Northern Idaho Day Seven- Scheweitzer Mountain

 We went to Schweitzer Mountain thinking we were going to ziplining and taking the ski lift to the top for lunch. When we went to buy tickets the plan changed...

The woman at the counter convinced us that we didn't want to do the zipline meant for little kids and that we were in good enough shape to make the 2.5 mile hike to the top and then just ride the lift down for free. Our pride got the best of us. So we spent the money on good hiking socks from the store, laced up our boots, grabbed our hiking sticks and headed up the mountain. 

The weather was lovely and the view was fantastic as we got further and further away from The Village...

About 2/3 of the way up we saw a spur trail to Colburn Lake. Turned out it was an extra 2.5 miles roundtrip down into a hole. This meant straight downhill to the lake and then uphill back!

We just kept telling ourselves it would be better once we got back to the main trail. Somehow we forgot that we still weren't at the top and the steepest part was at the end... :/ 

At the top we had lunch on the deck of the Sky House restaurant, hiked the two loop trails and then rode the lift back to the bottom...

After that climb and temps nearing 90, we drove up to Sandlake and went swimming in the lake...

Then it was dinner at a brewery in an old bank building... Delicious!

The old vault was the nursing room in the women's bathroom...

Then we went out for ice cream. We figured we walked it off beforehand... LOL