Hayden Lake was named by Matt Hayden, a self-made Irish Immigrant, this privilege being his winnings from a legendary game of Seven Up against John Hagar. Prior to European settlement, the lake and its watershed were inhabited and cared for by the ancestors of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, also known as the Schitsu’umsh, meaning “those who were found here.”

Hayden Lake nestles at the western edge of the Coeur d’Alene Mountains that flank its north, east, and southern sides. The “Rimrock,” forms its western

border, the remanent of ancient Columbia Plateau lava flows. Hayden Creek, the lake’s largest tributary, flows in at the far north end. The lake drains to the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer through its southwestern reach with no perennial surface outlet.

In 1910, the construction of the dike at the lake’s southern tip altered the water’s flow, extending lake into a previously dry meadow north of Ross Point.

Before the dike, the area filled with water only during the spring runoff. Now, it is inundated year-round.

Looking up from the shoreline, you will see that the lake is the focal point of a 41,000-acre watershed dominated by mixed coniferous forests of pine, fir, hemlock, cedar, and larch, with 62% located within the Idaho Panhandle National Forests.