MORE TIME ON THE TRAIL OF THE COEUR d’ALENES

Our morning began with a walk all around the campgrounds where we discovered what appears to be a day camp area, or at least an area for kids crafts. 

At the entrance, Serenity and Katrina may have made this owl sign, or Katrina found serenity here...

Handmade Checker board game...

Craft table with supplies...

An emergency shelter made from materials at hand.

Exploring a little further, we came to a trail that led us to a dock out to the lake.

Looking closely at the next photo, slightly to right of center, you can see that bridge we crossed yesterday.

Here is a better photo of the bridge from the dock.

After exploring on foot, we got back to our campsite and geared up for our bike ride. Having not ridden to the very end of the trail, we did that on this day. It made for a shorter day but uphill to the very end, with headwind all the way took some energy we had not had to expend on yesterday’s ride ;’-).

Here is a map to show where we are. Heburn State Park at the bottom is where we are camped. The red trail going up to and over the Chatcolet Bridge is the direction we rode yesterday. Indian Cliffs TH is the point where we turned left to ride to the western most point of the trail today.

A little more about thre Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes. In 1884 Silver was discovered in this area and that led to the construction of the railroad line in 1888. The brochure tells us that the trail, which follows much of the original rail line, was an ‘innovative solution’ to environmental problems caused by early mining activities. The asphalt and gravel barrier along the trail edge serve as a clean barrier, but riders are warned to stay on the trail or in designated picnic areas to avoid any contaminated areas. And though fishing is allowed along the entire trail, it is not recommended in certain areas due shoreline contamination.

Continuing on with our ride, we near the town of Plummer and a tunnel brings us under the highway. This trail is managed and very well maintained by the Idaho 

Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe. 

This tunnel is one example of how well maintained the trail is.

 Here, at the beginning of the trail at the west end, is the memorial to “Warriors and Veterens”.

As we had fought headwind and an uphill route to get here, we could have had a ‘no pedal’ contest on the way back. 

We saw this bird stalking something in the weeds and stopped to watch for a bit. The bird took mini steps toward its prey and as we got close we spotted some little thing scamper away into the woods. We don’t know what this bird is, but it was the most patient, and slow stepping we had ever seen.

With  a smooth downhill, freewheel coast, in no time we were back at the trailhead. So, we took to the road to explore another campground. The road was paved until we got to the turn for the camp, then hard packed dirt with little gravel became our path.

Marking their country home.

It was up and down some grades, and was quite a distance in to the closed Chatcolet Campground. A path led us back down across a field to the trail which brought us home.