Since we didn’t have far to drive, we took time for a short bike ride before we packed up and headed out. We left Turah just before 11am (Mountain time) on Thursday, June 25. We arrived at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds RV Park around 1:45 and now we are on Pacific time; we’ll be in that zone for a few months!
On Friday drove over to The North Idaho Centennial Trail, part of which hugs the shores of Coeur d’Alene Lake.
Chuck did an Ironman race here, almost exactly 8 years ago (June 24, 2012) and part of the bike course was along this very hilly trail.
Th Veterans Memorial Centennial Bridge was an impressive structure that we crossed when we drove the 4 lane I-90 into Coeur d’Alene. It reminded us of the 2 lane Natchez Trace Viaduct in Franklin TN, but they are designed a bit differently.
We rode out a little over 3 miles and back again; a bit more of a climb than Linda could handle. Plus, her gears were slipping on the uphill – Jim did some adjustments on both of our bikes and they run better now!
Saturday we looked for a nice place to ride and drove up to English Point. The trails there were not conducive to our skill level, but we found a nice trial to walk/hike on.
A portion of this trial ran beside a lake
After lunch, we tried out a portion of the “Rails to Trails” Trails of the Coeur d’Alenes; a 73 mile paved trail set on a former railroad bed. It spans the “smokestack” of Idaho. It starts in Plummer, generally follows the shoreline of Coeur d’Alene Lake and marshland environment and follows the Coeur d’Alene River up into the mountains at Mullan.
We rode 7.26 miles west from Cataldo and back again on this lovely paved trail along the Coeur d’Alene River.
On Sunday, after we worshiped virtually via YouTube with Stephens Valley Church. We packed up a lunch and headed out again to ride more of the Trails of the Coeur d’Alenes. We started at the Bull Run Lake Trailhead, which we came close to on our ride Saturday before we turned back east.
This portion of the trail ran mostly through a marsh where we saw ducks, geese and this egret.
It was around 60 degrees and a bit windy. We rode west about 7.5 miles and back again.
We had lunch at the trailhead and then headed back to Acey. There was a “Itty Bitty Horse Show” at the fairgrounds during our weekend stay, which was just wrapping up, so Linda went to see some of the little ones.
We head west to Washington State in the morning!
The weather appears to be cooperating with you. Love those itty-bitty horses.
Running on the trail next to the lake was in my top five during my running days.
It was nice and fairly flat right by the lake where we started – but the hill – it was too much for us!!
Looky, looky, at all the blue skies! And unstoppable despite the covid quarentine. You do know how to travel. What fun. I’m inspired to travel, too.