Riding the Hiawatha!!

Dave and I took our bikes Saturday June 18th to the Hiawatha trail.

It is located between Montana and Idaho just South of I-90

The trail is an old train track that was an electric passenger line between Idaho and Montana.

We started our ride On the Montana side at the East Portal trailhead.

It costs 9.00 to ride the trail.  There is also a shuttle service to take you back to your vehicle that costs 9.00 also.

The beginning of the trail starts out at the east portal entrance of one of the tunnels.

This tunnel is really long and headlights are required to ride this trail and you really need them!

Because it is as dark as the inside of Dick's hat in there!

And you need to let your eyes get adjusted when you start.

It was really cold inside the tunnel.  I was wishing that I had gloves.  It was so cold you could see your breath.  About the middle of this tunnel is the state line between Montana and Idaho.

This tunnel is where the Idaho crew met the Montana crew to finish the train track.

The track was finished in 1904, just before the fires of 1910 which burned much of the area where this railway passed.

The scenery along the trail was spectacular

When we started the ride it was partly cloudy and sunny.  We finished the ride just in time because it started to sprinkle when we got to Pearson and by the time we loaded the bikes up and headed to the highway, it was raining.

I lost count of all the tunnels

Part of the trail is shared with vehicle traffic (3 miles to be exact)

And then there were tressels...

The view from the tressels was pretty cool.

We picked a good weekend to go.  Apparently during the middle of summer they have over 3000 people riding the trail in one day.  Way to crazy for me.  But we only saw people occassionaly so it was a very enjoyable ride.

Dave riding on the tressel

The tressel behind me was another one that we went over.

I think there were about 7 or 8 tressels that we crossed.

And of course I have to show some of the flora.

These violets were yellow.  I don't think I have ever seen wild yellow violets.  I don't know if they had a fragrance or not.  I didn't take the time to smell them (take time to smell the roses--opps?)

I don't know what this flower is, but it was pretty.

This flower looked like a hosta crossed with an orchid. 

(looked it up and found out it is called a Trillium)

And after I saw the white, I found several clusters down the trail in several degrees of pink.

Along the trail there are kiosks and signs that tell some of the history.  The Olympian Hiawatha was a plush passenger line that ran this section of railway.  It is the inspriation for the trails name.  This was the longest electrified train in the United States.

The end of the trail is at Pearson.  This is where the shuttle busses pick you and your bike up to take you back to the west portal of the first tunnel you come thru.  You get to ride the longest tunnel twice.

Inside the long tunnel, there are little alcove's periodically.

Most of the tunnels had seeping water.  I think it was probably more while we were there due to the late spring and the snow run-off.

Dave and I really liked this trail. 

It was so pretty and we really enjoyed it!

Riding thru the tunnels and on over the tressels was pretty cool.

I think this ride would be awsome in the fall.

We started the ride about 1100 and finished around 1400.

We had lunch and took our time to enjoy the scenery. 

I am going to do some research to find some more rides that we can take.