Find the top rated cross country skiing trails in Idaho, whether you're looking for an easy short cross country skiing trail or a long cross country skiing trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a cross country skiing trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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Very busy trail on Sunday afternoon. Was a beautiful afternoon. Trail along the lakeshore is nicely paved but shares the road. Not a main road and traffic moved slowly. Started the trail at Cheamkwet Park and rode east. Trail is marked but not that well. Stopped a number of times to check our route. Part of the trail travels along a residential street with a fair amount of traffic. We only rode a few miles and returned to parking and then went west for a couple miles. Fewer users that direction. Wide paved path. Would be worthy of another ride next time in area.
Wrote this trail from the city of Coeur d’Alene to the Washington border in early September. Some nice sections along the lake, but also some rather boring very exposed sections closer to the Washington border.
I wrote this gorgeous gravel tunnel and trestle trail with Road Scholar group early on a September morning. No crowds, probably because it was after Labor Day and early in the day.
Flat and smooth, not exactly scenic - but it was a pleasant little ride.
Road 8 miles from Tetonia to Ashton where we were finally forced to turn around. The trail is gravel, yes, but variable sized rock which push tires sideways as well as rough. It’s also a two-track. I ride a recumbent trike which meant I always had a tire in the overgrown median. We turned around after we were overwhelmed by the thistles which hit us in the face and shoulders. On our return to Tetonia we met two groups. One was a family with 3 under 8 years. I thought how unfriendly the trail is to someone with a child trailer.
The trail from the Clearwater bridge to Hells Gate SP is my review area. The State Park reminded me that all the fees they charge for upkeep on their beautiful park. Don’t forget to keep an eye out for Goatheads ( puncture vine, ground weed with yellow flowers ) that will ruin most a bicyclist day and the trail gets considerably narrower in the SP. Just wish the Rangers @ the State Park rode bicycles too!
Rode from Donnelly over the west mountains, then did new meadows to council same day (Great food at Sprockets in council). Rode from council to Weiser second day (Breakfast at OH Honey was awesome), would recommend 2" or larger tires, lots of chicken head rock on the trail and some moderately sandy sections. Super fun ride, lots of wild life, Owls, herons, egrets, deer, coyote, massive piles of bear scat on the trail. Section from midvale was hot and exposed, bring lots of water and sunscreen!
If you want smaller crowds, come in September and be at the trail at 8:30am. This way I was pretty much the first to ride and third in the line for the shuttle at the bottom. First shuttle is at 11:45 so you don’t have to hurry. Do bring lights and warm jacket, it is chilly in the mountains and even colder in Tuft tunnel. I am disappointed that someone gave the trail one star. Seriously, pave it for “experienced riders” so “they can ride on road bikes”? It is a mountain wilderness trail, that’s the beauty of it. And yes, families also have rights to enjoy it. Besides, get hybrid bike and ride up, I have seen quite a few people doing it. If you want paved, CDA trail is like 10 miles away, all 90 miles of it.
What a pleasant surprise. We were camping along Cascade Lake and found this trail. We rode our bikes leisurely along the old train bed through the woods which often emerged with grand lake views. The grade rose slowly along then you notice the land dropped off on both sides of the trail—like a land bridge. Lots of wildflowers. Just wonderful.
While camping at Lake Cascade we were looking for someplace to ride our bikes and found this trail. It starts out on top of what appears to be a levee along the Payette River. It’s fairly level so and easy hike or ride. We went along some trailer homes then the trail opened up into the wilderness. We rode along the river then came to some rapids that were part of a white water park. Not crowded.
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.
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