A photo story

The Mickinnick Trail sign above Sandpoint

I stopped at the Mickinnick Trail sign above Sandpoint, Idaho, in June 2023. The sign tells how Nicky Pleass donated 160 acres to the Forest Service in 1997 in memory of her late husband Mick, and how the name comes from Mick and Nicky plus the kinnikinnick plant that grows along the trail. It was late morning, around 75 and partly cloudy, with a light breeze.

It lists the trail at 3.5 miles one way, switchbacking past big rock outcroppings and through grassy meadows and old growth timber, up to 4,300 feet for about 2,150 feet of gain. The views it promises include Lake Pend Oreille, Sandpoint, the Cabinet Mountains, and the Pend Oreille River.