Coeur d'Alene

The lake is about forty kilometres long, ringed by forested hills, and the town sits at its northern end. The resort's floating boardwalk runs around the marina for something over a kilometre on pontoons, claimed as the longest floating boardwalk in the world. The golf course has a green on an island that actually floats - it is moved by cable to different distances from the tee each day, between roughly ninety and two hundred metres, and players are ferried out by boat to putt. The Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, a paved rail-trail, runs about 117 kilometres east from the lake through the old Silver Valley mining district on a corridor remediated after heavy metal contamination.

What's there

• A floating boardwalk - over a kilometre round the marina.
• A floating golf green - moved by cable, reached by boat.
• A forty-kilometre forested lake - with cruises from the town.
• A 117-kilometre rail-trail - east through the old mining valley.

When to go

June to September. A full day.

Good to know

Summer weekends fill the town and lakefront parking. The floating green costs a full round to play. Winters are grey and quiet. The rail-trail crosses ground remediated for mining contamination, which is signposted.

Nearby

Spokane is west; the Silver Valley runs east.