Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm a third generation Coloradan looking to escape the crowds that have made me feel like a stranger in my own state. I've spent some time in Boise, and I really love the people there (reminds me of Denver 20 years ago!) but feel that Northern ID is more similar to where I grew up in Colorado (Conifer/Evergreen).
I'm an avid outdoorsman, and spend pretty much all of my free time either mountain biking, hiking/climbing, and snowboarding. My wife and I are visiting CDA in a couple weeks to see if that might for the bill, but I wanted to see what you all think might be the best fit for mountain sports minded people. We also like to shoot guns, and drink beer (not at the same time of course!).
We're both in our late 30s, and I need to live approximately one hour from the Spokane airport for my job. Thanks for any recommendations/advice!
Anywhere on the Rathdrum Prairie is within an hour of GEG. When you visit, bring your bike. Ride the Route of the Hiawatha if you bring your MTB or cross bike, (better with a suspension bike, a bit rough with a cross bike). Or, if you bring your road bike, ride the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes out of Plummer or the Centennial Trail from CdA to Spokane.
If you just want to walk in the hills, you can take the loop around Tubbs Hill, (short), or wander all over Canfield Mountain. Lugged boots are better, but you can wear tennies and be all right.
- - -
Oops. The Haiwatha Trail is closed for the season. Won't re-open until the end of May. Still, plenty of off road riding in the area, if that's your preference.
Thanks for the info Volosong! This upcoming visit I'm probably just going to pack my gear and rent a FS bike. I'm planning on riding Beauty Bay loop and some of the other trails in the area. I'll check out some of the hiking areas you recommended too!
The further north you go along 95, the closer you'll be to the Schweitzer ski resort! Of course you don't have to actually live on the slopes. The Rathdrum Prairie is within easy driving distance. But if you want to have that feeling of being high up in the mountains, you'll have to get closer to Sandpoint. I hear there are great hiking opportunities in the Selkirks north of Sandpoint, and I know from spending summers (so far) in Clark Fork that the Cabinets would be a terrific weekend hiking destination for you. The Scotchman Peaks trail has just reopened.
I recommend taking a day-trip and driving up to Sandpoint if you have that much time to spend--partly for the views, driving across the Long Bridge into town, and partly for the beers at MickDuff's and Eichardts!
The further north you go along 95, the closer you'll be to the Schweitzer ski resort! Of course you don't have to actually live on the slopes. The Rathdrum Prairie is within easy driving distance. But if you want to have that feeling of being high up in the mountains, you'll have to get closer to Sandpoint. I hear there are great hiking opportunities in the Selkirks north of Sandpoint, and I know from spending summers (so far) in Clark Fork that the Cabinets would be a terrific weekend hiking destination for you. The Scotchman Peaks trail has just reopened.
I recommend taking a day-trip and driving up to Sandpoint if you have that much time to spend--partly for the views, driving across the Long Bridge into town, and partly for the beers at MickDuff's and Eichardts!
While there are ample outdoor recreational opportunities throughout north Idaho, I think you may face a bit of a tradeoff between how close you want to be to the prime areas for that vs. your travel time to GEG. As CFF points out you can certainly travel to Schweitzer from the CDA area, but you might like to be closer to Sandpoint for better access to what many would say is the best skiing in north Idaho.
There are some great hiking opportunities in the Selkirks north and west of Sandpoint, as well as in the Cabinets which are often accessed from out towards Clark Fork. I haven't climbed for many years, but I think there is some climbing in the Selkirks as well.
That said, if you were to live in Sandpoint or thereabouts you would be outside your requirement for 1 hour travel time to GEG. I figure about an hour and a half to GEG from Sandpoint under normal road conditions.
The character of north Idaho does change as you head north. Kootenai County (CDA is the county seat) has about 4X the population density of Bonner County (Sandpoint is the county seat), and in turn Bonner County has about 3X the population density of Boundary County to the north of us. So you can see that north Idaho becomes markedly more rural has you head north. Knowing that may help you focus on the area that best fits your needs.
I'm assuming you may need good Internet access for your work. That's a consideration you should keep in mind as you think about where you might settle. In many locations outside of the towns themselves your only option may be satellite, which is slow, expensive, and does not work with most VPNs. There is a network of microwave Internet service towers which is better than satellite, but you need line of sight to one of the towers for that to be an option for you.
Anywhere you are in or around CdA will put you closer to the airport than what you're used to. Ditto for ski areas, it's a quicker trip to Schweitzer or Silver Mountain than it is from Evergreen to Breck.
I'm actually supposed to be in Denver this afternoon for GABF. Had to cancel, wife is sick :-(
to the OP, your situation is much like mine. Landed in CDA on 9/6, the day we closed on our house. Lived in Evergreen, CO from 1992 to 2013, lived in Lakewood from 2013 to 2015, then fled back to the hills in Evergreen in mid 2015. We left CO as we felt it was too crowded and prices were getting crazy so acreage was becoming unaffordable.
As far as mountain biking and hiking I have not explored too much yet but that will be a work in progress. Some friends from Evergreen recently visited and they are good at researching mountain bike trails and they only came up with two close to CDA so I think biking might be a bit more limited than in CO. Living in Jefferson County we were a bit spoiled by all of the Open Space Parks which the county had the foresight to develop, from what I have seen close to CDA there is not as much public land so hiking and biking are not as readily available.
PM me if you want to ask me any specific questions or meet for a beer when you are up here. Kent
to the OP, your situation is much like mine. Landed in CDA on 9/6, the day we closed on our house. Lived in Evergreen, CO from 1992 to 2013, lived in Lakewood from 2013 to 2015, then fled back to the hills in Evergreen in mid 2015. We left CO as we felt it was too crowded and prices were getting crazy so acreage was becoming unaffordable.
As far as mountain biking and hiking I have not explored too much yet but that will be a work in progress. Some friends from Evergreen recently visited and they are good at researching mountain bike trails and they only came up with two close to CDA so I think biking might be a bit more limited than in CO. Living in Jefferson County we were a bit spoiled by all of the Open Space Parks which the county had the foresight to develop, from what I have seen close to CDA there is not as much public land so hiking and biking are not as readily available.
PM me if you want to ask me any specific questions or meet for a beer when you are up here. Kent
Hey Kent!
I lived in Evergreen through about '94... We probably saw each other at Safeway at some point, ha ha. I lived over on Forest Hill. Where did you live?
I've been checking out the local CDA trails and definitely noticed the same thing compared to the JeffCo trails. Definitely a negative and will ultimately be a big factor in our decision.
Let's definitely meet for a beer. Also, thanks for the info on CDA!
Last edited by MtnPilot; 10-07-2016 at 10:40 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
that the Cabinets would be a terrific weekend hiking destination for you. The Scotchman Peaks trail has just reopened.
