Wiildrose Goes Kayaking - Farragut/Bayview Traditional Cache

When I go to a new boating area, it's always SO helpful to me when I know parking & launch info, and info on the paddles. I got to thinking that other people would be grateful for this valuable information also, so I've decided to create some caches that will help others. I am going to publish a series of caches with all the information that I can find to help kayakers to make informative decisions. I hope these caches help you.

If you do not have an Idaho State Parks pass there is a $5 day fee, unless you are camping at the campground. Be sure to stop by the Visitor Center for more information on the park. There is SO much to do here! There is a boat launch here at Farragut, as well as one down the road, in Bayview. The Bayview boat launch may have a launch fee, and is a smaller launch. I prefer the Farragut one. You can launch at either place and kayak back and forth anyway. When you are in Scenic Bay (Bayview's bay), you will see signs of the Naval base there. It is still in use. They test submarines in the area. This lake is very deep! Also, there are some kayak caches straight across the bay from the Farragut boat launch, to entice your further.

Farragut boat launch is at: N 47° 57.924 W 116° 32.753

Bayview boat launch is at: N47* 58.844 W 116* 33.510

Visitor Center is at: N 47° 57.083 W 116° 36.197

FARRAGUT STATE PARK INFO:

Located on the southern tip of Lake Pend Oreille in the mountains of northern Idaho, 4,000-acre Farragut State Park offers beautiful scenery, history and an abundance of recreational opportunities, including disc golf, radio-controlled airplane field, fishing, hiking, biking, swimming, boating, camping, equestrian facilities and even World War II history as the world's second largest naval training base - don't miss the Museum at the Brig during your visit. In winter, it is a premier cross-country skiing and snowshoeing destination. For boaters there is a launch ramp and docks. New to the park is the Tree to Tree Adventure Park.

HISTORY OF FARRAGUT STATE PARK:

Ground was broken in March 1942, and by September the base had a population of 55,000, making it the largest city in Idaho. Liberty trains to Spokane ran three times daily. At the time Farragut was the second-largest naval training center in the world.

During the 30 months the base was open, 293,381 sailors received basic training at Farragut. The last recruit graduated in March 1945 and the facility was decommissioned in June 1946.

From 1946-49 it was the site of the Farragut College and Technical Institute, which did not re-open in late 1949 due to financial difficulties. The park adjoins the deepwater Lake Pend Oreille, where the Navy maintains a submarine research center at Bayview, the Acoustic Research Detachment. The land was transferred to the state of Idaho in 1949 and became a state park in 1965.

OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST:

Disc Golf Course area is huge and actually has 3 separate courses, but the main parking lot & restroom are at: N 47° 58.169' W 116° 33.551'

Museum is very interesting. It can be accessed by the South Road/Ward Loop and the parking coords are: N 47° 57.915' W 116° 34.845'

Tree to Tree Adventure Park is past the Disc Golf parking lot and the general coords are: N 47° 58.152' W 116° 33.279'

Shooting Range is located at: N 47° 58.400' W 116° 36.389' It's always seemed kinda strange to me to have a shooting range in a state park/campground. I don't know much about this part of the park.

Hiking/Biking There are miles and miles of old roads/trails in this park. It would take forever to hike or ride them all! You can also snowshoe or cross-country ski them in the winter. Idaho is very beautiful in the winter.

LAKE PEND OREILLE (Pond-er-ay):

Lake Pend Oreille in the northern Idaho Panhandle is the largest lake in Idaho and the 38th-largest lake by area in the United States, with a surface area of 148 square miles . It is 43 miles long, and 1,150 feet deep in some regions, making it the fifth-deepest in the nation. The lake is fed by the Clark Fork River and the Pack River, and drains into the Pend Oreille River, as well as underground into the Spokane Valley–Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer. It is surrounded by national forests and a few small towns, with the largest population on the lake at Sandpoint. The majority of the shoreline is non-populated and all but the southern tip of the lake is in Bonner County. The southern tip is in Kootenai County and is home to Farragut State Park, formerly the Farragut Naval Training Station during World War II, of which a small part is still active and conducts U.S. Navy acoustic underwater submarine research. During World War II, the south end was the second largest naval training ground in the world and the largest "city" in the state. Built as a result of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the training station is now Farragut State Park. The lake's Large Scale Vehicle Range is still used by the Navy's Acoustic Research Detachment for sonar testing with large-scale submarine prototypes on the Pend Oreille Calibration Station. The significant depth gives acoustic properties similar to the open ocean. Background noise is less than at ocean testing locations, and the sound signatures being investigated cannot be monitored by foreign governments in international waters.