For our first day in northern Idaho we woke up bright and early and drove east to the Montana border. The Hiawatha Trail runs on 15 miles of old railroad track used by the luxurious Hiawatha trains between Chicago and the PNW in the early 1900s. It goes through 10 tunnels and over seven trestles in the Bitterroot Mountains. The best part is that it's all downhill! And we went with Rick and Jean...
You drive to the top of the trail and the first 1.66 miles are through the wet and pitch black Taft Tunnel. It is required to have at least one bright bike headlight and is recommended to have a jacket for the year-round 46 degrees inside. We were glad to have both...
We were rewarded on the other side of the Taft Tunnel with a lovely little waterfall..
Besides tunnels and trestles there are also a whole lot of trees!
When we reached the bottom we waited about 45 minutes for a ride on the shuttle back to the end of the Taft Tunnel...
Then we rode the 1.66 dark miles back to the parking lot. Rick and Jean headed home and we headed to Wallace Brewing for a flight and a game of cribbage...
Then because we hadn't had enough exercise with our downhill only bike ride, we walked the 2 mile loop around Tubbs Hill along the banks of Lake Coeur d'Alene. The views were very pretty but our favorite part was the bouncy suspension bridge. :)
