Any North Westerner's ride the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes?

[EPOJoe]

Any of you North Westerner's ever ride the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes? Looks like a cool ride, what with 72 miles of bike trail running through the middle of nowhere. I'd be a little concerned about wild animal attacks out there, but heck, there won't be any cars, so it all evens up. ;)

http://friendsofcdatrails.org/CdA_Trail/index.html

[dave thompson]

Any of you North Westerner's ever ride the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes? Looks like a cool ride, what with 72 miles of bike trail running through the middle of nowhere. I'd be a little concerned about wild animal attacks out there, but heck, there won't be any cars, so it all evens up. ;)

http://friendsofcdatrails.org/CdA_Trail/index.html
My wife and I have ridden the Trail for the last 3 years. No wild animal incidents, other than a lone encounter with a friendly cow, who I named "Dinner'. The Trail, being an old rail bed, is mostly fenced on both sides, which keeps animals off and us on the Trail. A great ride, with numerous stops, rest areas, toilets and picnic tables. A large portion of it is out in the middle of nowhere as it follows the shores of Lake Coeur d'Alene and then the Coeur d'Alene River, but it also goes through small picturesque mining towns in the Silver Valley before it ends in Mullan on the Idaho/Montana border.

We've ridden the trail many ways. Once from one end to the other, stayed the night and then back to the beginning, but mostly from somewhere in the middle (there are many trailheads with great parking) to one end or the other for lunch and then back.

The pics are from a trail ride two months ago.

[EPOJoe]

Thanks much for the reply and great photos, Dave! I’m definitely going to make my way up there soon.

[dave thompson]

Thanks much for the reply and great photos, Dave! I’m definitely going to make my way up there soon.
Give me a holler when you come up, maybe we can go for a ride, doing our own little two-person Serotta Forum get-together.

The Trail of The Coeur d'Alenes is only one of more than a few very good rides around here. The Washington and Idaho Centennail Trails are also excellent and many, many rural farm roads provide fabulous riding. An example: http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=20725

[EPOJoe]

Sounds like a plan; Looks like that entire area offers some beautiful riding. Now, to carve out some time for the trip...

[Karin Kirk]

What a treasure! After reading all the sad, sad posts about car wrecks, this route looks absolutely perfect to me. Count in the Kirks!

EPO Joe, were you thinking of doing the ride this fall?

[EPOJoe]

Hmm...I might be able to do it that soon if I can swing some organizational miracles around here. How long would we have before the snows set in up there? I'd also drag my bro Saxon along, so that would be two from here.

[dave thompson]

Hmm...I might be able to do it that soon if I can swing some organizational miracles around here. How long would we have before the snows set in up there? I'd also drag my bro Saxon along, so that would be two from here.
Snow doesn't come until Novemberish, but cool weather and rain can come earlier. Winters here can be strange, sometimes unrideable due to ice and constant below freezing temps. Other winters have been relatively mild. Try watching the 10 day forcast here: http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/99208?from=36hr_fcst10DayLink_undeclared Hopefull we will have an Indian summer.

[csm]

I've been trying to get a transfer to cda for a few years now. all they offer is IA.

[Louis]

Are all 72 miles paved? If so, that's awesome. Our rails-to-trails project down here (St Louis west to Clinton MO Katy Trail Link (http://www.bikekatytrail.com/) ) is 225 miles long, but is crushed gravel, which a) slows you like crazy, and b) is uncomfortable on long rides unless you have low pressure in your tires (preferably wider than 28) and c) gets the bike filthy in very short order.

The KT is picturesque, (but very flat, as most railroads are) and I would ride it much more often if it were paved.

(I can't take credit for the attached picture. I lifted it from the site shown above.)