Giving Adventure Cycling a New Meaning

Monday, May 17th, 2010

Location: Athol, ID ... Jimmy C's

First post on what is the third day of the Idaho Panhandle tour. My brother Kyle and I are having a whirlwind of an adventure out here. It has truly giving me a new appreciation for how passionate the cycle adventure is.

(PIC is starting from our parents house)
Starting from Spokane on Friday morning around 10 in the A.M. we cruised our old stomping ground through the South Hill to Downtown near the start of the Centennial Trail. This trail took us all the way into Idaho (only losing it once briefly) following the Spokane River Upstream.

We spent an afternoon in Coeur d'Alene, the city, at the north end of the Lake. Jumped in at Tubb's Hill right by the resort, then proceeded to eat Legendary Hamburgers at Hudsons. Not really knowing where to stay for the night we got side tracked biking around a smaller lake and then ended up finding a hill by the big lake to camp for the night (PIC gorgeous sunset included).

From that location we ended up finding the end of the Centennial Trail and did a quick two miles onto 1-90 to highway 97. A quick 20 some miles down that we reached Harrison, ID for lunch. A quaint little town with a nice atmosphere, Harrison was a good place to relax for a siesta.

It also happens to be the start (or end relatively) of the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes a rail to trail path that follows the Coeur d'Alene River. After visiting Kyle's favorite bridge to jump off (PIC him jumping) The riding here was mellow and scenic. I would highly recommend it to anybody looking to enjoy a good bike ride.

We ended up camping by the river and continuing on our way on Sunday. We decided to head North as our original intention towards Lake Pend Oreille. Instead of cutting back towards Coeur d'Alene and take the highway we entered the wilderness north of our current location onto Forest Service Land.

My bike can handle unpaved road but while dragging a trailer it can be difficult especially on loose gravel or steep inclines. Besides those two things we encountered more obstacles and difficulties than I ever could have anticipated.

Starting that Sunday afternoon I got detoured on side road that was not our intended route. My brother, ahead of me, did not anticipate my mistake. I ended up high on a road completely lost by my self meditating on a stump (PIC view of my bike from said place) until some people on ATVs rolled past to give me direction. But by the time I got to where I needed to the day was rewarding and we camped in no mans land last night.

Today was probably one of the most physically and mentally enduring tasks that I have had to undertake for sometime. We had a supposed route out of the Forest Service Land north to Sandpoint, ID. We did not realize that the roads were confusing and the mtn. passes were high.

The initial road was smooth and nice but we soon encountered obstacles such as huge bumps in the road that looked like moto-cross jumps & rock slides. We unintentionally detoured from our route and ended up on what was essentially a trail. This trail had two creek crossings (first of which is PIC below) and three portions that were completely snowed over. We were on the struggle bus carrying our gear over those parts and through that pass in general but we learned alot about patience.

We made it back to civilization and openly embraced a feast at our current location. We meet some locals and were shown some gratuitous hospitality that I am so thankful for. We are camping at Farragut State Park tonight 4 miles down the road and will spend the day there tomorrow resting from our over adventurousness today.

Thanks for the great response from the link on the Sasquatch Website and all my friends, family, people I love etc... I am having the quest of my life really understanding what my existence can be. Always Learn, Love, Live

sincerely,

TE

ps. the PIC is one of my favorite this trip so far B & W