Tag Archives: Idaho Trails biketour

Six Days on Discovery Bicycle Tours’ Idaho Trails: Biking the Coeur d’Alenes

Biking the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, Idaho on the last day of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

On Day 4 of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip, after breakfast at our base at the Silver Mountain Resort, we are shuttled to Shoshone Park in the mining town of Mullan for an easy downstream ride through the “Silver Valley,” home to several historic mining communities.

We soon pick up the official start of the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, enjoying views of the rocky, forested mountains, as we make our way to the utterly charming “wild west” town of Wallace.

Biking on the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes to Wallace, Idaho © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We have been primed for Wallace’s character (and humor) when we had a talk by a local historian at the Roosevelt Inn in Coeur d’Alene so are prepared for the “history (and some hilarity!) that await us as citizens of Wallace have tenaciously preserved their town amidst an ever changing landscape of fortunes lost and gained.”

Now, we stroll around the town looking for some of the sights she pointed out, like the town’s last brothel, a mining museum, a silver shop, before we join the Sierra Silver Mine Tour that Discovery has arranged for us. It begins with a delightful narrated tour of Wallace in an open-air trolley that takes us up to the mine.

Who knew that Wallace was the “Silver Capital of the World” – some $138 billion worth taken out of these mines –$20 billion of metals just last year (did I hear that right?) – 1 million ounces of silver. In the 1960s, incredulously, Wallace was the “richest little city” in America with the highest number of millionaires per capita, as well as a thriving brothel industry. (The last running bordello was shut down in 1989 when the FBI raided tax dodgers – there is still resentment in the town – but you can visit the Bordello Museum.)

When mining began in 1886, Wallace’s population was 500; at its peak, in 1940, when some 200 mines were operating (quartz, gold, silver, copper, zinc), the population peaked at 4000, but, with the collapse of silver prices in March1980, most of the mines closed, the miners left and the population fell to the present number of 800. Today, there are still four active silver mines, including the Lucky Friday and the Galina mines, and one gold mine.

In 1890, a chimney fire destroyed most of the town – the buildings we see today date from 1890-1920. Indeed, Wallace has the rare honor of the entire town being listed on the National Register of Historical Places.

Other tidbits: only one sitting president has visited Wallace: Theodore Roosevelt came in 1903 on a campaign whistle stop; the town spent $5000 just on flags to welcome him. There was a shootout on Valentine’s Day, 1951 – one of the tommy guns is on display in the museum. And Wallace’s most famous native is Lana Turner went one day to a grocery store where she was discovered.

You would be forgiven if you thought Wallace was a theme park creation (the 1997 movie “Dante’s Peak” was filmed here), but the history and the heritage are real, as is the miner, “Fast Freddie,” who is our guide into the silver mine.

“Fast Freddie” guides us on the Sierra Silver Mine Tour, Wallace, Idaho © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

“Fast Freddie” is a colorful character (he looks as if he came from Hollywood casting), with a marvelous sense of humor, amusing and engaging, but most important, he is authentic, speaking of his own experience working 21 years underground in these mines. “You need a good sense of humor in a mine,” Freddie tells us. “We used to play tricks.” 

This mine was only briefly used, he says, because the silver was very low grade and not worth the expense. It was turned into a mining school, where students learned the techniques of mining and could be hired right into a job.

After the collapse of the silver market and the closure of mines, Wallace looked to tourism to compensate. This mine was turned into an attraction, getting as many as 18,000 visitors a year.

A skeleton wearing a hard hat greets us as we enter the Sierra Silver Mine in Wallace, Idaho © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

As we enter the mine and pass a skeleton sitting on a chair, Freddie tells us that one of the worst mining disasters in history took place on May 2, 1972 when 91 miners lost lives and just 2 survived. ‘It took 2 weeks to recover all of them. They didn’t have a system to know who was down there.’ After that, the Mine Safety Administration mandated a tag system – larger mines have more sophisticated program.

The proverbial canary in a mine. “Fast Freddie” guides us on the Sierra Silver Mine Tour, Wallace, Idaho © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We actually see a canary cage – used to let the miners know when oxygen is low (the proverbial “canary in a coal mine.”)

In this mine, future miners were taught to run the jack, the drill, and to blast. The miners work alone at different levels, so each one has to do everything – digging, setting the dynamite charge, moving out the ore. “You have to get everything done so you can blast before the next shift arrives.”

“Fast Freddie” guides us on the Sierra Silver Mine Tour, Wallace, Idaho © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

How to protect against the noise? “A cigarette butt was ear protection” (not sure he was joking.)

“Fast Freddie” guides us on the Sierra Silver Mine Tour, Wallace, Idaho © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The veins of silver go down for miles – in 1964, they were mining at 250 feet. The Lucky Friday Mine, the largest in the area, is operating at 9600 feet below ground. The deeper they go, the hotter it gets – at 9,000 ft, as much as 170 degrees – so they designed a refrigerated ventilation system to cool to 100 degrees.

After being returned by the trolley, we have time to wander around Wallace before biking back on the trail on our own to the Silver Mine Resort.

The last brothel in Wallace, Idaho is now the Oasis Bordello Museum © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Wallace is really interesting – like a time warp and not really just “tourist quaint”, quirky and fun.  Just strolling around, you find the Wallace District Mining Museum, the Idaho Silver Shop, Northern Railroad Depot Museum, and everyone’s favorite, the Oasis Bordello Museum.

Wallace, Idaho, claims to be the “center of the universe.” Prove them otherwise. © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
Wallace, Idaho, claims to be the “center of the universe.” Prove them otherwise. © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

These folks in Wallace have a sense of humor – and an eye for a profit-making tourism-promoting gimmick: they designated a manhole at the crossroads in the middle of town as the “Center of the Universe” (that’s what is engraved on it). Based on what? “What’s the evidence that it isn’t?” comes the reply.

A mummified mermaid, one of the curiosities and collectibles on view in the Trading Post, Wallace, Idaho © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

I find a shop that sells guns, antiques, curios, and collectibles. In a glass cabinet is a large mummified “mermaid” (calling to mind a similar fantastical creature displayed in a store in Banff, Canada, and P.T. Barnum’s museum of oddities).

Poster above rifle barrels in the Wallace, Idaho gun shop: Americanism © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

It’s a delightful bike ride from Wallace to the Silver Mountain Resort in Kellogg, where later we have dinner together in the mountain village base.

DAY 5:  39 or 46 miles, Cataldo Mission and the Coeur d’Alenes

The plan on Day 5 is to set out from the Silver Mountain Resort biking on the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, and after 11 miles or so, to visit the Cataldo Mission, Idaho’s oldest standing building, lunch at the Rodehouse before continuing biking, with a choice of 39 or 46 miles of cycling to Harrison, where we are to be shuttled back to the resort for a celebratory dinner in Kellogg for our last night together.  

But it is a drenching rain.

Our guide, Clarista, says “There is no bad weather, only bad clothing” and says her job is to cheerlead for biking, but if we don’t want to, we can choose  to shuttle the first 11 miles instead of bike to the Cataldo Mission. After assuring us we won’t be missing much in the way of scenery and that the portion from Cataldo to Smelterville is the pretty part, we vote to take her up on her offer to drive us to the Mission. (I’m just so grateful it wasn’t raining like this when we did the Route of the Hiawatha, especially when I see another bike tour heading out there this morning.)

The visit at the Cataldo Mission starts with an excellent video that explains how the local tribe invited the Jesuits (“Black Robes”) to come here and build the mission. At the time, the introduction of the horse meant that tribes that had coexisted in their own land before, began to encroach on each other’s territory. The tribe believed that the “Black Robe” missionaries had a superior power, a Great Spirit, who would enable them to triumph over their enemies.

The Mission of the Sacred Art was built in 1850-1853, by Father Pierre Jean De Smet, chief of the “Black Robes” who answered the tribe’s invitation to come, along with Father Ravalli, an Italian-born religious leader who designed the building and supervised construction with simple tools and without nails.

Old Mission church, Cataldo, Idaho’s oldest standing building © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Old Mission church is simple and beautiful – the wood-beamed ceiling painted blue with huckleberries, to make the native people more comfortable since they were used to praying outside. We learn that the walls were decorated with fabric bought from the Hudson Bay Company and a hand-painted newspaper from Philadelphia that Fr. Ravalli had received in the mail. Tin cans were used to create the chandeliers. Both wooden statues were carved by Fr. Rivalli with a knife to look like marble.

What I find most fascinating, though, is the museum there that better represents the tribe’s point of view – how they were initially drawn to Christianity with its values of “comfort, community” the sense of miraculous to be found in nature, and a Great Spirit with power to grant protection, like their own spirits, which seemed (at first) to conform with their own values and beliefs.

The Coeur d’Alene people – the Schitsu’umsh, meaning “Those who were found here” or “The discovered people” – were initially drawn in because the early Jesuits were tolerant of native culture and traditions, even blending the cultures together.

The mission became a stop and supply station for traders, settlers, and miners traveling on the Mullan Road, and a port for boats heading up the Coeur d’Alene River.

Old Mission church, Cataldo, Idaho’s oldest standing building © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Over time, the Coeur d’Alene people regretted the decision to give the Black Robes a stronghold when  they realized the Jesuits’ mission was to create an Empire of Christianity. At the same time, white settlers looking to exploit the region’s resources, who brought guns and small pox, were taking territory and pushing out the indigenous tribes. In 1877, even the mission was forcibly relocated from the ‘House of the Great Spirit.”

The museum displays photos and artifacts that show the effort to Christianize and eradicate native heritage and culture – but done in an understated, polite way since this museum, is apparently a partnership between the tribe and the mission. (The Cataldo Mission became a state historic park in 1935, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961, and put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.)

We have lunch at the Rodehouse, right across the road from the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes. By this time, the rain has all but ended – it is grey and humid  – and we get back on the trail for the 16-mile ride back to the resort.  The cloud formations make for dramatic scenes.

Biking the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, Idaho through marshland © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We cycle along an enchanting stretch of wetlands – part of the trail is a berm with marsh on either side. We have been told “just after Metamonk Village (mile 20) to be on lookout for moose.

Biking the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, Idaho through marshland © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

I spot an osprey with fish in its claws so heavy it couldn’t take flight so dropped it; a black furry creature (otter? muskrat?) carrying what looked like a mouse dashes across the path; a flock of blue heron, a family of deer, and finally, when we are almost at the end of the trail, we come upon a moose with her baby.

Finally! We come upon the promised moose and her baby on the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

DAY 6: 16 miles to the end of the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes

Day 6 is our final day of riding. We pack up our luggage, have breakfast, and shuttle to Harrison, the point on the trail where we ended yesterday’s ride. Today, we bike the last section, 16 miles, through a series of chained lakes to the end of the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes. It is glorious.

Biking the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, Idaho on the last day of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

It’s a perfect day – sunshine, cool temp (60 degrees), a bit of a headwind. We ride along the Lake Coeur d’Alene, then cross over the Chatcolet Bridge, a really interesting bridge which was once a swinging trestle (the challenge is to ride over the hump), then into the forest where we climb for about seven miles, through the Coeur D’Alene reservation, to finish at the trail’s end, at a moving Indian Warriors and Veterans Memorial.

Biking the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, Idaho on the last day of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Here we have a picnic lunch, feeling extremely satisfied and happy, before we pack into the van again for an hour-drive back at Spokane Airport or downtown.

At the end of Biking the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, Idaho is this monument to the Warriors and Veterans © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Discovery Bicycle Tours Merges into Active Adventures

Our Idaho Trails group. Discovery Bicycle Tours specializes in small-groups and personalized service. © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Discovery Bicycle Tours has just joined Austin Adventures, a Montana-based North America National Parks small group tour company, under the umbrella ownership of Active Adventures, a New Zealand-based small group adventure travel company. These companies primarily offer hiking and multi-sport options, and just like Discovery Bicycle Tours, focus on small groups (averaging 12 guests).

Austin Adventures is a Montana-based North American National Parks expert offering small group tours with personal touches, flexible options to do as much or as little as you want, and “wow” moments. Austin Adventures also specializes in family and multi-generational tours across North America and around the globe. 

Active Adventures, based in New Zealand, has expanded over the past 30 years to South and Central America, Europe, the Himalayas and Africa. They offer small group, inspiring bucket-list adventures worldwide, with a mix of activities ranging from hiking, biking, and kayaking to snorkeling and caving. Each trip is designed to be flexible, so if you’re a little short on time or you’d prefer to skip an activity, they can alter the itinerary to suit you.

The merger means that the teams behind Discovery Bicycle Tours, Active Adventures, and Austin Adventures are located around the world in five countries, 15 cities, and even a campervan.

“Across the three brands, we’ve been running tours in North America for 77 years, Europe for 50 years, New Zealand for 25 years, South and Central America for 20 years, the Himalayas for 14 years, and Africa for five years. That’s a world of knowledgeand deep local experience across our brands,” Scott Cone, Discovery’s owner, stated.

Discovery Bicycle Tours, 800-257-2226, www.discoverybicycletours.com

See also:

Six Days Cycling Idaho Trails with Discovery Bicycle Tours

__________________

© 2025 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to [email protected]. Bluesky: @newsphotosfeatures.bsky.social X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

Six Days Cycling Idaho Trails with Discovery Bicycle Tours

Biking through the pitch black, 1.66-mile long St. Paul Pass Tunnel the first of nine tunnels, seven trestles on the 14-mile long Route of the Hiawatha, a highlight of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

It’s pitch black as we make our way 1.66 miles through the first tunnel of the Route of the Hiawatha, except for the light on our bike. Water drips down from the ceiling, the surface is muddy and slippery, adrenalin pumping. It is hugely thrilling.

This is just the first (and the most dramatic) of the 9 tunnels and 7 trestles we go through over the course of 14 miles down, then back through again for 14 miles up. It is also the longest – a full 1.66 miles in total darkness! – but each tunnel, each trestle is exciting. You can immediately appreciate why the Route of the Hiawatha is one of Rails to Trails Conservancy’s Hall of Fame rail trails.

Starting out on the 14-mile long Route of the Hiawatha, a highlight of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The experience is but one of many highlights of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip, during which we will do the 111-mile long Centennial Trail, starting in Spokane Washington to Coeur d’Alene; tackle the remarkable Route of the Hiawatha Trail; and the 73-mile long Trail of the Coeur D’Alenes where we immerse in tribal land, history and culture. Along the way, we will also have interesting experiences such as touring a silver mine in the company of a miner and a museum preserving the heritage of the Coeur d’Alene people.

Biking the Centennial Trail from Spokane, Washington, on Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

What I love most about bike tours is that they are cerebral as much as physical. You feel the scenery; you are part of the space you occupy, engaged – not a spectator peering through a glass window, but a participant, able to smell the air, feel the sun, the breeze, the drizzle, hear the birds and the rushing water. The pace is perfect to really get places while the scenery rolls by as if a movie. And you can stop when you want to take in the scene or a photo, read a marker, or peer at a moose. You feel the satisfaction, the sense of accomplishment at the end of a day’s ride – a combination of euphoria and endorphin rush.

Bike tours bring you to towns and villages you likely would never otherwise see © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

What is more, you get to go through small towns, see regular folks you would not likely see traveling by car or bus, promoting connection and understanding. And you have the added satisfaction of maximizing the benefit of your visit – providing the economic foundation that secures this heritage, these natural places, these experiences – leaving a minimal carbon footprint. This is true if you are touring in the United States or some faraway exotic land.

As we gather together for our first orientation meeting with our guides, I take note that just about every one of our group of 13 riders has taken not just one, two but several trips with Discovery Bicycle Tours.

This is my fourth, and I consistently find Discovery’s whole approach to bike touring ideal – summed up in the phrases “Ride your ride” followed by “This is your vacation!”– and how they make that happen. There are two guides (they take turns driving the van that shuttles our stuff, sets up our snack-stops, and is there if anyone needs assistance; while the other cycles along, bringing up the rear), but most importantly, we bike at our own pace. This is because we have our own Ride with GPS App, customized by Scott Cone (the company’s owner, he calls himself Adventure Consultant) for each itinerary; they even provide a phone holder on our bike.

The accommodations, restaurant choices and food are the perfect mix of charming reflections of the places we tour, and luxury (as much comfort as you would ever want without going over the top), adding immeasurably to the tour. The bikes (five of us use their hybrid, eight others take advantage of the availability of e-bikes at no extra cost) and equipment provided are top notch, and it bears noting that I consistently find Discovery offers excellent value-for-money.

Our guides, Susie Iventosch and Calista Phillips, on Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Our guides, Susie Iventosch and Calista Phillips, are fantastic – really knowledgeable, supportive, encouraging, accurate (I appreciate having a realistic view of what the day’s ride will be), and flexible when necessary (like when we all vote not to ride during a downpour but shuttle the first 11 miles of the day’s route).

The trips are designed for maximum enjoyment of the ride – we are shuttled when it makes sense to or from the ride, and given options of longer or shorter routes each day. And the routes they choose, as well as the added activities (a lecture one evening, the silver mine tour another day, a visit to a museum another) add dimension. I also appreciate the advance preparation – documents, itinerary – and care they provide before the trip.

Day 1: Setting Out on the Centennial Trail, 36 Miles

Biking the Centennial Trail from Spokane, Washington, on Day 1 of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Our first morning starts with an early meet-up at the Hilton Garden Inn close to Spokane Airport, for introductions and orientation, and we are shuttled to Sontag Park, the start of the Centennial Trail, where we are fitted to our bikes, get the Ride with GPS app going, and set out on a really beautiful ride. Suzie notes that this first day will be the most challenging of the tour.

Biking the Centennial Trail from Spokane, Washington, on Day 1 of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We start pedaling along the Washington portion of the Centennial Trail in the rocky canyons west of Spokane. The beginning of the trail is in the forest, and soon rises so that we have this gorgeous view of the Spokane River far below. And once you do the first hill, you feel you can do the second (which is the steepest of the day), then the third (the longest, but not as steep – a piece of cake).

Biking the Centennial Trail from Spokane, Washington, on Day 1 of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We pass through Spokane’s urban Riverfront Park that I have so enjoyed visiting for the past three days, and end, 36 miles further down, just five miles before the Washington-Idaho state line, where we are picked up by the van and are taken to the charming Roosevelt Inn where we stay for two nights, in Coeur D’Alene. (Our next day’s ride will bring us back to this same spot, so we can ride the five miles into Idaho.)

The charming Roosevelt Inn, our base for two nights in Coeur d’Alene © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

I adore the Roosevelt Inn – it is so much a part of Coeur d’Alene. Named for President Theodore Roosevelt who came through the area in 1903 on a campaign whistle stop, the building dates from 1905 when it was Coeur D’Alene’s first school, then became offices, and is now a most charming 14-room bnb. Each room is named for someone with a picture and bio, and provides plush robes and towels. The inn offers a hot tub and sauna (open 24 hours), and absolutely gorgeous gardens (life-size chess). There is a lovely parlor with gorgeous painted mural along the three walls, where there is a refrigerator guests can use; a constant supply of coffee, tea and hot chocolate; fruit and usually, something freshly baked. Each morning, we are served breakfast to order,

The charming Roosevelt Inn, our base for two nights in Coeur d’Alene © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

This first evening we enjoy dinner together at a pub-style restaurant (a celebratory drink is included).

DAY 2: 14 or 27 miles, Centennial Trail

Biking the Centennial Trail along Lake Coeur d’Alene on Discovery Bicycle Tours’ Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

After breakfast at The Roosevelt Inn on our second day, we shuttle to Lovely Falls Park, the headwaters of the Spokane River. The trail takes us along the majestic shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

The ride today is 14 miles out and back to the endpoint of the Centennial Trail at Higgins Point, the endpoint of the Centennial Trail, mostly hugging the gorgeous shoreline of Lake Coeur d’Alene, until we come to one major hill up, then down – which means (if we are biking back) we have an even steeper return.

Enjoying the scenery in Coeur d’Alene © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We have the option to ride back in the van, but all of us choose to bike back to The Roosevelt, cycling at our own pace. It is early afternoon when we return, so we have plenty of time to enjoy exploring the charming shops and galleries of Coeur d’Alene (a hugely popular destination), swim in the lake or relax. I find a lovely hiking trail along the cliffs.

Enjoying the scenery in Coeur d’Alene © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We are treated to a talk by historian Shauna Hillman give a delightful talk about the town of Wallace, Idaho and the Silver Valley Mine which we will be visiting (‘Murder, mining, prostitution,  the mayor murdered his wife’s lover and got away with it, and was reelected twice!”) as we sit in the inn’s lovely garden – before heading out to have dinner on our own.

DAY 3: 15 or 28 miles, Route of the Hiawatha

Group photo before start biking the Trail of the Hiawatha on Discovery Bicycle Tours’ Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

After two delightful nights at the Roosevelt Inn in Coeur d’Alene, we pack up in preparation for moving our home base to a mountain resort in Kellogg for the remainder of trip. After breakfast, we shuttle 90 minutes east to the trailhead of the famous Route of the Hiawatha.

Biking the Route of The Hiawatha is an extraordinary experience in the annals of bike trails. Our guides, Suzie and Calista, prepare us extremely well for what we will do, that the first tunnel, the St. Paul Pass Tunnel, is the longest at 1.66 miles long, and is pitch black, damp and a constant 47 degrees. They have put lights on our bikes (you are not allowed to go on the trail without a helmet and bike light).

After we excitedly take group photos at the entrance, we set out at our own pace, with the caveat that we have to start biking back up at 2:30 pm (note there is an hour time change from the start).

Starting out on the 14-mile long Route of the Hiawatha, a highlight of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Biking through the St. Paul Pass Tunnel is a surreal experience – you can’t see what is above or on the side, only what is lit by the narrow beam where your light shines.

Biking through the pitch black, 1.66-mile long St. Paul Pass Tunnel the first of nine tunnels, seven trestles on the 14-mile long Route of the Hiawatha, a highlight of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

When you get out and ride the hard-packed gravel trail, it goes steadily down a 3% grade for 14 miles. The scenery is quite spectacular, especially when you look down at a thin pencil line and realize that is the trestle you will be riding across. It looks so small, so far away and far down. And then you are there, and it isn’t thin at all. The view from the trestle is spectacular, too.

Trestles look like thin pencils from above on the Trail of the Hiawatha © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The trestles are so high above where you imagine is the valley floor, you feel you are suspended.

It is 14 miles down on hard-packed gravel to where there is a picnic table where we have a box lunch we had ordered, before riding back up the same 14 miles. If you don’t want to ride back up, you can buy a ticket ($20) to take a shuttle bus. We all bike back. (Notably, there are several bathrooms along the way and water supplied.)

Biking one of seven trestles on the Route of the Hiawatha, a highlight of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

I must admit I am a bit nervous to ride continuously uphill for 14 miles but it actually isn’t bad at all, and there are all these opportunities to stop for the view, or read the interpretive signs that line the trail that tell the history of the Milwaukee Road Railroad. The view and the fresh air are exhilarating.

Biking through one of nine tunnels on the Route of the Hiawatha, a highlight of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Hiawatha, considered one of the more successful rail-trail conversions in the United States, was named to the Rails to Trails Conservancy’s national Hall of Fame in 2010. It was developed from a railroad line, developed in the late 1800s, that went out of business in the 1980s. 

Biking one of seven trestles on the Route of the Hiawatha, a highlight of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

One of the historic markers along the way tells of the Great Fire of 1910. One of the most devastating forest fires in American history, it burned 3 million acres of forest in northern Idaho and western Montana. The fire was so huge that a massive cloud of smoke spread throughout southern Canada and the northern United States all the way to the St. Lawrence waterway. The darkness from the smoke was so bad that for 5 days, artificial lighting had to be used from Butte, Montana to Chicago to Watertown, New York. The fire completely devastated the St. Joe River valley and destroyed all of the towns except Avery and Marble Creek, many never rebuilt.

The marker tells of heroic actions by the railroad employees who drove engines and box cars filled with people through the flames to the safety of the longer tunnels, saving 600 lives.

Biking through one of nine tunnels on the Route of the Hiawatha, a highlight of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ six-day Idaho Trails trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

It feels soooo good when I come back through that last, longest (1.66 miles), darkest tunnel, being careful not to ride up on the person in front, or slipping in the muddy surface.

At the end, it is a work out that makes you feel so ecstatic, euphoric when you finish.

You need to have a reserved timed ticket to ride the Hiawatha, which is owned by the U.S. National Forest but operated by Lookout Pass Ski Area. (Discovery Bicycle Trails has taken care of our reservations and the ticket, $20 pp; the shuttle is $20 more.)

Feeling quite elated, we pile back into the van to shuttle to the Silver Mountain Resort in Kellogg, where we stay in spacious and comfortable condo accommodations for three nights.

Discovery Bicycle Tours, 800-257-2226, www.discoverybicycletours.com

Next:  Biking the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes

_____________________________

© 2025 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to [email protected]. Bluesky: @newsphotosfeatures.bsky.social X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures