Hiawatha Trail

The Hiawatha Trail is a "Rails to Trails" bike path in north Idaho.

It is amazing! There are many tunnels and trestles and the terrain is

incredibly steep all around; it was quite the feat to put train tracks through that country!

It would have been thrilling to ride a train over that route!

It is an easy grade up and down the trail and being labor Day weekend, it was very well used.

There is a shuttle bus that takes folks to the top so you can just ride it one way if you choose.

Mike and I rode up and then rode back down.

The weather was perfect, slightly overcast with sun peaking through, not too hot, not too cold.

Trestle on the Hiawatha trail.

Looking straight down!

As I recall, this one was nearly 300 feet high!

There are many interpretive signs along the trail.

All very interesting, but time consuming if you are just wanting to ride.

Mike was a very good tourist and read them ALL!

You need light (and lots of it!) for the tunnels!

On the day we rode there were many other riders and that was helpful.

On our way down the crowds had kind of peetered out and we did go through a couple of tunnels

just the two of us and it was rather disorienting and dark.

Some of them are rather short so you can see the light at the far end from the entrance.

I forgot my headlamp! Oops!

But I did have this handy mag-lite in the camper so I duct taped it on and it was helpful!
It made a fetching ensemble, but it did chatter a bit!

Mike, ahead of me, just exiting a tunnel.