Despite the name NorPac, the trail doesn't always follow the NorPac rail. Sometimes if follows the NorPac access road. Sometimes it follows the forest service roads created on the old NorPac rail line. Sometimes it follows forest service/County roads that don't have anything to do with the rail line. The maps of the route vary greatly. The one here on TrailLink seems as close as it could be. It matches what Garmin put into their biking map in the bike computer. It was easier to follow the Garmin map than any of the others. Most of the signs pointing out the route are gone so if you don't have a bike computer like the Garmin, it can be difficult to figure out where the trail goes in a couple spots like the pass, Taft, and Saltese. The Borax tunnel is collapsing so there is a bypass route. It's easy to find, just turn on the road when the big sign says road closed. You can still ride down to the tunnel to see the Borax tunnel. It's easier to see the collapsing from the bottom end of the tunnel. If you are coming from Mullan, the trail head from Larsen to the Yellowstone trail trailhead is really hard to find. Just get to the sign about the Hale Fishery and turn left. There is a good signage where it crosses the road to the snowmobile parking area/Yellowstone trail. The road was not difficult to ride. There are a lot of potholes but they are easy to get around. There are a couple of places where I'm not sure what the road builders for the forest service were thinking. With the exception of the bypass at the Borax tunnel, it's all easy to bike in both directions. The Borax Tunnel bypass is easy to bike down but going up is a hike-a-bike section. It's not long. The pass going from Mullan to Saltese is confusing if you don't have a map on your bike computer. The actual trail goes through the equipment parking area. The paved road to the left will get you down the pass to Taft, but it is not the trail. The trail swings out to some beautiful scenery, the paved road follows I-90 for the most part so it's noisy and not the best paved road I've ever ridden. At Saltese you can jump up to the Route of the Olympian. Do it at the sign about 1/2 mile before Saltese. Doing the hike-a-bike up the road at the trestle in Saltese is quite the uphill push. There is a sign telling you where to go up to access the upper route. It's a sign for four wheel vehicles, not bikes, so be aware of that. From there to St. Regis, the Route of the Olympian is fairly level, slightly downhill, and follows the St. Regis river for the most part. I parked at Taft and road up and over to Mullan so the trail made more sense. Then I biked back to St. Regis. 64 miles total but two beautiful trails. Neither trail had much traffic but they did have some so keep an eye out. In 64 miles I saw three ATVs and one group of six dirt bikes. Not much at all for that distance. I did ride on a Sunday so I expected more. I don't know how to post photos so some of this would be more clear. It was quite enjoyable and I'll likely do it again next year.
