Moving - Anyone familiar with Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho

L

Lee

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Oct 5, 2006
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C Dory Year
1992
C Dory Model
22 Cruiser
Vessel Name
C-Hunter
I'm moving from Alaska to extreme Western Montana. So I have to decide, keep the boat or sell. I hate to sell C-Hunter as I have it fixed up, new engines, steering, gas tanks, etc and would likely never get back what I have in it. I won't be far from Lake Pend Oreille in northern Idaho. Any experiences there? Are there enough boating opportunities to justify keeping my boat? Your thoughts are appreciated.
 
Lake Pend Orielle (sp?) is beautiful country and beautiful water. It's a big freshwater lake with mountains and evergreens surrounding it. It is also surrounded by cougars, Merriams wild Turkeys, large Whitetails, and black bear. The only caribou herd indigenous to the lower 48 wander into there from Canada now and then (Mt. Caribou variety - Selkirk herd?). The lake has large rainbow trout in it. I'd want some kind of substantial boat if I was working it regularly, also, the winters are cold. The gorgeous Snake River is just South and much of that is large reservoirs behind hydroelectric dams.... yet subject to wind, perfect for a C-Dory. C.W.
 
Great boating. Pend O'reille, Priest, Flathead, Kookanoosa. Unlimited possibilities. Plus the rivers (Lake Roosevelt). Lots of great scenery and clear water.
 
You would still be only about 6-7 hours from Puget Sound. Seriously.
 
Pend Oreille is a beautiful lake. When I was a kid we boated there for a couple summers. If I remember correctly it's very deep (like 1000 feet) and we always believed the navy had a submarine test station there but again we were kids. Anyway, on one end of the lake there are some very steep walls that just continue on into the water. You can boat right up near the edge. We used to watch the mountain goats (think that's what they were) climb those shear walls. Also, there is also some protected coves that you can safely anchor in if you wanted to sleep on the boat. You can read more here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Pend_Oreille


Also Priest Lake is not too far from there and offers some great scenery as well.
 
You were right about the submarines! They used to test them there, and they still test them there, strange as it may seem.

I wondered why they would have a state park named Farragut -- hmmmm, wasn't he one of those admirals or something . . . ? Turns out the area was the largest Navy basic training site in the U.S. during WWII. From what I understand, the research they are doing there is sonar testing. My bro was there about 3 years ago, drove up a logging road and was looking down on the lake.

"Whoa! What's that thing?"

And then it disappeared under the surface! It's not Loch Ness, but maybe a close second?

iggy
 
My kids and I used to camp there. It is a fairly large lake with lots of wild areas, not overpopulated at all. I often dreamt of retiring in that area. And there is always Flathead Lake in Montana, another beautiful area, Priest Lake, Lake Coeur d'Alene etc. If you liked SE you will like where you are coming most likely. It is a beautiful 4 season area.

Anne
 
One summer in the early 1960's as a raw 20-year-old kid I worked for the US Navy Electronics Lab, located on Point Loma in San Diego. The group I was part of developed and tested some huge prototype sonar transducers with domes some 36 inches across (!). :roll: These were taken to Lake Pend Oreille for testing in open water. All we had for a testing facility in San Diego was an 8-foot by 8-foot by 8-foot tank, in a metal roofed shed.

It is a very long story, and one best shared with some potables at hand, but my job was to get in the tank, wet suit top and mask snorkel and all, set probes on the 'ducer dome, and swim/float there while the other guys beeped the 'ducer, testing for phasing across the surface. We scanned the sonar spectrum from about 5 Hz to mayabe 2000 Hz. I got pretty tired of being buzzed from guggle to zatch ... especially the day we "rediscovered" that 14-15 Hz is the resonant frequency of the human colon! I wish I had some video of that kid (me) levitating from the tank and high-tailing it to the head!

That facility on Lake Pond Oreille was used for many, many years on hundreds of classified projects. Who knows what lies on the bottom of the lake?
 
We had a great cruise last August on Pend Oreille and Priest Lake. Here is a shot of the mini C-Pod at Bayview.

C_Dorys_Bayview_8_18_07.sized.jpg

And another at Buttonhook Bay, which is a great anchorage on the lake.

eam_Buttonhook_Bay_Lake_Pend_Oreille_8_17_07.sized.jpg

Here is a link to my album of P.O and Priest.

Keep the boat, heck, we made the drive from Fall City to P.O. easily in less than a day, you can make the drive in the other direction to join us on Puget Sound or in the San Juans or Gulf Islands!

 
Lee":3dtyakew said:
I'm moving from Alaska to extreme Western Montana. So I have to decide, keep the boat or sell. I hate to sell C-Hunter as I have it fixed up, new engines, steering, gas tanks, etc and would likely never get back what I have in it. I won't be far from Lake Pend Oreille in northern Idaho. Any experiences there? Are there enough boating opportunities to justify keeping my boat? Your thoughts are appreciated.
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You have the Perfect Boat for that area. I have a couple decent Gerard Rainbows from Pend-Oreille in the den 26#5oz & a 26#15oz, also great Lake Trout fishing. Flathead in Mt is excellent for Lakers as is Priest lake in ID :wink: :mrgreen: :beer
 
Keep the Boat. Pond Oray :lol: , Priest (Which is where I saw my first C-Dory), Flathead, The Snake and Columbia rivers, Coure de Lane, the St Joe river: I have been on the all, the fishing is good, the scenery is great and the experiences on the C-Dory are priceless.
Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Lee, Where are you landing in EW Montana? Sounds like you cold be in Glacier Park, or Bison Refuge country, or Flathead Lake, (They grow good cherries there). Keep in touch here, and like was said already, you won't be that far from the Pacific Northwest, San Juans, Gulf Islands and lots of good old salt chuck.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Ditto on everything said above. I'll just add one more thing. There is a growing contingent of C-Dory owners in the area including my wife and I on Mzkaye. Give us a holler when you arrive, we'd love to meet another C-Brat!

chris
Mzkaye
 
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