Introduction
We got a tip from family members that the beach at Sandpoint (Sandpoint City Beach) is a great place to spend the day in the sun, and that parking is free. This is welcome news considering it costs so much to park or go anywhere these days. Additionally, the temperature was going to get up around 90 degrees Fahrenheit, so it sounded like a great place to stay cool.
We arrived at the Sandpoint beach park just after 10:00 a.m. on a gorgeous Saturday in July, pleasantly surprised by the close parking spot (also in the shade) that we pulled into. The easy parking lasted for another hour or two before parking in the park filled.
The Park
After unloading the car we walked directly out to the beach and had almost the entire beach to choose from. It was difficult to know where the best spots were given such a massive beach. However, we chose a spot with flat sand, close to the bathrooms, and outside of the roped-off swimming areas.
The park has:
- Basketball courts
- Charcoal grills
- Picnic tables
- Trees for shade
- Tennis courts
- Roped off swimming areas
- Volleyball courts
- Free parking
- Bathrooms
- Garbage cans
- Water spigots for rinsing off body and feet
- And, finally: a lot of beachfront
In my opinion, the best aspect of the beach is that it's on Lake Pend Oreille, which is a massive lake that is fed cool and clear water. The shoreline is sandy, and in combination with the clear water, makes the location pictured below look almost tropical.
Boat Traffic
Lake Pend Oreille gets a lot of boat traffic. I liked our location because it was away from the slips so we didn't have to ingest boat fumes as they throttled down their speed close to the docks.
On the other hand, we were outside the roped-off swim area so pontoon boats, jet skies, and motorboats came right up the sand in areas where people were floating, playing in the water, or hanging out on the beach. Furthermore, the beach was really busy.
It wasn't that big of a deal, but some of the drivers of the jet skis were underage. To the point where, when a police boat showed up, they were whistled in by supervising adults so they would not get ticketed. This is why it was very noticeable how close they were to other swimmers when they entered or left the beach.
Finally, the police boat was very active, pulling over jet skiers, paddle boarders, and boaters.
Goose Sh*t
Everything about the park was great, truthfully, a wonderful place to go except for the insane amount of goose droppings. The sand was covered in it. You couldn't avoid it.
The grassy areas weren't much different. We didn't see any geese but—wow—did they make their mark. It was hard to ignore, it's still hard to ignore. Everything we brought to the beach had, at some point, probably touched dried goose feces.
The cleanest places were down close to the water, so the grossness can be avoided if you stay right on the water's edge.
Impression
We had a great time at the park. The water was refreshing, the parking was free, and there was lots of space. Something else we talked about, but didn't do, was walk into town for a drink or bite to eat. The park is very close to downtown and it's an easy walk to the main street.
Sandpoint is an hour and a half from Spokane, although it doesn't feel like that long of a drive because traffic was relatively scarce. I imagine we'll be making this trip again next summer. That should be long enough for us to forget about the goose poo...