All About Adventures blog for 2011
09-01-2011 Kayaking on the Priest River was awesome today. Ben, age 10, learned how to whistle for osprey and we paddled with one (?) for miles along our Green Owl route. Kayaking, biking or hiking can't be better than in northern Idaho where great temps, strong sunshine, fresh water and nature's creatures scittering everywhere make you want to stay out all day long! Also need to thank Carolyn from Blue Diamond Marina & Resort in Coolin for taking such good care of our guests from Seattle!
08-27-2011 Mountain biking in Sandpoint, Idaho is spectacular! Rode strong creek Trail 444 - Bee Top Trail 120. 34 miles, 4700 feet of climbing! Not for the faint of heart, big, loose miles and switchbacks descending to Lightning Creek are in need of attention, but what a ride! Strong Creek; Right off Lake Pend Oreille in Hope at the Hope Market Cafe. See pictures on All About Adventures' Facebook page and more info on the bike page.
08-22-2011 Kayak runs on the Priest River, volume at late summer levels, 380cfm, made route finding the key. Still plenty enough to make for a swim! Want to thank The Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper for inviting us to their 1st Annual Lake Celebration. What a pleasure it was to meet so many folks interested in our lake and the sport of kayaking.
08-14-2011 Kayak trips on Lake Pend Oreille and the Priest River helped introduce 8 new folks to America's Most Beautiful Small Town; Sandpoint, Idaho. Lake Pend Oreille kayaking was our warm up. Check out All About Adventures' Facebook page for recent pictures of kayaking the Priest River.
08-01-2011 Ran the Priest River with the Tims I & II, Chet and Mel. Eagles, moose, osprey, king fisher and trout!
07-29-2011 THANK YOU to the Rumaner's from Portland for an awesome time kayaking around Lake Pend Oreille and the Pack River Delta! Pictures from the day will go up on the kayak page soon!
ps Western Pleasure Guest Ranch, love the referrals!
07-28-2011 THANK YOU participants of WNRS '11!
The smooth riding, the drops in times over the month, the smiles brought on from dirt miles, the friendships made around a healthy sport! Too cool! Results will be posted on the bike page soon!
Bonner General Hospital, Total PT, Performance PT, Eichardt's & Pucci's Pubs, Sandpt Sports, Two Wheeler Dealer, Vertical Earth, BPK and Todd House DMD, Laughing Dog Brewing, The Daily Bee, Staples and Farragut state park: YOU ROCK!!
07-23-2011 USA Today, Rand McNally name Sandpoint most beautiful small town in America! The contest victory brings along a slew of publicity. A page in both the upcoming Rand McNally atlas and an issue of USA Today will be dedicated to the town. An hour-long Travel Channel special will also feature the contest winners. Yeehaw!
07-20-2011 Mountain biking in Idaho; WNRS Week III tonight at Farragut! Great conditions; low temps, no dust! 24 Hours for Hank providing BBQ! Jason Duchow snapping pics and making a video! Results in the Daily Bee. Eichardts FREE KIDZ ride! Raffle prizes from Sandpoint Sports, Two Wheeler Dealer,Vertical Earth, Puccis Pub and of course, Laughing Dog Beer!
(see bike page for details see affiliates page for links)
07-07-2011 WNRS mountain bike ride kicked off with 60 adults and 10 children, or should I say 70 kids, had a blast last night. A couple of course amendments will be added next week to handle the flow and there's going to be a great BBQ provided by a consortium of POP and the organizers of the 50 Miles at the Pass ride. Jason Duchow Photography's video of week I the 4-week event captures the action, less the BBQ. Times will be posted tommorow on the bike page.
07-03-2011 WNRS by Bonner General Hospital and Selkirk Powder Company
kicks off the 1st of 4 events Wednesday, July 6 at Farragut State Park. 12.3 mile course suitable for all ages and abilities. Eichardts FREE KID'S ride each evening. Come get checked out by BGH nurses before and after your lap. Pend Oreille Pedalers will be cooking a bbq. Made an affiliates page to share Sandpoint fun and just blew up the bike page, it will be rebuilt soon. ARRRGHH! ITMT Call us for biking tour details.
06-22-2011 First day of summer starts out with a Sandpoint Dog Tour! I'll be launching from Sandpoint City Beach with our clients from Seattle, we'll paddle the slough and take a look at Schweitzer's snow capped summit. Look for more Sandpoint adventures like horseback riding at Western Pleasure Guest Ranch, Silverwing at Sandpoint Airport and The Holland Brother's, Action Water Sports getting links here soon on our new affiliates page. (see boating page for details)
06-16-2011 Started out the bike year with the ladies from Michigan! I want to thank Rosanne and Reggie for treating me lightly around the singletrack and doubletracks of Farragut. After picking up some rental x-country bikes from Schweitzer, I met the them in downtown Sandpoint at Greasy Fingers. In the light rain we rode the Lynx Trail to Squirrel Cache to Highpoint to Lakeshore and then rejoined the Lynx at the goat viewing area. The gals couldn't stop looking at the views, so some of technical sections of Lakeshore Trail was best completed on foot! We had such a good time it instigated me to make some new local bike tours. Read more on the bike page.
We're really happy to announce that we've expanded the boating tours to include lake tours by traditional kayak, sit-on-top hardshell kayak and canoe. Read the new tours on the boat page.
Still ninety inches of snow at 6000 feet in the Selkirks. Hiking can include snowshoeing! See the hike page.
05-27-2011 Welcome to Ken Barrett's All About Adventures blog for the summer of 2011!
Follow along here, or on AAA's Facebook page, to stay current of all sorts of mountain bike, road bike, hiking, photography and kayak action up here in the northern Idaho Panhandle.
Presently the 3rd largest snowpack in Idaho's history is in melt-mode creating floods down in the valleys! Hopefully the rivers will settle out soon and when it does, we'll start kayaking runs on the Priest River and begin offering flat water or stand-up paddle boarding tours on Lake Pend Oreille and Priest lakes.
You can track the Idaho river flows and check out our splattering of trips by using the links in the kayak and stand-up paddle board page.
For mountain bike action, be a WiNneR at the Wednesday Night Ride Series (formerly SISNA) scheduled for
July 6, 13, 20, 27th!
WNRS press releases start the 7-week mountain biking /cycling campaign next week.
The course is mapped and you can check it out on the bike pge.
And road bike rides don't get any better than the Cycle Hard For Education aka CHaFE 150, promoted by the Panhandle Alliance for Education, Saturday June 4. AAA will be providing the safety teams in 2 SAG (support and aid group) 15-passenger vans. Riding along with Ken and Dave"Fast Eddie" Parsons will be 2 nurses from Bonner General Hospital. Come ride this great loop.
Learn more about CHaFE on the bike page.
As for hiking, stream-side fishing and photography, the lake shore trails of Pend Oreille and the Priest Lakes are getting nice, but elsewhere up high in the Selkirks, where today ther is still 140" of wet snow, we'll just have to wait out mother nature and the melt.
For updates, see the hike, fish and photography page .
To take a look from the crest of the Selkirks, the famously snowy mountain range, use Selkirk Powder Company's summit lodge webcam at 6336' on Schweitzer Mountasin Resort in Sandpoint. From the view point you can see Mts. Harrison through to Spokane. Take a look for the Preist River which is flowing at the 2nd highest level since 1997.
Click here to use the Selkirk Powder Company webcam
Thanks for reading. Come back again to read about expanding your possiblities of travel adventures up here in the Idaho panhandle.
We strongly urge area outfitters and activity directors to contact Cassie Tauber, Sales and Reservations Manager, she'll discuss with you adding your information to our growing list of fun and exciting things to do. |
