Pictures from Drive Along the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes

June 13: From our trip to Coeur d'Alene, ID, we piled the dogs in the jeep and drove a loop east on I-90, exciting south on Idaho State 3, to St. Maries following the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes southwest toward the Plummer trailhead. We stopped at Heyburn State Park for lunch, and walked the trail to the bridge over the southern tip of the Lake. It was chilly with a cool wind, but still fun to walk the trail even just a small section.

The Route of the Hiawatha follows the old Milwaukee Road railbed, as does the Old Milwaukee Scenic Alternate Trail, from St Maries, through Avery, then north to Pearson. The Hiawatha begins at the East Portal of the 1.6 mile long Taft Tunnel in Montana and exits in Idaho. The journey continues through nine more tunnels and across seven high steel trestles.

We definitely will return and find a way to ride both trails. We'll probably only be able to ride a short section of the Route of the Hiawatha--but it is definitely in the planning stages! With the winter they have had the facilities, shuttles, etc. began running June 11.