitors, many from Spokane. Yet the waters remain pristine and the scenery unspoiled. Despite the attraction of Priest Lake, we only visit on rare occasions. The Sandpoint area can match the scenery and has the significantly bigger and deeper Pend Oreille Lake with some of its own remote, unspoiled beaches.

Richard
2005.07.22