Amenities

Parking, bathrooms, picnic tables, boat ramp, shore launch, swimming.

History

Trestle Creek is named after the long wooden railroad trestle that was built by the Northern Pacific Railroad in the early 1880s, which was situated just over a mile west from here. During the winter months what remains of the original wooden pilings can be seen at the mouth of Pack River. In those days, the main line of the Northern Pacific crossed the river and ran along what is now Sunnyside Road. 

Following the railroad boom days in the 1890s through the first several decades of the 20th century, Trestle Creek and the surrounding mountains was a center of local mining operations.  Iron, copper, silver, lead and gold ore were plentiful, and well into the 1920s, a number of mines operated just north of here.  

The area around the mouth of Trestle Creek has been a popular camping spot since the early 1900s. Authors Jack London and Opie Reed were rumored to have camped here during the summer of 1905 or 1906. Travel boomed following World War II, just in time for the opening of the Pend Oreille Recreation Resort at Trestle Creek in 1946. Chris and Mae Schulz took over the operation a year later, when the resort included twenty boats, two four-person cabins, and a residence with room for six more guests. Jeb and Margaret Best bought land nearby in the summer of 1955, and began construction of a second campground catering primarily to travel trailers. Their popular business, known as Jeb and Margaret’s Trailer Haven, continues in operation today.  

During the late summer and early autumn months, Trestle Creek is still a spawning ground for local Kokanee salmon. The red colored “spawners” can be seen making their way upstream to their spawning beds. Due to dwindling numbers of fish, the creek is closed to fishing. Before so many died off due to environmental disturbance and other factors, native Bull Trout and Cutthroat Trout abounded, and were a prime target for anglers.