Route of the Hiawatha: Tunnels and Trestles, oh my! Friday, June 21st


Hello again friends and fam!  It's Friday, June 21st, and we are heading to Lookout Pass, Idaho to ride the Route of the Hiawatha, what is hailed as the premier “rails to trails” bike path in the country.      

We arose at 5:30 am in order to be on the road by 7:00.   We had previously made reservations for the ride today, which included bike rentals, lights, shuttle back after completing the route, and delivery of our bikes to the beginning of the trail (yes, this vacation is really getting cushy!).

Start of the Route



The route opens at 8:30am, and we arrived at 9:00am - or so we thought.   The route itself is in the Mountain Timezone, but the outfitter that operates the route is on Pacific Time.   Since this area straddles two timezones, we learned the route abides by Pacific Time even though it's in Mountain Time.  Does that sound confusing?  It sure was to us!  

We got ourselves ready and started off on our rental bikes once the route opened





The Route of the Hiawatha is steeped in the history of the Milwaukee Road railroad and (believe it or not) has its origins in Chicago.   The Milwaukee Railroad Company, based in Chicago (with a long prior history in Milwaukee), was looking to create a rail route from Chicago to Seattle.   This was an extremely challenging endeavor, as the route had to cross the Bitterroot section of the Rocky mountains.

The section we traveled is only 15 miles, but it had 10 long tunnels (one is 1.6 miles long) and 7 sky high trestle bridges.   No wonder the Milwaukee Road eventually went bankrupt, as the cost to develop this was much more than anticipated.


Random person with
the "Butt Stripe"
St. Paul Pass tunnel

Enough history!  We started into the 1.6 mile St. Paul pass tunnel.  The tunnels are quite cool, consistently between 45-48 degrees, so we bundled up for the ride.   The surface is clay-like and wet, and there is quite a bit of water cascading from the ceiling.    The badge of honor for this trail is the butt stripe you get from the wet clay spraying up on your back in the tunnels.   You might be able to see it on Cindy if you enlarge the picture up top.   Somehow I avoided this and don't regret missing this "badge of honor".
 




At the end of the St. Paul Pass tunnel there was a beautiful waterfall.





The trail was filled with lots of interesting history and incredible views.  The trail is named the "Route of the Hiawatha" because the Milwaukee Road created a luxury train experience and called it The Olympian Hiawatha, and this is part of the route from Chicago to Seattle.


Scenic views at every turn

The tunnels were chilly and damp
 

The trestle bridges were our favorite part
of the ride

More spectacular views!


End of the trail, beautiful day!





We really enjoyed the Route of the Hiawatha.   The entire trail is downhill, so it's an easy ride.   You can bike back up but it would be quite steep; instead, we took the shuttle back and ended our trip.

Next stop, Coeur d'Aline, Idaho!   

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