Rail Trails!

In early 2024, procurement of recumbent trikes provided focus for the next camping trip. The intent when purchasing the trikes included riding Rail-trails as well as Bay Area cycling trails.

What is a Rail-trail, you ask? Rail-trails are multipurpose public paths created from former railroad corridors. In the US, 2423 trails cover 25,934 miles with another 9000 potential miles to be added.

Two of the most highly rated trails, Hiawatha and Trail of Coeur d’Alenes, are in northern Idaho. Having spent very little time in Idaho, we designed a trip to explore the beauty of Idaho and to ride the trails.

With plenty to see between San Francisco and northern Idaho, we plotted a route taking us to some amazing places.

Just over the southern border of Idaho, City of Rocks National Reserve is known for interesting rock formations, beautiful high desert and climbing.

Beginning in 1843, City of Rocks was a landmark for emigrants on the California Trail and the Kelton, Utah to Boise, Idaho stage routes. During the mass overland westward migration, over 200,000 emigrants traveling the California Trail reached Circle Creek in the City of Rocks to rest or camp. Inscriptions with names and dates are still visible at Camp Rock.

Heading northwest from City of Rocks began the quest for finding fun places to ride.

The Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes is a 73 mile long paved trail running from Mullan, ID to Plummer, ID. Originally a railroad line built for the mining industry in Silver Valley, the line converted to a multi-use trail. The trail is a partnership between Idaho State Parks, The Coeur d’Alene Tribe and Union Pacific Railroad. 

Camping at Heyburn State Park gives easy access to the trail and one of the trail highlights, the Chatcolet Bridge, at the Southern end of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

The definition of multi-use trails appears to include moose.

The quaint town of Harrison is a great stop along the trail. We stopped in at the CycleHaus for a scrumptious lunch and coffee.

The Route of the Hiawatha is quite unique. According to the trail website, “this area of railroad was called one of the most scenic stretches of railroad in the country. When the Milwaukee Railroad was operating, the trains traversed through 11 tunnels and over 9 high trestles, covering a 46 mile route that crossed the rugged Bitterroot Mountains between Idaho and Montana. The “Route of the Hiawatha” is most famous for the long St. Paul Pass, or Taft Tunnel which burrows for 8,771 ft. (1.66 miles) under the Bitterroot Mountains at the state line.“

Most people start at the top of the trail descending ~ 1000 feet in elevation over 15 miles. At the bottom, there is a shuttle to take you and your bike back up to the top.

Rumors of shuttle waiting lines lasting three hours motivated us to park at the bottom of the trail, ride both up and down the trail. Excellent plan on many fronts. We did not see any cyclists for the first hour on the trail. Feeling quite alone on the trail, thoughts of bears danced in our heads. Yep, ringing bike bells served warning to make bears aware of our presence.

Lewiston, Idaho, at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater River, is home to the Port of Lewiston. The only navigable seaport in Idaho, barges transport grain, fuel, legumes, paper, lumber and other goods up and down the Columbia River and out to the Pacific Ocean. Fun wikipedia fact: ten percent of the United States’ wheat exports transits through Port Lewiston.

As the gateway to the Hells Canyon Recreation Area, jet boat tours speed down the river and through the canyons. During our stay, jetboats competing in the Thunder on the Snake race roared up and down the river.

Lacking a jetboat, we resorted to riding on the 13 mile Lewiston Levee Parkway reaching speeds of 15 mph.

The Sacramento River Rail Trail northern point begins at Lake Shasta and the Shasta Dam. Camping at the Shasta Campground at Chappie Shasta OHV area allowed easy access to the trail.

Riding along the largest river in California leads one to assume a flat, gentle meandering trail. Nope. Winding hills rises, twists and turn with a section near Spring Creek earning the title “Roller Coaster” which results in a nice cardio workout.

In addition to cycling trails, the nearby OHV area is vast and filled with spectacular views of the lake. We traversed the mountains on an “easy” 4WD trail. The loop from our campsite took the majority of the day.

And Lakes!

Along the way we stopped and camped on some beautiful lakes and did some fun off-roading in Wallace.

Lake Shasta is just one of many beautiful lakes along our route. Donner Lake, Redfish Lake, Stanley Lake, Cascade Lake, Lake McCall Lake Coeur d’Alene, Lake Wallowa all provided fabulous camping and cycling destinations.

For some unknown reason, we thought Eastern Oregon landscape was desert. As Oregonian friends informed us, we were very wrong. Mountain ranges, spectacular scenery, famous rivers, dramatic canyons. Wallowa Mountains, Fossil Beds, Hells Canyon, Owyhee Canyonlands, Steens Mountains, Alvord Desert.

Silvies Ranch, a 140,000 acre working ranch, is home to a luxury resort and golf course. Staying at the resort RV park allowed access to the resort amenities including a golf cart for getting around.

Even though we are not golfers, the courses at Silvies are quite interesting. Want a goat caddy to carry your clubs? Want to play two reversible courses? Go to Silvies.

With four golf courses, there is something for every golfer. Two 18-hole championship courses, a 7-hole razor ridge challenge course, and a mountain meadow 9-hole par 3 course. The 5000′ elevation courses are built on 600 acres of the high desert ponderosa pine forest and mountain meadows.

The 18-hole courses are the first reversible championship courses built in the world since the Old Course at St. Andrews in 1552.

This RV got a little too close to the edge. Lucky for them, they were pulled to safety and drove away!

Wildfires raged in Idaho and Oregon throughout the trip. Leveraging the Watch Duty app, we kept a watchful eye on dozens of wildfires and received alerts for new fires in our area. The day after we left Stanley and Redfish Lake, the Wapiti wildfire started and grew to 128,000 acres. Yikes.

After almost two months of travel avoiding wildfires and experiencing extremely high afternoon temperatures, we changed plans to wrap up the trip on the California coast at Bodega Bay. The cool coastal weather served as the perfect place to cool down and clean up the rig before heading home. Another fantastic trip in Gromit!