Cruising downhill on the Hiawatha - 10 Tunnels and 7 Trestles - Tally Gals Bike Adventures

August 26, 2021

Cruising downhill on the Hiawatha - 10 Tunnels and 7 Trestles

Today was our last day on the bike, and what a spectacular day it was! In the six days we rode we did 180 miles averaging 30 miles per day.

Katie, with Row Adventures, picked us up in the morning and ferried us and all of our bikes to the Hiawatha trailhead. Packing the bikes onto the front bike rack and into the box trailer was like fitting a 3D puzzle together. Meanwhile Julia, also from Row Adventures, was packing a car with all of the luggage of 12 people! Another puzzle challenge. Amazingly, everything fit and we were off to the Hiawatha trail.

The Hiawatha trail was amazingly beautiful and the experience was different for everyone. Some of our group enjoyed every minute of it, others had issues with the tunnels, or the trestles or the steep drops off the side of the trail. These are some of the descriptive words our group of 12 came up with for the Hiawatha.

The Hiawatha Trail - Refreshing, glorious, exhilarating, fragrant, wonderful, encompassing, vertical majesty, majestic beauty, puke inducing, metaphysical, joyful, challenging, and grad finale. Around every corner there was more beauty and awe inspiring scenery.

After our trip down we had a wonderful picnic lunch the ferried to Wallace, the center of the universe, to explore the town then rode the van back to Spokane for our last night in the northwest.

We have had a great trip. Lots of good times with great friends!

Packing the van with bikes and people for our trip to the Hiawatha.

Getting ready for our adventure down the Hiawatha.

Our twelve adventurers ready for the trip down the trail.

The Hiawatha begins with the longest tunnel. 1.6 miles of damp curving, black tunnel. It is so long that you can’t see either end when you are in the middle of the tunnel.

Damp walls and drips from the ceiling, stay in the middle so you don’t end up in the gutter.

Lights are a must in the tunnel. It’s also pretty cold!

There are 10 tunnels to traverse on the Hiawatha, most of them relatively short.

There are seven trestles to cross on the Hiawatha. The tallest is over 200 feet tall.

Looking over to a trestle that we will cross later

The end of the trail after 14.5 downhill miles in gorgeous mountains.

Hooray!!! The bikes all fit back on the rack!!!

The center of the universe, Wallace, Idaho

Wallace is a nice little town with lots of local shops and interesting buildings.

We finally found jerseys in Wallace. They had jerseys for the Trail of the Couer d’ Alene and the Trail of the Hiawatha.

We didn’t think there clothes were too shabby since we bought several jerseys and t shirts….

Today's ride: 15 miles (24 km)
Total: 742 miles (1,194 km)

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