June 9, 2023
Ups and Downs, Rain and shine.
Quotation of the day for Frank:
“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine; it’s lethal” – Paulo Coelho
MOOD CHANGER.
My morning started at about 615 leaving the campus of UCA in the rain. I thought maybe I would get to Plummer Idaho, which was about 29 or 30 miles away and perhaps find a cheap motel since it was still cloudy and drizzly, and I wanted to tour the Coeur d’Alene Trail on a sunny day. I was not in the best of moods, however I resolved to the fact I would remain wet, sweaty, and cold all day and probably camping in the same condition, and LIKE IT. I had heard the Coeur d’Alene Trail was probably the premier bike trail in the United States and I wanted to see it in sunshine, just like in the ads. Besides, this trail is one of the main reasons for crossing Washington as I did, instead of taking routes popularized by Adventure Cycling.
Unfortunately Plummer is nothing more than a truck stop on the highway. There’s a grocery store, a couple of gas stations, a restaurant or two, and that’s about it. No place to stay. So I resolved to continue on and proceeded to the trail head, took a picture of the war memorial monument, and began my wet sticky sweaty journey to see how far I could get before my sore butt needed to stop.
There was a lady playing frisbee fetch with her GSD mix at the trail head. It was obvious which was the pack leader. She would throw the frisbee and the GSD would retrieve it, walk it 20 yards ahead, drop it, and walk 20 more yards and lie down waiting for the lady to retrieve it. Which she did. That lady was well trained. Those dogs are smarter than we are. Maybe my wife was right and we do need a dog trainer.
The first several miles of the trail is all downhill. Unfortunately there must’ve been a wildfire through this area as many of the trees are burned and dead. I ran into this scene some miles back before reaching Plummer also. Very ugly and eerie to ride through. Reminded me of the scene in the Wizard of Oz where the trees came alive and grabbed Dorothy and her friends.
The Coeur d’Alene trail is paved its entire length. Even though it was drizzly and cloudy the scenery was incredible. Lots of Pines, hemlocks, wild flowers, and plenty of lakes, streams, cliffs and canyons. But I get ahead of myself. Getting to Plummer was no easy chore. The first 10 or 15 miles had gradual uphill‘s, nothing serious, but after that, the hills became quite steep and frequent. I walked uphill on grades that were as much as 8%. Again it was climb 300 feet, descend 200 feet, climb 400 feet, descend 200 feet and so on FOREVER. At one point I was but a couple of miles from Plummer and thought maybe I could hike a trail that lies beneath the powerlines and goes directly into Plummer, a mile at most. But that area was all tall grass and there was no trail. It would’ve saved me about 400 feet of climbing and about four or 5 miles of riding to get around and up that steep ridge. Once I got to the top of the ridge of that small mountain coming down into Plummer was a breeze. It reminded me of some of the back roads in Shenandoah Valley where I used to ride while attending JMU. All down hill. What took me a couple hours to climb took 10 minutes to descend with nice smooth asphalt and hair pin turns. A blast.
Along the trail I stopped in Harrison for a soda. I ran into a guy who was touring for three weeks on the local trails. I was kind of jealous because he had a e motor on his bike. And he was staying at Airbnbs as he needed to recharge his bikes battery every night. It was a bit confusing to talk to him because he was basically a local and knew the area quite well. I had no idea where he was talking about when he described his route. But I played along.
The trail of the Coeur d’Alene was the first place since leaving Seattle where I met cyclists of a like mind. Next I met Carolyn.(?) and her better half. She was originally from Silver Spring Maryland, but has been living on the West Coast for at least the past 20 years, and currently lives in Missoula, Montana.. The two of them were on the trail preparing/training for RAGBRAI. Small world, as I am trying to get to Iowa to attend RAGBRAIs 50th anniversary ride myself. This will be my 15th RAGBRAI, and the first for them. After RAGBRAI, they plan on heading to Maryland for a family get together at Rehobeth beach Delaware. They have not been back there for 20 years. I think they’ll be surprised at the growth of the area. We talked and shared bike stories for at least a half hour. I was envious of their lightweight, titanium bikes, with no panniers. It is a small world.
Not a half mile up the trail I ran into another cyclist. Well, not literally, we passed each other and turned around to speak to each other. This guy had twice as much gear as I had. He was difficult to understand as he was French with a heavy French accent. But I played like I understood every word. He had done some extensive touring and was obviously a pro. On this trip, he started in San Francisco riding to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Utah, Yellowstone, and now is headed to Vancouver where he will get a flight home to France. I can’t imagine flying all that stuff internationally. I should’ve taken a picture because his bike must’ve weighed well over 200 pounds. He told me the weight in kilos and as it did not automatically convert in my head, I have forgotten it. Why did we never convert to metric in the US. We started the process in the late 60s or 70s but it never stuck. I think Kennedy was behind that. Well look what they did to him.
Anyway, my spirits were lifted by our conversations and boosted further by the flat paved trail. I vowed to find a campground by 5 PM as the weatherman was calling for rain later in the evening. I searched for a place to wildcamp, but was unsuccessful. There is no legal camping on the trail, which is unfortunate as it is part of the Great American Rail Trail. This trail goes from DC to Seattle, and was intended eventually to allow folks to ride the entire length of the country. However, there are limited camping arrangements on most of the trail.
I finally found a private campground where I could camp. The fee was quite steep at $30 but they had showers. Additionally, there was a nice restaurant down the street. So I’m currently sitting in the nice restaurant just finishing my halibut sandwich, and unlimited french fries. These are, by the way, better than Thrashers. I know that’s blasphemous. As I finished my meal I turned to glance out the window only to find it pouring down rain again. Talk about ups and downs. I can’t seem to maintain a steady state. So I’m currently sitting here waiting for the shower to stop. There is no Internet service, so I have no way of looking at the weather to see what the radar may show. Looks like I might be not only out of $30, but having to camp in the rain anyway. I should’ve just pulled over on the trail and found a place to wild camp, legal or not. Live and learn. I had spotted several qualified camping spots and should have listened to my Jiminy Cricket when he said just set up camp. He is usually right.
So let me see what pics do this time:
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No luck with pics. I’ll try tomorrow.
Second go round:
A good deal of the trail of the Coeur D alene is surrounded by water.
Lots of summer time boating activity happens here.
Deal island skeeters are bigger.
I saw a moose. Sorta. I did see eagles, osprey, partridge, and ducks of all shapes and sizes. Even saw a redwing black bird except the red wing strips were white and the head was orange. Otherwise it was identical.
Lots of history here. Mostly related to mining, vacationing, timber.
I love old barns.
Today's ride: 68 miles (109 km)
Total: 422 miles (679 km)
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