COEUR d’ALENE — If you spend any time in Hayden or the northern part of Coeur d’Alene, you’ve probably noticed the small planes that frequent the airspace. They don’t quite reach the altitude of commercial planes — they cruise around 5-7,000 feet, to be exact.

This past weekend, I got the chance to ride shotgun in one of these planes, which fly out of Coeur d’Alene Airport-Pappy Boyington Field in Hayden. As I often share in this column, I’m constantly amazed by the natural beauty of North Idaho. But to see it from 5,000 feet — wow.

The views from 5,000 feet had all the scope and benefits of being in midair, while still being low enough to be below the clouds and see the region’s topography in detail. Viewing Lake Pend Oreille from this vantage point, for example, was the first time I’ve fully grasped the full scale of Idaho’s largest lake.

The cliffs that contain the southern end of Lake Pend Oreille seem to rise straight out of the water, rising high enough to catch the season’s first snowfall on the trees. Though Pend Oreille is a lake, the sheer grandness of the landscape, in my opinion, can only be compared to the way parts of the western coastline rise impossibly steep and rugged out of the Pacific Ocean.

We were lucky enough, especially for this time of year, to fly on a day with high visibility. This offered a different sort of perspective — compared to the mountains, lakes, valleys and prairies that make up the North Idaho landscape, our cities are relatively small. We’re closer to the natural world (and to wide open spaces) than it can sometimes feel when you’re in the middle of town.

Though seeing North Idaho from a bird’s-eye view was admittedly one of the coolest experiences I’ve had here, our home is no less beautiful from the ground level. All it takes is perspective — and I’ll always recommend a trek into the mountains for an especially good view.

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Hailey Hill is a reporter with the Coeur d’Alene Press. She can be reached at [email protected].