North Idaho summer group hikes scheduled

Two North Idaho conservation organizations have scheduled a full summer season of guided group hikes and related events, starting Saturday.

The trips range from easy to difficult and from the shores of Lake Pend Oreille to some of the highest peaks in the Selkirk and Cabinet mountains

Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness

The group’s summer series of hikes will begin Saturday with a trek into Thunder Creek northeast of Lake Pend Oreille.

The hike is the first of 15 the group is offering this summer along with three cooperative trail work projects coordinated with the Forest Service.

In addition, the friends group is offering two hiking workshops with author, naturalist and historian Jack Nisbett.

The group hikes are geared to exposing the public to the rugged and scenic 88,000-acre roadless area the group is proposing for wilderness designation. The area straddles the Idaho-Montana border northeast of Clark Fork, Idaho, and ranges into Montana.

“We have some great hikes, as usual, but we are expanding our focus to include more stewardship and education,” said FSPW program coordinator Sandy Compton.

See the schedule: scotchmanpeaks.org/

Idaho Conservation League

The league’s North Idaho hiking series starts Saturday with a walk out of Sandpoint along the proposed Pend Oreille Bay Trail, which ultimately could link communities along the North Idaho lake.

The rest of the hikes are geared to introducing people to the wealth of backcountry trail attractions in the Selkirk and Cabinet mountains.

Schedule: idahoconservation.org/