No Need To Bust Out Sun Gear Yet

Don’t set your sights too high for getting outdoors over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Unless you’re bringing skis.

Forest Service rangers still are issuing avalanche reports for the Sherman Pass area west of Kettle Falls, where more than a foot of snow fell last week.

Car-campers, anglers, hikers and bikers should plan on hanging low in river valleys and scablands at least for another few weeks.

Anglers will need weighted tackle to reach trout in the St. Joe River when Idaho’s stream season opens May 27, but the river has cleared considerably and you can see bottom through the high water at Avery.

For the first time in memory, the entire reaches of the St. Joe and Coeur d’Alene rivers will open on the same day. That will allow anglers an earlier-than-normal opportunity to fish the Coeur d’Alene downstream from Enaville during the period larger cutthroats are migrating up from their winter holding areas.

The trail along the upper Coeur d’Alene River is open, and, for the first season, the route is designated for non-motorized use only.

“A few dangerous spots have kept most motorcycles off the trail in the past,” said Jack Durell, Panhandle National Forests trails coordinator. “It’s time to prohibit motors before somebody gets hurt trying to push through.”

Also near the Upper Coeur d’Alene River, the Independence Creek Trail is open, although the creek is still high and fording can be difficult.

Motorcycles (but not ATV’s) are allowed on the Independence Creek trail. This summer, the Forest Service plans to cut off access to the middle portion of the trail at Snowbird Meadows, where RV’s and ATV’s have been making their presence known in recent years.

Lowland campgrounds throughout the region are scheduled to be open for the May 27-29 holiday weekend. Campers with foresight called months ago to get reservations for sites at popular Forest Service campgrounds, such as those at Priest and Sullivan Lakes. The toll-free reservations number, in case you want to file it away, is (877) 444-6777.

That number also is useful to reserve sites at Corps of Engineers campgrounds, such as the four along the Pend Oreille River between Sandpoint and Oldtown.

For information on these corps-managed campgrounds, the weekend tours of the Albeni Falls powerhouse or renting a picnic shelter, call (208) 437-3133.

Campers fond of the quaint lakeside campsites at Noisy Creek on Sullivan Lake have only a month and a half to enjoy them before they are closed for major reconstruction. Meanwhile, campers seeking their own undeveloped piece of heaven can go only a half dozen miles or so up Sullivan Creek.

“The snow has been off the ground here at the (Sullivan Lake) ranger station for quite a while,” said Kim DiRienz, Forest Service spokeswoman. “But you go a little way up the road and you hit snow fast.”

Road access can be deceiving this time of year. Plows opened Forest Highway 7 over Thompson Pass more than a week ago. But the trails near the Montana-Idaho border to Revett and Blossom lakes are still choked with snow.

The opening of Moon Pass between Wallace and the North Fork of the St. Joe River gives bikers and hikers in the I-90 corridor easy access to the Route of the Hiawatha rail-trail, which will open Memorial Day weekend.

Priest Lake’s lake-shore trails and the Navigation Trail to Upper Priest Lake have been cleared, and boaters may want to explore the new two-mile trail that circumnavigates Kalispell Island.

But you’d better be in awesome shape if you want to paddle to Upper Priest Lake. The flow is still ripping through the thoroughfare between the two lakes.

The St. Joe River Road has recently been opened all the way past Red Ives to Spruce Tree Campground. Trail maintenance on the St. Joe River trail isn’t scheduled for another few weeks.

Blue Mountains lowland campgrounds are open, but as of this week, crews still have not been able to reach the Misery Springs and Godman areas.

Of course, no one has to stray far from Spokane or Coeur d’Alene to enjoy the Memorial Day holiday outdoors.

One could hike or bike local trails, such as the ones at Liberty Lake County Park, where trillium and other wildflowers are in brilliant display this week. And since you wouldn’t be rigging blue tarp shelters and drying socks over a campfire in the fickle late May weather, you’d have much more time to take in local entertainment, or ready your camping gear for the nicer summer weather.