Phase II: North Idaho
So, we embarked on Plan C: drive over Lookout Pass to Wallace, Idaho, where we kitted up, took down the bike, and rode the 12.5 km up to Mullan, 250 meters higher elevation. The ride back was very chilly, at speeds up to 30 kph. This 25-km ride completed our coverage of the entire east end of the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, a 115-km (230 km round trip) paved rail trail from Mullan to Plummer. The only part left we hadn’t ridden was in the middle, from milepost 29 to milepost 39. As we stopped for lunch in Wallace, I discovered I had lost part of my keychain in the last few days in all the excitement: It had my Army dogtag and our bicycle lock keys on it: fortunately we hadn’t locked up the bike, but it’s still a loss. We have duplicates of the keys at home, but I had lost the other dog tag many decades ago.
We planned to camp near milepost 29, but the camp spot listed in iOverlander as a lakeside space for a few campers and a pit toilet turned out to be not as advertised, up a narrow track to the top of a hill, where we were saluted with a beer held high by one of the two guys who were already there. The pit toilet was at a boat launch farther up the road, which was posted no overnight parking. So, we backtracked to the CDA River RV Park in Cataldo, where we had camped in 2019 and had cut our bike ride short at milepost 39 when a thunderstorm rolled in, barely making it back to camp before it hit.
In the morning, we decided not to ride from the nearby Cataldo Trailhead, as it would have been a long ride upriver on the return, so we drove to the Bull Lake Trailhead (MP 33.5), rode to MP 29, then back up to MP 39.5. We met another couple on a tandem who had been riding the whole trail in several days, camping along the way.
This completed the entire trail for us, which began with a 61-mile ride from Harrison to Plummer and Medimount back in October of 2004, with five to 20-mile segments over the years, as we had time when we passed through and the weather cooperated (which it often didn’t). Most bicyclists ride the entire trail both directions in two or three days: we were passed coming and going by a woman on a time trial bike, full aero, who passed us going up-river at at least 45 kph, while we lumbered along at 17-18 kph. This final segment turned out to be 33 km.
A bit tired after two days back-to-back rides longer and harder than we had done all year, we drove down to St. Maries, hoping for a decent camp at the fairgrounds, but it was a dump, so we phoned the Heyburn State Park office just before closing and were assured there were four sites left to choose from: 13 miles of winding cliffside road later, we backed into a level site next to the showers and had a great evening and good sleep.
We checked in/out in the morning and found our way to the bike trail for photos of the Chatcolet Bridge we had crossed on our 2004 segment, and views of the lake and Plummer Creek Marsh. Then, down ID 3, a new route for us, enroute to Judy’s brother’s in Caldwell, Idaho. We stopped for lunch at a riverside forest service camp, then made our way to US 12 and US 95 to Winchester, for another state park, checking in in mid-afternoon, after a day of driving through the mountains and eastern end of the Palouse, and down into the fire-ravaged canyon and the town of Juliette, then up US 95.
(to be continued)