08/18 - 08/25 - Lake Pend Oreille Gathering, 2007

[SeaSpray]

Hi Bill,

Nice write-up! I can see your interest in visiting the area. The description of those floods make the floods we are seeing now seem pale. Of course back then the floods did not affect people.

Steve

 

[CAVU]

Sounds like you guys are having a great time. Sorry I missed it. Seems like every time there is a cruise in eastern Washington I am out of town.

Bill, I enjoyed your geology write up. We are on a long RV trip and while driving I just finished listening to Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything." He covers a lot geology and some funny stories about early scientists and their theories about the earth's history. If you haven't read it I recommend it.

 

[digger]

We'd been planning on making this event ever since Bill and El suggested the gathering. On Wednesday of last week I was on Coeur d'Alene, and threw out my back. Been trying to exercise it to enable Kathy and I to make it up to Pend d'oreille, but the back just isn't cooperating. Sorry to miss meeting you all. We'll still meet up with you one of these days. Ron (and Kathy) on Snoopy-C

 

[iggy]

Ice makes a poor dam -- it floats! When the lake became so deep that its waters were overtopping the ice dam the dam began to lift off the bottom and float. In an instant, the dam failed and burst. The huge lake (as big as any Great Lake today) roared down the Pend d'Oreille River drainage, spilled out over a large area of western Washington State (carving the Channeled Scablands) and pouring a huge flood down the Columbia River Gorge.

As a geologist, Bill certainly knows more about all this rock stuff than the rest of us. However, his brief description of the Missoula Floods doesn't do them justice. (I don't recall if there is more detail in his Columbia R. tour guide).

I wondered for years why the Columbia Gorge has all those high waterfalls. I assumed the Columbia carved out the gorge over millions of years. Turns out a good deal of it was carved out in days rather than years. These floods hit Portland, and then backed up the current Willamette R. valley. There is a large boulder (erratic) near McMinville, far upstream. "Where in the hell did that thing come from?" It is now thought to have been delivered via an ice floe traveling from Missoula. When in Portland, look for the big pink bank building, about 30 stories. It is estimated to be about the height of the water that came through during the floods. At its peak, the flow is believed to have exceeded that of all the major rivers in the world, combined!

iggy

iggy

 

[Chris & Donna Bain]

Thanks Bill and El, Pat and Patty and Jody for coming up to the Inland NW. I enjoyed my first CBGT. The highlight was meeting you brother and sister Cdory owners. While you all went on to Priest Lake, I returned to LPO to meet up with Steve and Lorainne and their boat, Straycat. Another great visit and hopefully a connection for some future cruising together. Pat, we'll catch some more fish in the future.

chris

 

[Pat Anderson]

More to follow, heading out for day now - just a few pix from the Idaho Lakes CBGT.

Lake Pend Oreille Dawn, Buttonhook Bay


Reflection of Clouds, Upper Priest Lake


Lakescape, Upper Priest Lake


Moon, Priest River

 

[Pat Anderson]

Chris - it was great to meet you (and Jody), and thanks so much for taking me fishing on Mz Kaye - fishin' is best when there is some catchin' involved!

Thanks Bill and El, Pat and Patty and Jody for coming up to the Inland NW. I enjoyed my first CBGT. The highlight was meeting you brother and sister Cdory owners. While you all went on to Priest Lake, I returned to LPO to meet up with Steve and Lorainne and their boat, Straycat. Another great visit and hopefully a connection for some future cruising together. Pat, we'll catch some more fish in the future.

chris

 

[El and Bill]

There is an updated Pend d'Oreille thread on our website. Also, just added a thread on Priest and Upper Priest Lakes also on our site. We had a moose almost walk over us yesterday and one that wasn't 6 feet from our bow today (with El on the bow) -- pictures on the site.

www.geocities.com/bill_fiero/pend

www.geocities.com/bill_fiero/priest

Now in town getting supplies and heading down to Lake Coer 'Alene -- hope to launch at Hepburn State Park late this afternoon. Anyone around and interested in joining us, come on over. We'll probably be on Lake Coer d'Alene through the weekend, at least. Then, maybe over to Flathead in Montana. Sure beautiful up here in the northern mountains this time of year.

 

[Pat Anderson]

OK, the wrap up! A short 4 day cruise sandwiched between two long days of driving for us, as son Barrett came home from San Francisco Wednesday evening, his wife Laurie will be joining us tomorrow, and they will be here through Sunday.

Friday, August 17. A long day of driving, from Fall City to Farragut State Park in Idaho. A couple of rest stops, and lunch in Spokane Valley, Daydream and Halcyon pulled in and launched in the late afternoon. Farragut State Park has an adequate launch facility. A short cruise around the corner to Buttonhook Bay, which has a nice dock but is also completely suitable for anchoring, protected and decent holding. We were joined shortly by Chris on Mz Kaye and Jody on Voyager, and we rafted up for an evening of socializing!




Saturday, August 18. Went fishing with Chris on Mz Kaye, we were skunked. Nice lunch in Bayview at The Captain's Wheel, kind of funky dock. After lunch, we did a little slow cruising around LPO, anchored up in the evening in Ellisport Bay, across from East Hope. Another good anchorage, more socializing and a nice little swim!







Sunday, August 19. Went fishing with Chris again, this time we each caught two Mackinaw. We went to Sandpoint and were able to tie up at the town dock - there was actually lots of space. It was raining, and the locals were ecstatic, we were a little bummed! We came for sunshine! Dennis and Rae, new C-Dory owners from Montana, just happened to see us come in, and joined us for lunch. Then we cruised down the Pend Oreille River to the Albeni Falls Dam. Chris turned back along the way, so we were down to Halcyon, Daydream and Voyager. There is a little dock and a nice park there but you can't get to the dam or visitor center from the park, and there are no facilities for boats on the other side of the river - a puzzling design decision! We cruised back up the river to a little slough in a wildlife preserve where we anchored up for the night.









Monday, August 20. Motored back to Farragut State Park in the morning and retrieved - we had made a collective decision to move on to Priest Lake rather than stay on Pend Oreille. We hooked up with Chris again, who needed to go back into town - he ultimately decided to stay on Pend Oreille, and he hooked up later with Steve and Lorraine on Stray Cat, who did not get out on the water until after we had left. But the decision to go to Priest Lake is one we will not regret! Bottom line up front, Upper Priest Lake, which we learned about from Chris, is just an absolute jewel! We launched at Priest Lake State Park, and headed right for Upper Priest Lake. Priest Lake and Upper Priest Lake are connected by a several mile stretch of the Priest River called "The Thoroughfare" - narrow and shallow and strewn with fallen logs, you go slow here! Jody got a great shot of a moose swimming right off the bat. At the north end of Upper Priest Lake, there is a little cove where the moose congregate, and we just shut off the engines and enjoyed the show. Mama moose would swim out and munch the underwater foliage while baby moose remained nearby on the shore. They eyeballed us but did not seem too concerned. We anchored up for the night in another little cove across from Moose Cove (named by El and Bill of course, do not look for this name on your Fishin' Map!).





Tuesday, August 21. This was a lazy day! Read my book (Blue Latitudes, following in the footsteps of Captain Cook, with an ample dose of humor thrown in!), slow cruised, more moose watching, a little card game with Bill and El! Then we went a few hundred yards up the Priest River, which at the north end of the lake is really just a little creek, and even more shallow. The view of the moon was awesome from here, an eagle was perched above us and beavers were splashing somewhere upstream - an absolutely perfect setting! Halcyon set its hook and we rafted up for the night.





Wednesday, August 22. In the morning, we had to depart for home - Bill weighed anchor, and we just drifted down to the mouth of the river. We one last round of moose watching, at this point Bill and El and the moose were nearly on a first name basis! I was a little nervous, it just does not seem to be prudent to be that close to that large of a wild animal, especially when you are in constant peril of grounding! We headed back to Priest Lake State Park to retrieve with more great memories!

 

[jkidd]

What a great trip. Thanks Bill and El, Pat and Patty and Chris. I had a wonderful time. That is some awesome country up there. I did manage to finally catch 1 cut just before I started back down the thorofare. The last night I spent at a campground on the Clark Fork River near Superior.

 

[Pat Anderson]

OK, I finished my write-up, with a liberal sprinkling of pix! All of my pix are here.

 

[starcrafttom]

Pat and everyone, sounds like you had a great time. We have been watching this because we are going to our freinds cabin on the next weekend. We will be at their cabin for 4 days and hope to a lot of fishing. My buddy cliff has caught trout up to 20 lbs there. Thats a lot for a rainbow!! We will be taking our boat for fishing but staying at their cabin. Should be fun.

 

[Pat Anderson]

Pend Oreille for cruising and fishing, Upper Priest Lake for sheer awesome natural beauty and wildlife, the Idaho lakes have a LOT to offer...it will be interesting to read Bill and El's take on Lake Coeur d'Alene. Enjoy your stay!

Pat and everyone, sounds like you had a great time. We have been watching this because we are going to our freinds cabin on the next weekend. We will be at their cabin for 4 days and hope to a lot of fishing. My buddy cliff has caught trout up to 20 lbs there. Thats a lot for a rainbow!! We will be taking our boat for fishing but staying at their cabin. Should be fun.

 

[El and Bill]

Revised postings on Pend d'Oreille and Priest are up on our website:
www.geocities.com/bill_fiero/priest
www.geocities.com/bill_fiero/pend

And our posting on Lake Coeur d'Alene is up for those interested in reading about cruising in northern Idaho.
www.geocities.com/bill_fiero/coeur

 

[Seaboldski]

We thought we would add a couple of pics to this thread just in case there were still some out there who weren’t yet convinced that this is a beautiful area. We only had three days and nights to cruise as we had a house guest, and of course, our ever present 'senior' German Shepherd. We chose the later part of the week to cruise so we missed most of the main group, who had moved on to Priest Lake by then. We spent all three nights on Lake Pend Oreille, two at Sand Point and one at a public dock on the Clark Fork Delta. We did get a chance to hook up briefly with Chris on MzKaye. Great guy, and a "local" too. Overall, we had a lot of fun. Being new boaters, with a new boat, it’s ALL exciting for us. We saw lots of wildlife – bald eagles fishing, osprey, and loons that looked similar to those they have in Minnesota. A local told us “they aren’t supposed to be here, but they are”. No moose though. And of course, the scenery is beautiful and the lake uncrowded.

More pics in our album.

Steve, Lorraine, and ^^
aboard Stray Cat

P.S. Stop me if you’ve heard this before. While we were kicking back at the Sandpoint Marina a gentleman leans over the railing and says, “are you part of the C-Dory Lake Pend Oreille cruise I read about on the C-Brats forum”? Turns out he is considering purchasing a C-Dory and has been monitoring the forum for sometime, but has never posted.

 

[Pat Anderson]

Steve and Lorraine,

Sorry it did not work out for all of us to hook up on Pend Oreille or Priest Lake...thanks for the pix, we got to get you guys anchoring!!!! The area is just AWESOME, I am really glad we made the trek, hope to do so again one day! We had no problem getting Baxter to shore anywhere in the dinghy. We really enjoyed your back yard!

 

[El and Bill]

Lorraine and Steve -
Your pictures are great. Sure sorry to have missed you folks on the cruise -- you have some marvelous water. Best wishes --

 

[Seaboldski]

Pat & Patty / El & Bill,

Yes, is was too bad we all weren't able to connect on LPO. Sounds like everyone had a good time cruising though.

Re: Anchoring. Kobi may look small in the pics, but she does weigh 75 lbs... and has a bad leg. I use a gang plank to get her into and out of the boat. We've been kicking around different ways of making the anchoring thing work. I think it's doable.

Glad you enjoyed our Idaho lakes. We still have a lot of exploring to do ourselves in this area, and of course, we spec'd out this boat with the San Juans in mind as well. I'm sure we'll see you all at many C-Brats functions in the future.

Steve

P.S. Pat, we stopped by the tasting room on our way to check out Stray Cat. It turned out very well. Big change from how it looked during the 2006 SBS

 

[Pat Anderson]

Glad you were able to come by - we are all really pleased with the way the Taproom has turned out!

P.S. Pat, we stopped by the tasting room on our way to check out Stray Cat. It turned out very well. Big change from how it looked during the 2006 SBS