Farragut State Park: Fall Hike

We are fully settled into our new lives in Northern Idaho and we are so happy with our decision! There are many advantages to living here, one of which is having close access to outdoor recreational activities without competing with any ‘mountain traffic,’ which was a constant struggle in Colorado. For example, from our house, we are less than a thirty-minute drive to Farragut State Park, where we can hike, bike, snowshoe, cross-country ski, and launch the kayak and standup paddleboards on Lake Pend Oreille. The places to go, all within a short drive, are in abundance. 

Last Saturday, we hiked throughout Farragut State Park. It was a beautiful autumn day, with the temperature in the low 40’s. We have done some shorter hikes in this park, but our thoughts that day were primarily focused on snowshoeing and cross-country skiing on the parks’ trails this upcoming winter. Naturally, I (Stella) also thought about how much our girls would’ve loved hiking with us there; they loved cool Fall weather.

We parked in the Beaver Bay Beach lot and started on the Upper Beaver Bay Shoreline Trail as we made our way to the Willow Cabins and the Sunrise Day Use Area. After meandering about we hopped on to the Willow Lakeview Trail looping our way back to the Willow Cabins. We headed to the Sunrise Day Use Area to explore the amenities where Stella stumbled upon the Lynx Trail. We followed Lynx Trail back to Buttonhook Road as we made our way back to Beaver Bay. We found a trail near Gillmore Campground that took us down to the parking lot. We hiked a total of 5.29 miles.

There are other trails in Farragut State Park that we have yet to explore, but we were able to get a good idea of where to ski and snowshoe in that specific area of the park. Since moving here, we have been enjoying biking on the vast trail system around our house as well as the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, which is groomed in the winter for cross-country skiing. Please stay tuned for our winter posts and new gear reviews!