Pend Oreille Scenic Byway

The Pend Oreille Scenic Byway makes the journey eastward from Sandpoint to the Montana State line via Idaho Highway 200. While a lot of the route is along the rocky northern shore of Lake Pend Oreille, you'll also pass across wide open farmlands and through river deltas along the edge of this glacial trench that was created during the last Ice Age and then filled with the floodwaters of Glacial Lake Missoula. This is an area where incredible numbers of migratory waterfowl and other birds share the wetlands resources with numerous moose, otters, beavers, muskrats and other water-loving mammals. The Pend Oreille Scenic Byway is a 33-mile route with numerous turnouts, parking areas and interpretive exhibits along the way to help you enjoy your visit even more. As nearly the entire drive is along the lake shore, there are several boat ramps and beaches available, too.

If you can tear your eyes away from the sheer beauty of all that open water and look across the highway, you'll see mountain after mountain rising almost directly from that other ditch beside the road. This is the Kaniksu National Forest, part of the Idaho Panhandle National Forests. This is an area with hundreds of miles of hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding trails. The fishing and hunting are excellent, and the views just never quit. In winter this is a wonderland of snow with hundreds of miles of snowmobile and cross-country ski trails in the area. Or you could just go to Schweitzer Mountain Resort (just north of Sandpoint) and enjoy some incredible big hill downhill skiing.