The trailhead in Plummer pays homage to warriors, both current and past. The trailhead, and first approximately 15 miles of trail are on Couer d' Alene tribal land and the tribe manages it's use. Traveling on the trail is seamless, and there is no difference whether the tribe, the state, or BLM manage any particular section. There was a map posted at the trailhead and informational brochures available.
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| The wall to the left held names of local men and women who died in action |
The trailhead parking area was a little remote for my liking, so I parked about a quarter mile away in downtown Plummer. Before I even got out of the parking lot I realized I had left my cycling gloves in the vehicle. We were getting a bit later start than hoped for, so I didn't take the time to go back and get them. We planned to ride to Cataldo Mission. I had been there 45 years earlier and wanted to refresh my memory and at 84 miles round trip it would be about as far as Julie wanted to ride. We started off eastward.
I know the Northern Idaho Panhandle as a mountainous region. I expected this rails to trails route to be gentle grades following a sinuous stream but bordered by towering hills and mountains. I was about to get a surprise.
The trail started out in open rolling countryside. We soon entered a more forested section and before traveling 2 miles we came upon a moose! The moose was in a boggy area not 10 feet from the trail. It was in no hurry to leave and we watched it for 10-15 minutes.
After getting our moose fix we continued on our way. We stopped at every informational sign board, and there were many!
There were not many people on the trail compared to other paths we've ridden. Coming across other users was reason enough to stop and talk! We saw only 12 other users all day. We came across this group of smiling cylclists about 5 miles into the ride. We spent about 15 minutes sharing stories with them.
After about 7 miles of steep (by railroad standards) 3% descending we arrived at Lake Couer d'Alene.
We crossed a long bridge over the lake that was only open to trail users. It appears that it is a highly modified railway bridge.
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| Chatcolet Bridge |
An Osprey has made the bridge home.
We crossed the lake then continued northward along it's eastern shore toward Harrison. I had sent Julie on ahead while I took the photo of the Osprey and had to work hard to catch back up.
Harrison is a small town (population 203!) that has some great scenery.
We turned up the Couer d' Alene River and would follow it the rest of the way to Cataldo. I was surprised that this area was so open. There was a lot of marshy land, and many connected lakes. There were hills, but they were in most cases quite a distance away.
The area is known as the chain lakes region. I was very surprised to see so many lakes and marshy land.
There was even room in the valley for some ranching.
We had gotten off to a late start, and were getting even farther off schedule because of all our stopping. I picked up the pace a bit and had Julie ride in the draft.
I didn't go so fast as to not be able to take in the view though.
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| Aspen trees! |
We arrived in Cataldo but got a bit confused trying to find the mission. I had seen a sign saying the mission was 3 miles to the left. We rode out that way just a couple hundred feet short of 3 miles when Julie "lost her mojo" and rolled to a stop. She was sure she had seen a sign saying the mission was to the right. I had not seen that sign, but we rode back to Cataldo. There was no conflicting sign to be found, so before riding willy nilly around the Idaho hills we stopped at the cafe and asked directions, and had a drink and french fries! As it ended up, it was to the left, with a turn about 200 feet farther than we had been the first time. We eventually arrived at the Cataldo Mission, the oldest building in Idaho.
We spent just over 90 minutes looking around in the old mission church, and the nearby visitor center.
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| Here we test whether lightning would strike a Jewish girl as she enters a Christian chuch built under the guidance of Jesuit priests. |
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| The "wattle and daub" method of building walls. |
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| A tin can chandelier above the altar. |
By the time we had struggled a bit finding the mission, then toured the facilities, we were running late. We left the mission at 4:30PM, and had about 45 miles to get back to Plummer before dark, shortly after 8PM local time.
I sat up high on the bike, making as big a slip stream as I could, had Julie tuck in close, and pedaled westward at 16-17 mph. The "solid 11-12 mph gal" did a great job of holding on. As the daylight faded we saw much wildlife. An owl swooped down nearby, we saw a coyote who cowered in the shrubs as we pedaled by, a few magpies, a kingfisher, several white tailed deer, and blue herons. A passing guy on a bike said there was a moose ahead, but we didn't see it.
We kept up the pace.
I figured if we could get to the bridge over the lake by 7PM we'd be okay. Even at a slower pace climbing "the 3% hill" we should be able to make it back before dark. We arrived at Harrison, the site of that fabled huckleberry ice cream. I thought we might have 15 minutes to spare, Julie decided she'd rather have the extra pedal time. we stopped just before crossing the bridge and Julie ate a Power Bar and some Shot Blocks, I figured she'd need the energy before we started that climb. We continued on, arriving at the bridge just 3 minutes before 7PM.
No, it is not an aberration, the ramp up the bridge really is a series of steps! Once off the bridge we started up toward Plummer.
The climb went well, Julie can lose her mojo quickly when she talks herself down. She predicted she wouldn't be able to ride 7MPH up that 3% grade after riding almost 80 miles. I was pleased (as was she!) that she was able to maintain a solid 10MPH.
We arrived at the trailhead at 7:50 PM. It was getting dark enough that we didn't dally, but pedaled hard along the road to get back to my pickup. After all day of her telling me how slow she is, she pedaled away from me as I held 20mph!
It was a great day on the bike. We both started talking about how and when we'd get back to do more!
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...............road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle........total
Today..............96...........0................0............0.............96 Jan..................93..............0...............0.........0..............93 Feb................411..............0..............0.........0............411 March.............653.............0..............0.........0............653 April..............696..............0...............0.........0............696 May...............900...............0...............0.........0.............900
June..............484...............0..............0..........0...........484
July..............1300................0...............0..........0.............1300
Aug................387.............0.................0..........0.............387 Total...........4680.............0...............0..........0.............4680
