Lake Coeur d' Alene Scenic Byway

Tuesday 10/9/2012

The day after we arrived in Coeur d' Alene, ID, we drove to the downtown area to the visitor center.

We got maps and suggestions on what to do on the last 2 days we had there. The visitor center is across the street from Lake Coeur d' Alene.

After we left the visitor center, we took I-90 east.

I-90 follows the north side of Coeur d' Alene Lake for a few miles.

We took Exit 22 to follow the Lake Coeur d' Alene Scenic Byway,

At the NE corner of the lake we got this view.  The lake is 1-3 miles wide.

Lake Coeur d' Alene is 32 miles in length and has an area of 50 sq miles.

The lake has over 40 bays, this being one of them.

As we drove around the lake, I got this picture of the lake through the evergreen gate on someone's property.

Below in this picture was a condominium housing area.

We drove south on Hwy 97.

Here I point out where we were on the lake map.

Enjoy the drive on the east side of the lake.

 

 

We stopped at this sign to check out the price for this lot- all the flyer's were gone.

I googled this property, but could not come up with any information. I am sure it is above our price range anyway.

At the end of the lake, we came to this section where it looked like docks were tied up together. We didn't stop, so I couldn't tell for sure what it was all about. 

We arrive in the small town of Harrison located on the southeast side lake.

This town was established in 1891 and named after President Benjamin Harrison. The community was a lumber and mining town when it was first established

With the population of 267, what you see in the picture is what there was as far as the town district.

We found the Harrison City RV Park and pulled into one of the sites with our car.

We sat and had our lunch hoping no one would ask what we were doing.

View as we ate our lunch.

Up from the RV Park was the city park. While I walked Mallery, Joe use the public restrooms,

and then he found this carved stump with an eagle and it's babies.

As we left Harrison, the road took us high above the lake, and we got our last glimpse of the it. The road pulled away from the lake at that point..

On the south side of Harrison hwy 97 intersected with Hwy 3. If you go south you will go into the Palouse area of Washington, and north central Idaho, which is a photographers dream with it's  ocean of rolling hills and quiled farmland. If we had more time, I wanted to see that area also, but winter was closing in on us. We will have to make that another year. We took Hwy 3 north away from the lake.

Hwy 3 took us into a country setting, at higher elevations and to the east.

 



The Hwy. then took us passed several small lakes and then

along a marshy area where birding would probably be good.

The road then followed a river.

Hwy 3 took us back to I-90, and then we headed back west over the 4th of July Pass.

This drive on I-90 gave Joe a peek of the road he would be driving on in the Nest when we left Idaho.

If he can, he likes to see what he will be driving.

Once over the 4th Of July Pass, we see Lake Coeur d' Alene again.

We finished our loop drive back at the Coeur d' Alene Visitor Center. The total drive took about 2 1/2 hours, not including the lunch stop.

To be Continued: