Priest Lake Region

Often called Idaho's "crown jewel," Priest Lake is flanked by the rugged Selkirks and the Canadian border, offering abundant recreation opportunities.

Priest Lake derives its name from the Jesuit priests who established a base camp at Kalispell Bay in the 1840's. 

It is one of the three largest and most beautiful lakes in the Idaho Panhandle.

The world's largest Mackinaw trout was caught in Priest Lake in 1963. Cutthroat trout and Kokanee salmon are also found. 

Upper Priest Lake is part of the Upper Priest Lake Scenic Area. There were previously five small parcels of private land totaling about 420 acres on Upper Priest Lake. The Forest Service purchased these tracts in 1967 with assistance from The Nature Conservancy. The entire shoreline of Upper Priest Lake is now owned by either the State of Idaho or the U.S. Forest Service and is administered as a scenic area.

Upper Priest River, which flows into Upper Priest Lake, has been considered for inclusion in the Wild and Scenic Rivers system along with the lower Priest River, which was famous in the early 1900s as a log-drive stream. The first recorded drive was in 1901 and the last in 1949. The greatest drive took place in 1931 when 50,000 cedar poles and 125,000,000 board feet or logs were herded down the river by the "river pigs."