Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Paddling Pend Oreille Sea Kayaking Guide Quietly Invades North Idaho’s Big-Boat Playground With New Idea

Rich Landers Outdoors Editor

Josie Merithew has taken a paddle to the image of an Idaho outfitter.

In a state that has a long tradition of certifying horse packers, white-water rafters and fishing guides, Merithew is the first to offer guided flat-water kayak tours.

“That sort of surprised me,” said Merithew, who founded Full Spectrum Tours on Lake Pend Oreille last year.

“She’s the first to approach us to get a license for this kind of activity,” said Dean Sangrey, the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Licensing Board executive director in Boise. “She doesn’t seem to fit under our umbrella.”

Sangrey admitted that seems strange, since most licensed white-water guides offer inflatable kayaks as an option to clients on raft trips.

Meanwhile, flatwater kayaks and canoes, which were around for several millenniums before jetboats, are officially unrecognized as a recreation activity in Idaho.

“The board very well might make an amendment to include lake paddling as a guided activity,” Sangrey said.

Meanwhile, Merithew, 39, has slipped quietly into the North Idaho tourist scene without rocking a boat.

“I’ve already fulfilled all the things the licensing board would require, including liability insurance, trained guides and CPR and first-aid training,” she said. “I also have the necessary Forest Service permits.”

An Idaho resident since 1983, Merithew has traveled throughout the Northwest as a tree planter for reforestation projects.

“My first love was river kayaking,” she said, “but Pend Oreille Lake really caught my eye. I’ve wanted to do something positive and low-impact. I figured kayaking was it.”

She started with a small offering of tours and kayak sales. This year, she’s expanded into group rentals, classes and a full range of custom tours with a staff of 15 part-time guides.

“If you want to do something to preserve what we still have, you have to get people in touch with it,” she said. “Kayaks are a good way to accomplish that. They’re quiet. They don’t leave a trace.

Lake Pend Oreille is a prime spot to execute this philosophy.

“It feels a lot more remote than other North Idaho lakes,” she said. “Sure, there’s development from Sandpoint to Farragut, but you get on the east side around the Green Monarchs and it’s beautiful and pristine. Coeur d’Alene seems so crowded and metropolitan in comparison. That’s not really the environment a paddler wants to be in.”

Merithew uses stable and seaworthy open-deck kayaks. They can’t be swamped, and there’s no intimidating cockpit to exit in case of capsizing.

“I think kayaks are more suitable to changing conditions. They’re easier for beginners, especially the open-deck kayaks. They move quicker. When it comes to taking beginners out in 6-foot swells, I’d prefer a kayak.

Tours have attracted everyone from kids to seniors, women-only groups and teen-only groups.

“The only common denominator is that these people want a little adventure, and usually they are people who appreciate the environment,” she said.

Merithew specializes in custom tours. A group can book a musician, a photographer, a videographer, wildlife specialist or a massage therapist to entertain, instruct or soothe sore muscles.

They have a goat and boat wildlife-watching tour, and bird-and-float bird-watching tour, plus a full moon paddle for people seeking serenity.

The five-day tour follows the shoreline below the Green Monarchs, which tower 3,000 feet above the lake.

We take advantage of southwesterly winds and use sails,” she said.

The shortest excursion is the three-hour “Gilligan special, which departs from various points on the lake. Cost is $35. It’s the only guided trip Full Spectrum offers that doesn’t include food.

“I’ve found good put-in points all around the lake to take advantage of different features,” she said.

Tours on the lake run through September, with fall foliage trips at the mouth of the Clark Fork River running through the colorful autumn month of October.

The Clark Fork River delta is full of wildlife and spectacular with color that time of year,” she said. Merithew is trying to drum up interest from the Forest Service and Fish and Game agencies to establish a water trail at the mouths of the Clark Fork and Pack rivers.

Merithew also caters to locals with unguided rental options.

“People who know this area from their boats might not want to pay the extra money for a guide,” she said. “But they still might want to see it from the perspective of a kayak. We offer a package to deliver the kayaks, paddles and life jackets and other gear to the put-in.We give an orientation and then they take off. We meet them at the designated pullout and all they have to do is unpack their bags and take off. We load the boats on a trailer and get everything back to town.

After her first season last year, Merithew packed her bags and explored the kayaking opportunities in Baja California.

“Eventually I’d like to take trips there in the winter,” she said. “But I’ll have to see how it goes here. After a busy season of guiding on Lake Pend Oreille, I might be ready to go to Baja and recover all by myself.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Color Photos