Freeze Church North of Potlatch, Id

Inside the church.

Freeze cemetery Potlatch, Id 

Camping at Shepherd lake, Google Map how to reach there.

Camp sites at Shepherd Lake.

Shepherd lake Idaho  Campground

Shepherd Lake. Fishing 

Riley Creek Recreation Area, Sandpoint Idaho. For more info: visit

Cooking lunch at Riley Creek Recreation Area

4th of July parade at Riley Creek Recreation Area

Ice-cream social at Coolin, ID community center. 

Free ice-cream at Coolin, Idaho.   

Blue Diamond Marina and resort! 

On the way to Lookout mountain. 

Priest Lake from the mountain. 

12 miles hike to lookout mountain, Sandpoint Idaho. 

A view from the top. 

Another angle. 

Sunset

Priest lake 4 am in the morning. 

Named as the nation’s “Most Beautiful Small Town” by USA Today, Sandpoint lies on the shores of Idaho’s largest lake, Lake Pend Oreille. Surrounded by three major mountain ranges, the Selkrik, Cabinet and Bitterroot ranges, this town also has Idaho’s largest ski resort, Schweitzer Mountain Resort.

This 4th of July, we spontaneously decided to camp near Sandpoint. Since we didn’t make any reservations, we were unable to find open campsites. However, after a midnight chat with a nice guy at the gas station, we managed to find a free campground at Shepherd lake. Shepherd lake campground is free of charge for 3 days, but there is no water and the bathroom is quite dirty. It lies on the shore of the beautiful but small shepherd lake where there are plenty of fish and water lilies.

Sandpoint offers many recreational sites. Riley Creek Recreation Area where we enjoyed 4th of July picnic and parade is a nice area that has well developed campground along Lake Pend Oreille. This camp site is one of the cleanest campground I have seen in Idaho and it also has nice facilities such as drinking water, shower, swimming, boating, a beautiful beach, a large playground, basketball courts, volleyball, bicycle racks and picnic area.

If you are in Sandpoint, you may wish to see the view of priest lake from loookout mountain. We hiked 14 miles to the top and back of the mountain. Although we didn’t get in the water, there are lots of water sports available. Do check out Sandpoint if you are in North Idaho!