Trail of the Coeur d’Alene’s

After a couple of not-totally-successful tries on the Centennial Trail, I talked to a lady working at the campground who recommended another trail, a way better one. We drove about 20m east on I-90 and headed south to the Bull Run Trailhead. She assured me that we would see more animals than people. From the looks of the parking lot, word has spread since her last trip out there.  This trailhead is at mile 33 of about 60, so we had a choice and decided to head east to the town of Cataldo, a 16m round trip.

 A quick trip to the potty and reading the sign there revealed that there are 36 species of pine trees on the continent. More reading would probably have told me how many we would see on the trail, but I didn’t hang around that long. Anyway, I had a mindset for the ride. The first I noticed were the long needle type. There were several short needle types; I say several because the branch patterns varied. My favorites were the ones that look more like fern branches hanging off of pine trunks. They are wide lacy branches that lay delicately on top of one another. Names of these different types would only cloud my scanty knowledge!

But there was more to see! We biked along farm fields, lava rock mountains, deciduous trees of all types, lakes, marshes, and a river that beautifully reflected all of it. We stopped at the Mission Café for a great lunch (Russell a hamburger, me a turkey-cream cheese-cranberry sandwich). And then hit the trail back to the car. It was just a pretty going west.

Day 2:

We headed directly south out of the park down US 95 to the town of Plummer and then east to Heyburn State Park. Looking more at the map, Russell decided to not bike that section which travels a bridge over a narrow section of Coeur d’Alene Lake and then up the shore line to Harrison. We would drive to the town of Harrison instead.  Now the trail, set out by the train company roughly a century ago, is a distance of less than 15 miles. The state road, connecting several towns along the way, is closer to 30 miles of sheer beauty! We stopped to see where the St. Joe River flows between 2 lakes that it separates. Weird to see the river flow between 2 still bodies of water. The St. Joe is the highest navigable river on the continent-a little known fact.

Harrison is definitely a river town. All activity centers on the river and the bike trail that runs along the river. It is a pretty town of bike shop, bars, ice cream shop, and houses on the bluff above a very busy marina and river below. We headed west from mile 15 towards the Bull Run Trailhead of the previous day. This section of the path is even more populated with bikers and walkers. It is also even more beautiful. Marshes are full of birds, lily pads of different types, cattails and other marsh grasses. A chain of lakes is connected by the Coeur d’Alene River. Evidence of the timber business glory days is sprinkled in and still active, but only in a limited way.

We rode north for roughly 4m, then back to town for lunch. We set out toward the bridge to the south to see how far we could get. Riding, you can usually hear a biker coming up to pass, they often say, "On your left." I heard conversation coming from behind and expected the usual, but instead just heard very quick peddling coming around. This boy, on the smallest bike I have ever seen without training wheels, was totally focused on passing me, which he did in grand style. He may have been 4, certainly not 5 yet. I felt very old. Very slow. Totally outclassed. The boy's father had a slower pace, but passed me all the same, congratulating the son on his good job. Precious. Mom caught up later with 2 toddlers in a carrier. A neat family outing.

We got within sight of the bridge, called it done and headed back. Another 4m out and then back. On the return trip I saw the shadow of a fairly large bird coming up from behind. A soaring hawk swooped down ahead before landing in the tall branches of a pine. We also spotted several nesting osprey. The smaller birds I can't name, but they certainly add to the music of the trip.

Now when I cite the mileage on our trips, I am talking about the miles that I traveled, give or take. Russell logged way more than that because he would get a significant distance ahead and then come back to see how I was doing. Sometimes, he went ahead when I turned back, and of course he beat me back to the start. He didn't go twice the miles, maybe half again. He got more exercise. I took more pictures and had all the exercise I could handle.

We are taking advantage of the rails that connected these logging centers via the Rails-to-Trails program. They carved out the mountains to create the most direct, flattest route possible. We all thank them, mostly. Signs along the trail warn bikers to not get off the path to respect private property. A longer version sign warns that the soil may still be contaminated with lead and other harmful matter. The trail and associated Wayside stations are the only safe locations. They warn to carry hand sanitizer and use it liberally prior to eating and to not sit on the ground or place food on the ground. Interesting.