Best Hikes in Idaho: The Shoreline Loop Trail

BASIC INFORMATION

• Name: The Shoreline Loop Trail
• Where: Farragut State Park
• Distance: 3 miles
• Elevation Gain: 269 feet
• Max Elevation: 2,233 feet
• Time: 1-2 hours
• Difficulty: Easy
• More Information: Day Hike! Spokane, Coeur d’Alene, and Sandpoint

Google Earth Map of the Trail

Directions

Getting to Farragut State Park is very easy.  First of all drive to Coeur d’Alene and then take Highway 95 north towards Sandpoint.  About 25 miles up the highway make a right on to Highway 54 toward Farragut State Park.  This is a major intersection which is well signed and will be hard to miss. Once on Highway 54 follow it for about 5 miles to the Farragut State Park entrance.  I recommend stopping by the visitor center to pick up a trail map of all the different hikes in the park.

Parking

The parking for this hike is at the upper lot of the Farragut Boat Launch.  The lot is enormous, but it can get packed in the summer.  There are plenty of other alternate parking points located along the hike such as at the Whitetail Campground.

Narrative

My kids wanted to go on a hike the day after Thanksgiving so I decided to make the drive over to Farragut State Park and check out the trails there.  The park is located is a forested area adjacent to the stunning Lake Pend Oreille.  It is hard to believe now, but back in the 1940’s this park actually used to be a major U.S. Navy training site that was home to 40,000 sailors.  Over the proceeding decades the land was slowly handed over to the state of Idaho to become the outstanding State Park we know of today.  When we arrived at the park we stopped by the visitor center and picked up a trail map for $1 from a very friendly park ranger.  After consulting the map my kids and I settled on hiking the Shoreline Loop Trail.  After parking we walked over to the trailhead that has the below signboard explaining the natural environment of the surrounding ponderosa pine forest:

From the signboard we then proceeded to walk across the boat launch road to the trail:

Across the road the trail heads towards the nearby pine forest:

Once in the forest we saw the below sign that marked a junction for the Shoreline Loop Trail:

We had the option of first hiking along the coast line that the sign was pointing towards or walking through the forest on the upper trail.  My kids decided they wanted to hike the upper trail first and return along the coast line.  So we continued on the upper trail and to our left we could see Lake Pend Oreille through the trees:

All throughout Farragut State Park remnants of its Navy past can be seen and the Shoreline Trail is no different.  While walking along the trail we noticed this old chimney that likely heated a barracks building back in the 1940’s:

When we reached the Whitetail Campground we spotted this sign that listed the distances to various areas in the park:

From the campground we continued our hike on the upper trail:

We next came to the Shoreline Picnic Area:

The area had a couple of picnic tables for anyone who brought lunch with them:

However, the real attraction of the picnic area is the view of Lake Pend Oreille:

A short distance from the picnic area we next came to the parking lot for the Beaver Bay Beach.  The beach was closed for the year so there were no cars parked here when we arrived:

We then walked across the parking lot to the so called beach area:

The beach does have some sand that was dumped for people to sit on, but most of the beach is composed of rocks:

Lake Pend Oreille was created by a massive glacier that cut through the surrounding hillsides, the rocks on its shores is remnants from its geological past:

While my kids threw rocks into the water I decided to deploy my drone to take a few pictures of the lake.  In the below picture the Beaver Bay beach can be seen on the lower left:

Pictures from the air from this section of Lake Pend Oreille don’t do justice to how massive this lake is.  Lake Pend Oreille is not in the top of the largest lakes by surface area in the United States, but if measured by water volume it is the 8th largest lake in America:

The lake holds so much water because of how deep of a gorge the ancient glacier carved into the bedrock tens of thousands of years ago:

This section of the lake was carved out of the side of the 5,138 foot Bernard Peak that looms above the lake:

The far end of the lake where Farragut State Park is located is the smallest section of the lake.  The tail of the lake located in the park is called Buttonhook Bay:

Buttonhook Bay is located adjacent to the Beaver Bay Beach area.  This small seasonal island is what gives this bay its buttonhook shape:

After flying the drone for a short while my kids were ready to follow the trail along the shoreline back to the parking lot:

After following the shore for a short distance we came upon the trail that leads back to the parking lot:

It was a chilly fall day, but overall we could not ask for better weather on the day after Thanksgiving:

The trail was in great shape and we were making good time getting back to the parking lot:

Soon we could see the boat dock ahead of us:

Before reaching the boat dock the trail came to a fork.  Going straight leads to the boat dock and going left leads up hill back to the upper parking lot.  Since we were parked in the upper lot we headed left up the hill:

Conclusion

My kids and I really enjoyed the Shoreline Loop Trail, it has a nice forest to hike through, some historic ruins to check out, beautiful lake views, and a beach to explore.  The trail is in great shape and perfect for families with small children to hike.  The hike is 3 miles long when hiked all the way Beaver Bay.  There are options to make this a shorter hike such as by accessing the return trail at the Shoreline Picnic Area.  My kids really enjoyed exploring the beach though and had no problems with the mileage.  This really is a nice family friendly hike in a state park we all really enjoyed visiting.