Blue skies shining on me........:)

September 11, 2021

Coeur D'Alene Trail - take 4

There was quite a change in the weather yesterday as it rained off and on all night. It brought cooler temps but also cleared out all the smoke and haze which was welcome.

It was overcast when we got up today but by noon we could see little patches of blue. Time to ride!

After a quick lunch, we drove to the last trailhead we had stopped at the other day and continued north on the the trail. I was happy that I had put on a few extra layers as we were riding into a brisk breeze and it was only in the low 60's. With the higher humidity due to the moisture, I was a little chilled! Don did admit his toes were cold but he never stopped to put on socks.

This part of the trail followed the Coeur D'Alene River and a few swampy areas. We didn't see any moose or really any other wildlife. Just a few cyclists.

The trail took us through thick groves of Western Cedar, aspen and other pine trees. So it was totally different scenery than the southern sections of the trail and it was great to finally only smell the pungent odor of pines vs smoke!

As we neared I-90 and our turnaround at the Cataldo trailhead, we passed an RV park filled with Airstreams - all different models/sizes. We wondered what that was all about so we stopped and talked to the park's owner. She said it was an Airstream rally.

That sounded like fun but not now during this age of Covid. We belong to the Colorado Airstream club as well as the Wally Byum International Airstream Club, which of both which have 3-5 day rallies and even longer caravans exploring different parts of the country. Someday we hope to be able to feel comfortable joining some of these groups.

We turned around at Cataldo and headed back to the truck. It was a little warmer as the wind was at our backs and the sun had come out from behind the clouds.

By the time we got back to camp it was 5 pm. We've enjoyed doing this trail in sections, but the further north we stop, the longer a drive it is to that location. Today it was an hour.

We really like this state park but it's not ideally situated to the trail and other than Harrison, there aren't any other campgrounds that would be half-way along the trail. Oh well, it is what it is!

This journal is being brought to with the help of this antena. It points toward a cell tower and boosts our phone signal so we can do a hotspot.

I believe this is a Red Breasted Nuthatch. Very quick moving little bird. I was lucky to get this picture!

Didn't spot any Sasquatch on motorcyles but we'll keep our eyes peeled!

Paul Bunyon??!! We didn't take a wrong turn and end up in Minnesota did we??!! It turns out that the Saint Maries high school team are named the Lumberjacks because of the logging done in this area.

We saw quite a bit of this tree/vine on the trail today but have no idea what it is?

An Airstream here, and Airstream there, Airstreams everywhere! Plus a wanna be. We happened upon this RV park near Cataldo that was hosting a local Airstream rally. Don commented that if we ever attended one of these, we would definately need some kind of identifier for our trailer, otherwise we might not make it back to the correct one! Especially in the dark.

The water in this portion of the Coer D'Alene river was very blue-green which is due to minerals.I don't think I would get too carried away on drinking any of it as it's likely contaminated with heavy metals.

Today's ride: 22 miles (35 km)
Total: 919 miles (1,479 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	1
Comment on this entry	Comment	0