
Northern Idaho is the northern part of Idaho's Panhandle that borders on Montana, Washington State and British Columbia.
Cities
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- 1 Coeur d'Alene — The only large city in the region, nestled in mountains with excellent recreational lakes
- 2 Bonners Ferry — Has a cute downtown full of shops and also the Kootenai Wildlife Refuge
- 3 Kellogg — Mining town with a gold mine tour, a mining disaster memorial, and a variety of fun metal sculptures
- 4 Post Falls — Its attractive cascade is enough to draw anybody for a spell
- 5 Sandpoint — Great skiing and a great lake
- 6 St. Maries
- 7 Wallace — Principal city of the Silver Valley, for many decades the most productive silver mining region in the world
Understand
[edit | edit source]Get in
[edit | edit source]By plane
[edit | edit source]- 1 Spokane International Airport (Geiger Field) (GEG IATA) and 2 Glacier Park National Park Airport (FCA IATA), north of Kalispell, serve as major commercial airports towards Northern Idaho from all over the U.S. with multiple airlines.
The following are additional airports travelers can fly into to reach their final destination in Northern Idaho:
- 3 Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport (PUW IATA) serves as a regional civil aviation airport with limited commercial services from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Boise by Alaska Airlines.
- 4 Lewiston Nez Perce County Airport (LWS IATA) is the nearest airport to Clarkston in Lewiston towards the south end of the region. It is served only by Skywest as Delta Connection from Seattle-Tacoma and Salt Lake City.
By car
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Interstate 90 (I-90) is the major east-west route through this region, connecting Spokane to Missoula through Post Falls, Coeur d'Alene, Kellog, and Wallace. US-95 intersects I-90 in Coeur d'Alene.
US-95 serves as the main north south highway through the region from Ontario, Oregon through Lewiston, Moscow, Coeur d'Alene, Sandpoint, and Bonners Ferry to the Canadian border at Eastport/Kingsgate. US-2 runs concurrent on US-95 between Sandpoint and Bonners Ferry. From Bonners Ferry US 2 continues east towards Montana through Movie Springs and Katka. Going west US-2 continues towards Newport, Washington from Sandpoint.
By bus
[edit | edit source]- Jefferson Lines, (bus stops) 356 E Appleway Ave, Coeur d'Alene; 601 Bunker Ave, Kellog, toll-free: +1 800 451-5333. Travels primarily on I-90 between Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, Kellogg, Missoula, Butte, Bozeman, and Billings.
By train
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The Empire Builder operates daily between Spokane and Chicago with a stop in Sandpoint as the only stop in Idaho. Going west from Spokane, trains split into separate branches with one branch going towards Portland and the other towards Seattle. Going east the branches join in Spokane before proceeding towards Chicago. It is also a train with a stop at Glacier National Park in Montana from Sandpoint.
Get around
[edit | edit source]See
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There are many bald eagles in North Idaho. A good place to see them is Lake Coeur d'Alene. Lake Coeur d'Alene is 25 miles long with more than 135 miles of shoreline. The lake is an average of 120 feet deep.
Finished in 1853, The Cataldo Mission, east of Coeur d'Alene, is the oldest standing building in Idaho. The Old Mission (built 1848-1853) was a combined effort of the missionaries and over 300 native Catholics.
Wallace has many buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Wallace is also famous for its mining history and included in that history is the Oasis Bordello Museum. When the final occupants of the Oasis Rooms left in January 1988 (the last recorded date in the "hotel" registry), they seemed to have left in a hurry. Clothing, makeup, toiletries, food and personal items were all left behind. An accurate and tastefully-presented twenty-minute tour of the upper rooms explains the mystery of the ladies' hasty departure and gives a glimpse into the town's bawdy past with details that range from poignant to hilarious. Also of interest in the Wallace area is the Sierra Silver Mine Tour. This is the only tour of its kind in the Northwest. It offers a rare opportunity to personally experience the underground world of mining in the richest silver district on earth. Also the main city in which the movie Dante's Peak, starring Pierce Brosnan, was filmed. Wallace is also nicked named "The Center of the Universe" - when entering the town walking or driving there will be a sign pointing down towards a cross walk which is where the center of the universe is supposed to be.
Not far from Wallace, Kellogg has metal sculptures of a dragon and knight, a gold panner, an elk (in front of the local chapter of the ELKS), a big wildcat (which is the high school's mascot) in front of the local pool, a miner and donkey, and the best was the Red Baron. All seemed to be made of scraps of metal from different things, but they are large! Mine tours (approx. 30 min.) are given at Crystal Gold Mine. Kellogg was the site of one of the worst U.S. mining accidents; a statue of a miner holding high a rock drill guards dozens of impromptu headstones at the Sunshine Mine Disaster Memorial. Miner's Hat Realty, a building shaped like a big miner's hard hat, complete with giant carbide lamp can be seen from I-90 on the north side of the road.
Do
[edit | edit source]- The Hiawatha Trail is a scenic section of abandoned railbed from the Milwaukee Road turned into a world class non-motorized trail. It starts on the Idaho-Montana border east of Wallace.
- Silverwood Theme Park in Athol, a short drive north of Coeur d'Alene.
Winter sports
[edit | edit source]- Lookout Pass Ski and Recreation Area on the Idaho-Montana border, east of Wallace.
- Schweitzer Mountain in Sandpoint.
- Silver Mountain in Kellogg is home to the world's longest single-stage gondola. Enjoy a scenic ride and take in the great views along the 20-minute ride to the top.
Eat
[edit | edit source]Drink
[edit | edit source]Stay safe
[edit | edit source]Go next
[edit | edit source]- North Central Idaho
- Northeast Washington
- Palouse — including Spokane, just west of Coeur d'Alene in Washington (state).
- Northwestern Montana — including Glacier National Park

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