While languishing on the river bar at my recent camping fest this past weekend, my friends and I hatched a scheme to go hiking once a week. These are the same friends I went snowshoeing with weekly this past winter, and I have to say I have been missing our weekly bovine fecal matter stacking sessions while engaging in moderately strenuous physical activity.
I mean, I tend to lead a pretty moderately strenuous physical activity packed life, so that is perhaps why I felt like something was missing, not having engaged in the weekly hikes into the wonderful woods I am so privileged to abide in. That or I just really, really like hanging out with my super cool friends. Or maybe I just love wandering and sweating my way through nature. Probably all of the above.
Anyway, since we haven't been meeting weekly, we decided to start out gently by meeting up at Pine Street Woods in Sandpoint for our first summer hike. I have lived in Bonner County for the last two decades, and visited family in the Idaho Panhandle my entire life, and every day I am still surprised by just how much I have yet to explore in these parts. Pine Street Woods was new to me, so I was excited to learn of its existence and tromp through its locale.
To start with, Pine Street Woods is a community forest. It's a 180 acre chunk of boreal forested awesomeness that is owned by a land trust that wants to conserve and protect land for the public to enjoy for generations. The whole existence of this place makes me happy, because right now where I live I feel like it is a competition amongst developers to see who can carve up and butcher the most farm and forest land to development the fastest in order to make a quick buck. Destruction of agricultural and rural lands for the sake of greed makes me sads.
But this is a happy post, because Pine Street Woods is also part of a much larger chunk of conserved public forest lands, Sherwood Forest and VTT. Together these parcels are a myriad of trails for non motorized pursuits. Hiking, bird watching, trail running, biking, and cross country skiing enthusiasts have a real gem to enjoy on the edge of the burg of Sandpoint, and I'm so pleased the place exists.
For starters, the trails are so nicely maintained. We've had some pretty stout windstorms this year, and I could see where volunteers have been volunteering away the post windstorm detritus. One nice thing about the Woods is that all the trails seem to interconnect, so you could hypothetically hike up there for years and never take the same route.
Speaking of routes, there were many. Some chick named Gerta had a meandering trail named after her. We kept running into a trail sign that had a butterfly on it, and out in the middle of the woods was a pavilion for assembling apparently. Instead of the Avengers being assembled there, there were a pack of chittering youths playing with a stack of old moose bones. Savage. Some dude was sitting on a log playing a lute, so it kinda felt like a soundtrack to a movie that was equal part Lord of the Flies and Lord of the Rings. My face had an amused smile on it as we meandered away from the movie set and I bolted down a trail that was named Little John's Loop. I took said trail because they put a toiled handle on the slab board sign that proclaimed its name. I mean, any trail that starts off with a sense of humor has to be a good one.
I was rewarded with views galore as we ambled for a few miles. Once we popped out with a nice vista reward, as we gazed down upon the hamlet of Dover. Dover, Idaho is a little inlet on the Pend Oreille River as it dumps into Lake Pend Oreille. It is a 1%er haven, full of condos and cedar planked salmon, but it was pretty to gaze upon.
All told we hiked a brisk five miles. Pine Street Woods is supposedly a moderate hiking trail system as far as difficulty goes, so maybe I am in better shape than I think I am, because I was barely sweating or puffing during the traverse through the hills. This is a good thing because summer hasn't started yet and I have a LOT of work ahead of me. Also, my friends are both giantesses, and when I hike with them I actually have to trot more than walk. Hello calories burned!
After we made it back to our car, we cruised over to The Hoot Owl Cafe and enjoyed a lovely breakfast. The Hoot Owl deserves its own post as it's an institution. I ate half a hamburger appropriately named, The Hot Mess, that literally had every topping in the kitchen upon it. Sorry my friends, there are no pictures of that beast, I wouldn't want to cause any angst or uncontrolled drooling in ya'll.
Anyway, if you are ever in Sandpoint and want a quiet, vigorous, scenic stroll, I totally recommend cruising to the edge of town to the Pine Street Woods and getting your wander on. Your quads and overall well-being will thank you!
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's really good at counting steps walked and still rather shocked at where it rode for that particular walk iPhone.