Went walking at the Cougar Bay Preserve and John Pointer Memorial Natural Areas at the Southwest corner of Coeur d'alene Lake. The 2 areas are connected by the paths that wander along the forest at the edge of the lake. The Cougar Bay Preserve has a parking area that is off of highway 95 about 3 miles or so south of the city of Coeur d'alene. The paths are steep and windy so be ready to climb. The wetland with its pink water lilies, cat tail and grasses is beautiful and a nice start to the walk. The paths are sided by old growth timber, ferns, brush and tall grasses. As you get to the lake side you have some views of the lake through the trees. When you came around and start to head south again you are greeted by a fork in the trail the right one heads back down toward the parking the left heads up the hill and further east to the John Pointer Wildlife Sanctuary. Going to the left you come upon a wooden viewing deck that you can see the Coeur d'alene Resort hotel from. the view here is still obstructed by trees but you can see some of the lake. A little further up the hill and you come to a gravestone, I guess John Pointer was really buried here as it says its a cemetery and another marker saying its the John Pointer Memorial Cemetery and Wildlife Sanctuary. I would advise you to return down past the view deck and backtrack to the fork and go back down that way. I decided to follow what looked like a path, maybe, just past the big trash bin and just ended up going over fallen tree's and through thick brush to reach the return trail the hard way.
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