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Love this trail and have ridden it for yrs but rode again summer 2018 and couldn’t believe how poorly maintained it was. Wash-board most of way. In addition, the Taft Tunnel had a few extremely slick areas and I almost crashed. Didn’t used to b that way. First time I had ever been excited to leave. Had a very long wait in the heat for the shuttle bus d/t the large masses. Hope they get their act together bc this is a treasure!
I was recently exploring trails connecting to the Hiawatha, Coeur d'Alene. I drove the section east from Mullan and had difficulty following the route. As mentioned in previous posts, it is not well signed. The turn at the fish hatchery was a guess and then signed 50 yds up that barely noticeable overgrown gravel road. I encountered this problem several times and mentioned it to the host at the Wallace Railroad Museum (which is awesome!). She said that PEOPLE STEAL THE SIGNS! That's very unfortunate. Perhaps they can engrave on posts that won't be so easy to steal?
I wasn't on it for long, but this section is very scenic, remote and worth the effort.
I am from Florida but ever since I first read about the Route of the Hiawatha it was on my bucket list. I traveled out to Idaho with my Dad over Labor Day weekend 2018. I wanted to share the experienc with him because his grandfather worked on the Milwaukee Railroad and the Route of the Hiawatha. The trail lived up to everything I had read and more. My Dad and I created memories for a lifetime in a beautiful part of this country. I decided to ride back up to the East Portal after we reached Pearson (my Dad took the shuttle back). The ride up was tiring for this Floridian for whom bridges are a big climb but it wasn’t all that bad. I will say when I go back (when not if, I’m already planing a return trip with my wife) I’ll probably skip the ride back up and just take the shuttle. The ride down is enjoyable and leisurely, the ride up is definitely exercise and I was paying much less attention to the beautiful scenery. Make sure you have a camera and don’t miss the Trail of the Coeur d’ Alenes, especially down near Lake Coeur d’ Alene in Harrison!
Still under development, but several beautiful loops and extensions are available for short bike day trips or walks. Signage much better now.
It’s a great trail but it gets pretty rough, like a forest service road. Doable with hybrid tires. The first tunnel is 1.67 miles long, and is 48° all the time, so even though it’s 80° outside, it’ll be cold in the tunnel so being a jacket. It’s also wet in the tunnel so if you don’t have fenders, expect a dirty back. Tip, if you get there early and only plan to go one way, drive to Pearson at the bottom and park your vehicle there, then take the shuttle to the top, and then ride down to your car. The shuttle line was huge yesterday and once school starts they only have one or two shuttles. It was an hour to get in the shuttle yesterday.
We only rode sections of this part of the Milwaukee Road rail trail. When we finished riding the Hiawatha at Pearson, we were the only people continuing on bikes. Everyone else was shuttling back to their cars. We were on the rail trail for about half the nine miles to Avery. We continued across the St Joe's North Fork, crossing the bridge and staying on Moon Pass Rd. This is basically a continuation of the Hiawatha; Avery was a major stop on the line. There are several more tunnels along this section. The surface is rocky, so even though we were descending to the river we weren't able to really enjoy it as much as we should have. Wider tires might have helped. We rode 700x32.
From Avery to Calder, we opted to stay on the pave St Joe River Rd, so I can't speak to the condition of the railroad grade. In speaking with those who did ride it, it's decent until Calder, though somewhat washboarded and sandy in spots. Again, wider tires would help. I can speak to its beauty; the views are the same from either road, only opposite sides of the river. Spectacular vistas, with the river and the hills and the pines. Stop 12 miles west of Avery at the Forest Service interpretive center.
We rode the entire length of the North Idaho Centennial Trail as part of a self-guided tour in the area. From its western terminus at the beautiful bridge over the Spokane and the artwork in a tunnel, we enjoyed every minute. It didn't bother us that we were along I-90 for several miles; it was just great to have a separate paved trail to get us from Spokane to Coeur d'Alene. And we got to share the interstate's rest areas! We didn't even have a road crossing until Post Falls. Signage was excellent. Even though it was a very hot Saturday in late July, we didn't mind sharing the trail with all the beachgoers.
East from CdA the trail is separated from traffic and has several rest stops. It does climb to its eastern terminus. Beautiful trail.
My husband and I rode the NorPac as part of a weeklong bike tour, self-guided, in the Bitterroots. It's incredible that you can link several trails together and experience this great region without major climbing. I can't give it 5 stars for a few reasons. First, there need to be more signs. Second are the directions for following the trail given here and elsewhere; they are confusing since road numbers are hard to find.
The connection in Mullan from the Trail of the CdA is seamless. It's easy to see on online maps that one must follow Friday Ave to Larson Rd, and there are some signs. Staying on Larson til it ends at the fish hatchery gets you to a dead end, even though the NorPac is an invisible spitting distance away. Better to turn left onto Cole Ranch Rd just before Shoshone Park and find the trailhead immediately on your right. My Garmin Etrex 20 showed the trail and tracks so we easily found it from the hatchery anyway, as you could also do from Shoshone Park.
The climb from there to Lookout Pass was very easy and beautiful. The beginning of the descent required lots of braking, and the rest of the ride we had to go slowly down to avoid big rocks. Wider tires might have helped; we used 700x32. Though it was slow going it was very nice. If you don't mind bumpy, then you might not worry about avoiding rocks.
We did not turn up Rainy Creek Rd towards the Hiawatha; instead we continued straight onto Randolph Creek/NorPac Railway which follows I-90 and the St Regis River to Saltese, MT, riding the entire length of the NorPac Trail. I detail this and neighboring trails in my journal: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/myidahopanhandle
Departed the Enaville trail-head at dawn on July 29. 2018 and rode to Chatcolet bridge by mid-morning. Stopped at Harrison for lunch on the ride back (One Shot Charlies) and returned to Enaville in the afternoon.
Total miles was 79.5 - but we are rounding it to 80!!
Excellent ride that was cool at the start (55f at 6 am) and hot at the end (95f at 4 pm).
Three of us riding (myself, age 53, wife age 52, and daughter age 21).
It was an epic trip and I cant say enough positive things about this trail.
My wife dropped me off at Rose Lake Trailhead. I rode the trail to Harrison, had lunch with her, and then did a round trip to Chatcolat Trailhead and back to Harrison. This was a beautiful, flat ride. I enjoyed this more than any paved trail ride I have done. It was 18 miles on the first leg and then 15.5 on the ride to Chatcolat and back.
I passed some small groups of walkers near trailheads. Everyone I encountered, both on bikes and walking, shared the trail and we all enjoyed our day. Great, easy ride!
I really cannot add more about the spectacular scenery that other reviewers have commented on. This really is a must-do trail. If you decide to make that effort be warned that weekends will present heavy bike traffic with a number of folks not knowing which side of the trail to ride on and parents oblivious to rules of the bike road. I encountered one accident where a boy who was not supervised by his guardian caused an accident with a small girl on a bike. Be alert or go during the weekday. Accidents can happen, but guidebook authors are not kidding when they state how popular this trail is.
I went in July with a friend who was riding an adult trike. I rode a single speed mountain bike and went down and back from the East Portal. The trail is rough with small stones (not pea-size gravel like many rail-trails) so skinny tires would not be advised. If you are going to ride your trike on this trail be advised that there are bollards and some of them have posts spaced too close together to get your trike through. And, you cannot go around them. While my friend got through a few of the bollards by really having to slow down, there were several areas where friendly folks had to help lift the bike up and over the bollards. This is definitely a drawback - even people who were pulling carriers had problems. When my friend finally got to the end she was talking with one of the shuttle drivers and he mentioned "oh, just tell a trail steward at the start of the trail that you have a trike and they will send someone to remove one of the posts so you can get through." Ok, but this was not posted anywhere, nor did any of the numerous trail stewards at the East Portal mention this to her as we awaited instructions for going through the long tunnel. None of the guidebooks or the Hiawatha Trail website or literature mentions this either. I understand the need for the bollards but somebody needs to make these areas a bit more trail friendly.
And yes, the Taft Tunnel at the East Portal trailhead is long and pitch black. Get a powerful light to use and have a rear blinking light so others behind you know where you are in the tunnels.
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