Day 6 07/05 Wallace, ID to Harrison, ID
50 miles
Today was our first paved path, the Trail of Couer d'Alene. This is in the "Rail Trail" Hall of Fame. The total trail is 75 miles. Today we did a 50 mile stretch with a slight downhill the entire way. We stayed at a city run RV campground in Harrison, ID. They had a nice lake front section for 5 tents. We were the only ones there.
More pictures of Wallace, ID on the way out of town...
Evidently Wallace is the "Center of the Universe."
Old bus serving tacos.
My best photo of the trip: Marlene and then Julie on the Trail of Couer d'Alene.
The chess trophy is happy to be at the lake front campground.
Sunset dinner.
40 miles (we didn't follow the exact route below)
Today was not too exciting, mostly riding on a busy road with no shoulder and then through parts of Couer d' Alene. Here is what the lake looked like from the road at one of our rest stops.
Day 8 07/07 Couer d'Alene, ID to Farragut State Park
29 miles
Today was the easiest ride of the trip. Ole' Gal and support driver Brian left us today. So Marlene and I carried all our gear starting at this point. We headed to Farragut State park which turned out to be awesome with amazing swimming. It is on Lake Pend Orielle - which is a huge lake, 65 miles long. The US Navy does submarine testing there. Usually the water is around 60 degrees, but due to the heat wave it was around 74 degrees.
Marlene had repeated trouble with handle bar bag. We stopped to fix it in this nice neighborhood outside of Couer d'Alene. It took one more fix later that night and then it was good for the trip.
Farragut State Park was a Navy base and then a Boy Scout camp and now a state park.
Marlene riding into the park.
One of the swimming beaches at the park.
Day 9 07/08 Farragut State Park to Sam Owen Campground
47 miles
Starting yesterday, we hit a stretch of great campgrounds with great swimming each night. Sam Owen Campground is on the north end of Lake Pend Orielle.
We passed through Sandpoint, ID which had a nice, wide bridge with bike lane entering the city. Here is Marlene on the bridge.
Art work in Sandpoint.
View from our campsite.
Day 10 07/09 Sam Owen Campground to Dor Skeel Campground (Troy, MT)
55 miles
We saw a lady filling up water jugs from this spring on the side of the road. She said it has been running non-stop for 60 years. We also filled up here.
This is what the road looked like for the day.
We passed Bon Jovi's campground.
Another campsite with beach front property for $15 compliments of the US Forest Service. There were only 3 total campsites in use on the night we were there.
Day 11 07/10 Dor Skeel Campground (Troy, MT) to Libby, MT
30 miles
We planned a shorter day and a hotel stay to recharge, do laundry, grocery shop , etc...
The campground host the previous night advised us to stop at the "swinging bridge." It is a huge bridge over the Kootenai Falls. It did swing quite a bit.
Entrance to Libby, MT.
Libby, MT turned out to be a great place to stay. Libby has a brewery, Cabinet Mountain Brewery.
Libby has a great laundromat with A/C and free wifi. I took a nap in here, it was close to 100 degrees out, but cold inside.
The laundromat is guarded by Chuck Norris.
And Libby has the Sandman Motel. Evidently the cast and crew of The Revenant stayed here while filming in the area.
