Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes:
Idaho
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Description:
The Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes traces a path through northeast Idaho's riches, from its mining history to its natural beauty to its roots as homeland of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe.

The paved trail begins in Plummer, a few miles shy of the Washington border, and heads northeast along Coeur d'Alene Lake and the Coeur d'Alene River until Mullan, scratching at the Montana state line. The first 15 miles are managed by the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, the rest by the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation.

Mullan used to be the end of the road but the nonprofit Friends of the Coeur d'Alene Trails has helped extend the pathway from Mullan roughly 11 miles to Lookout Pass on the Idaho-Montana border. This extension, known as the NorPac Trail, uses a Northern Pacific right-of-way that has become an open Forest Service road. It is marked and signed as a trail, with a packed-gravel surface. Yet people can still drive on it, often to access other nearby hiking trails in the Bitterroot Mountains, and you may encounter an ATV or other vehicle.

From the NorPac Trail, you can hook up with the Route of the Hiawatha.

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Parking & Trail Access:
You can access the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes from many places along its route. For more details visit Idaho Parks & Recreation.

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Reviews: [13 trail ratings]
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Winter Sports on the TCdA - yep!
By toolbear in January, 2012
I see there is a question about using the trail in winter, so I checked with the local trikers there and you can ski and such...


"During the winter, the Trail is open for bikes, walkers and cross-country skiers depending on snow coverage. When appropriate, ski tracks are laid between Enaville and Wallace. In addition, the six miles between Wallace and Mullan is also available to snowmobilers as long as there is at least 3 inches of snow covering the paving."

TrailBear
Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes is open year round
By Mt_Top in January, 2012
The CdA trail is open year round for winter recreation. Since the trail passed through towns, trailheads and road crossings, access is easy in most places. The east end to Mullan is open to snowmobiles, snow depth permitting. Currently (Jan 17 2012) there is about 6 inches of fresh powder snow on the trail in the Silver Valley area, except where it is plowed for walking near Kellogg, ID.

On the Friends of the Trail web page, scroll down a ways to Current conditions. This is a quote:

"During the winter, the Trail is open for bikes, walkers and cross-country skiers depending on snow coverage. When appropriate, ski tracks are laid between Enaville and Wallace. In addition, the six miles between Wallace and Mullan is also available to snowmobilers as long as there is at least 3 inches of snow covering the paving."

http://friendsofcdatrails.org/

Let's go skiing!

Mt_Top
World's greatest trail combination
By kevinpurdy in January, 2012
The Couer d' alene & Hiawatha trails are two of America's premier rail-trails. Combine them, and they may be the greatest in the world. After riding on the Route of the Hiawatha in 1998, I became hooked on rail trails and now spend an inordinate amount of time riding on them and writing about them.

I noticed that Traillink shows the Trail of the Coeur d' Alenes as being nordic ski accessible but on the Friends of the CTA website, it says the trail is not accessible in the winter. If someone knows the official answer, could you post it on the comment section of the Trail of the Couer d' Alenes page on trailsnet.com? Thanks!!
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