Coolin, Nordman and the Communities of Priest Lake

Priest Lake does not have a town on it. It has communities, most of them too small for a stoplight, strung along two shores that never meet. Knowing which is which is half of understanding the lake.

Coolin

Coolin is where the lake begins and where almost everyone arrives. It sits at the south end of the east shore, at the point where the Priest River drains the lake and heads south to meet the Pend Oreille. The village grew around a steamboat landing and an inn in the early 1900s, and its role has not changed: post office, general store, marina, fuel, a handful of restaurants with summer hours, and the public beach and launch.

From Coolin the East Shore Road runs north past Cavanaugh Bay, with its shallow warm water and small airstrip, toward Indian Creek, the state park's main campground, and on to the trailheads that climb into the Selkirks. The east shore gets the sunsets and keeps the mountains at its back.

Nordman

Nordman is the west shore's outpost, a store, tavern, post office and fuel pump on Highway 57 about a mile inland from the water. Named for an early settler, it is the last stop before the pavement heads for the Roosevelt Grove of Ancient Cedars and the Washington line. Reeder Bay, a short drive east, is Nordman's beach: resort, marina, Forest Service campground and a long sandy shore at the mouth of Reeder Creek. In winter, Nordman becomes a snowmobile trailhead with groomed routes leaving straight from the highway.

Priest River

Priest River is the nearest real town, an incorporated community of a couple thousand people at the junction of U.S. 2 and Highway 57, about 25 miles south of the lake. It has the supermarket, the hardware store, the schools and the clinic. For the lake it is the supply line, and the timber town the river drives once fed.

The bays and cabin neighborhoods

Between the named places are the neighborhoods people actually mean when they say they have a cabin at Priest Lake.

• Luby Bay, on the west shore south of Reeder Bay, holds one of the lake's historic resorts, a Forest Service campground and the Priest Lake Museum in a 1930s cabin.
• Reeder Bay is the west shore's summer center: beach, marina, campground and cabins in the trees.
• Cavanaugh Bay, just north of Coolin, is warm, shallow and busy, with a marina and the airstrip.
• Kalispell Bay and the islands offshore are boat country: Forest Service campsites, sandy coves and the busiest water on the lake in July.
• Lionhead and the far north end are state park and forest, reached by the East Shore Road's final miles or by water, with the Thoroughfare to Upper Priest Lake beyond.

How the communities work

There is no lake-wide government. Bonner County, the Forest Service, Idaho Parks and Recreation and a set of volunteer institutions share the job: the fire districts, the snowmobile and trail clubs, the yacht club, the museum and historical society, the Priest Lake Chamber. Most of the people who run them have family history here measured in generations. Any new business at Priest Lake, ours included, exists at their pleasure and should act like it.

Read more in the full Priest Lake guide, including dedicated pages on Coolin and Nordman.

Frequently asked questions

What is the main town at Priest Lake?

Coolin, at the south end of the east shore, is the main service community, with a post office, marina, store, fuel and restaurants. Priest River, about 25 miles south, is the nearest incorporated town.

Is Nordman on Priest Lake?

Nordman sits on Highway 57 about a mile west of the lake's west shore. Reeder Bay, the nearest lakefront, is its beach, campground and marina.