Trail of the Coeur D'Alenes, 10 - 14 Aug, 2010

The Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes is a railroad grade that is converted to a very smooth bike trail, running from Plummer, ID in the west to Mullan in the east.  It crosses a nice bridge between Plummer and Harrison, ID and runs along Lake Coeur D'alene and the St. Joe River.  We went to Harrison on Tuesday, Aug 10, 2010, about an 8 hour drive from Eagle.

Salmon River in Riggins on the way north.

Cindy's Land Rover and our tent trailer.  The campground was not grassy or very shady, but nice overall for the lakeside, swimming area and facilities.  We could walk to restaurants and ice cream too.

After biking 30 miles we were hungry, that night we went to the Marina Restaurant.

On Wednesday we visited Coeur D'alene the city, lots of boats, a museum and Farmer's Market for Kettle corn. 

The museum made Carrie's head hurt, she was learning so much.  She was a good traveler in the car and on the trails.

Anna, Carrie and I liked the lake, sea planes and many nice boats in the marina and the Coeur d'Alene Resort.

The girls on a long floating dock the surrounds the marina.

On Thursday we got back to the purpose of our trip, inflicting pain on Carrie and I.  We hadn't trained very well, and our posterior regions paid the price.  Would you want to cycle in the remote woods with these two?

Our first day was a 15 mile trip up to Plummer and then back to Harrison, there is a mild, 3% grade for the last six miles into Plummer.  The lakeside trail and trip over a bridge to Chatcolet Lake were very nice, lots of nice homes to see too.  The bridge elevation is "stepped" to make bicycle ascents easier.  The six miles uphill were a bit more work for the weaker pair, but we made it to our reward in Plummer- root beer. 

Cindy and Carrie loved the bridge, we stopped on the way back for lunch near its base, at Lake Chatcolet Trailhead.

The asphalt trail is very smooth, Lake Coeur d'Alene is very large but nice for swimming.

Carrie rests on the long uphill pull.  Over six miles uphill is hard for small legs, and old ones too. 

We enjoyed a restaurant meal on Thursday, no one had that much energy left to cook.  On Friday we headed east from Harrison.  Carrie and I went to Swan Lake and then turned back, we wanted a total of 50 miles for the two days and we made it.  Anna and Cindy went a little further but turned back with us before too far, the wind was strong against us that day.  East from Harrison the Trail runs along the St. Joe river and a chain of lakes, beautiful country.  There are some farms to pass but no motorized traffic on the Trail.  We started to meet incoming bike riders from Ride Idaho, they were near the finish of a 450 mile week long tour.  They stayed in tiny Harrison too, our campground and the whole area filled up with tents.  Carrie and I didn't pass any of them as we returned to Harrison, but a lot passed us!

Carrie and Cindy scout our trail.

Rest stops were a good time to talk and enjoy the weather.

We had a great five days, the drive was long but worth it for us.  We liked our camp site and met some nice people to talk with near us.  The large crowd of bikers made it interesting.  A band played quite late on Friday, but I slept well.  Carrie liked the time with us and she is fun to have along.

The bunk mates enjoyed pestering each other, the tent camper didn't stay very well organized.

Carrie tells me she is a tween, not a little kid anymore.  The sunsets from our site were very nice each evening.  We had night time rain and wind, no real problem with the trailer.

A sliver moon, early star, sunset and a warm fire.  Good memories from our bicycle adventure.