Coeur d"Alene, Idaho

I was lucky enough to ride two of the trails on my bike bucket list this summer.  Both are in the panhandle area of Idaho and are "rails to trails" with gentle grades.  Both are unique in their own right.  

Bucket List #1 - Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes   spans the width of the Idaho panhandle.  For 72 miles it runs along rivers, lakes, marshes and by several small towns.  A friend and I biked 55 miles from the south-west trail head in Plummer to the small mining town of Kellogg.   The highlights of this trail included  a 3,000 ft bridge over Coeur d'Alene Lake and moose sighting.  

One of the many bridges 

Do you see the moose? 

THE BRIDGE!! 

Do you see the bridge? 

Our SAG (AKA husbands) picked us up in Kellogg.  I did not take any photos during the last 5 miles of our 55 miles between Smelterville and Kellogg.  That 5 miles was NOT scenic at all - think mining town infrastructure.   If I were to bike this trail again, I would have our SAG meet us in Smelterville.  After Kellogg it appears the trail parallels the interstate freeway so we choose not to bike it.  But who knows........  I may bike that portion next time. 

Bucket List #2 - Route of the Hiawatha  This was like no other trail I have biked before and my favorite so far.  It is a 15 miles DOWNHILL packed gravel trail going through 10 tunnels and 7 super high steel RR trestles.  What a thrill !

The top trail-head is in Montana and the route starts with a 1.6 Mile tunnel exiting in Idaho.  

  

1st Tunnel!! 

Trail-head !!  

1.6 Mile Taft Tunnel

Vistas around every corner!!  

My bike coming off the shuttle

We took the shuttle bus back up the hill.  However, hardcore mountain bikers passed us, huffing and puffing their way back up the trail.  

My advice if you plan to bike the trail - get the permit and shuttle ticket at the Wallace Inn, arrive early since it can be hot and busy, ride a mountain bike, carry an emergency repair kit, have water, make sure your headlamp is fully charged. 

Get ready for 15 miles of FUN!!!  

LA Bike Tour

I visited friends in Southern California for the weekend.  As typical for me, I had to include biking in the weekend activities.  They took me on their local mountain bike trails, which was a workout me.  I never sweated more in my life - and it was only about 6 miles.  YIKES!!

We also went on an organized bike tour of the LA area.  We joined a group of 10 on a 32 miles tour through eight LA cities.  It was unbelievable in more ways than one.  

1.) It was really cool to bike through the cities of Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Belair & Santa Monica.  The sights allowed me to forget about the hills we climbed.  

 2.) We biked on city streets, which was exhilarating in its own right with all the traffic.  I must say the car drivers were very polite and patient with us cyclist.

   


3.)It is always fun to bike on the beach path and along the Venice canals.

4.) We took the LA River Trail for a few miles.  Although, it was not very exciting, it is neat to bike near an area I see in the movies so often.    





I would recommend this tour for anyone visiting LA.  My friends have lived in LA all their lives and said we went to many areas they have never explored.  

Biking & Camping

What was supposed to be a bikecamping trip ended up in a camping & biking weekend instead.  Regardless, it was tons of fun.  Biking on new-to-me trails, enjoying time with family and escaping the heat from home.  

Half Moon Bay

We started the weekend with a ride along the Half Moon Bay California Coastal Trail.  It is a nicely paved trail with lots of great scenery and fabulous fish & chips for lunch.  We kind of lost the trail towards the end and road a few single track "mountain bike" routes for a bit, but that was OK.  Finding our way out of the Rtiz Carlton was an adventure......  we were told by a hotel employee to bike on the golf cart path - which we all knew was wrong, but she said "everyone does it".    Well, it was the wrong for several reasons and did not get us out of the hotel grounds.  We eventually found our own way out using google maps and our intuition. 

We camped in a nearby campground in the redwoods.  We had a very private campsite out of view of the other campers.  We could still hear the excited of the little campers, but nothing that ear plugs could not solve for a good night's sleep. 

Memorial County Park

The next morning we took off a little early, I think before the little nearby campers were up, to bike in two different places.  First, on the Devil's Slide Trail.  It used to be part of Hwy 1, but landslides force 1 1/2 miles of the road to be closed to cars.  A tunnel was built for cars, but the road was maintained for  walkers and cyclist.  It is a short, but steep trail.  There was no shortage of great vistas along the way.  

Devil's Slide Trail

Our Last stop was for SF Sunday Streets.  Once a month the City of San Francisco closes a street in a different section of the city.  On this Sunday, Ocean Blvd and Lincoln Drive in Golden Gate Park were closed.  We enjoyed three car-free SF Bay Area biking experiences in one short weekend.  I couldn't ask for a better weekend.  

Bay Area Bike Ride #14: Lafayette - Moraga Regional Trail

I met my daughter half-way for lunch. Her knee is rehab'ing nicely.  She has replaced the crutch with a cane and is moving along much quicker than last month.  It was a nice spring day, so after lunch I took to the folding bike for a quick ride on the  Lafayette - Moraga Regional Trail. A "new to me" trail.   It is short rail trail and #14 in the Bay Area Bike Ride deck.    It was a pleasant and leisure ride.  Lots of people were out enjoying the warm day and the trail crosses over several neighborhood streets.  From Lafayette to Moraga it is a mild grade - so I kind of appreciated the excuse to put my feet down at the road crossings.  😊

The trail passes the entrance of St. Mary's College.  The college has a beautiful bell tower.  As I was snapping the sunset picture below I heard the bells chime for the 6 o'clock hour.  The chimes were lovely and were a good reminder that it was time to turn around and head back.  The trail is seven miles long but I was racing the setting sun  and was only able to ride 5 miles.  A good excuse to come back and ride all seven miles.  

Death Valley - Meet Gallivanting Girls

I have lived in California all my life and have never visited Death Valley.  I was super excited when one of my biking friends planned a 4 day weekend biking outing to Death Valley.  This is the same group that biked in Tahoe and Crater Lake, not to mention bike camping and completing a century last fall.  One of your husbands referred to our biking trips as "gallivanting" so we named our group the "Gallivanting Gals".   

DV Gallivanting Girls Ready to Take Off

Seven of the Gallivanting Gals loaded up seven bikes in two trucks and made our way to the lowest point in North America.  In order to get to Death Valley from our homes, we have to across the Nevada Sierra mountain range.  It was slow going for the first 150 miles.  Spring snow had change controls in effect so the limit was 35 MPH all the way through the mountains to the desert.  


Our first day in Death Valley was SUPER windy.  It was blowing 30 - 40 MPHs all day.  (Hey that is the same speed of our travel the day before. 😉 ) Instead of biking we explored on foot and took a hike.  I can now say I "got blow'in away" at the lowest point in North America - 262 ft below sea level 

Devil's Golf Course

Badwater Basin - Lowest Point

I don't think I have every been anyplace so windy.  I actually was knocked off balance once or twice.  We did find a canyon to hike with much less wind.   Sidewinder Canyon was cool with several narrow passage way off shoots.  

The next morning the wind had completely stopped.  Their was not even a slight breeze.  We have a fabulous day biking through the desert.  The wildflowers were bright yellow and colored the desert floor nicely.  A trip to remember!!  

  

 T

Bay Area Ride #21 - Coyote Hills

I usually bike ride with my daughter, but she recently had knee surgery and is temporarily moving around with crutches.   So I went to her on the bike to visit and have a picnic.  She lives 150 miles from me so my trip started with a train trip with my bike.  Amtrak makes it easy and I always feel like I am starting an exciting new adventure. 

My daughter and her boyfriend had given me a very cool biking Christmas gift - a Bay Area Bike Ride Card Deck.  It is a box containing 50 cards with 50 different bike rides in the SF Bay Area.  Each card has a route map, ride description and cue sheet.  I was able to complete Ride #21 - Coyote Hills !  

I easily picked up the trail a couple blocks from the Amtrak station.  It was 10 miles of completely off road biking to the edge of the bay and a nice regional park.  My daughter was waiting with a picnic lunch.  We spent several lovely hours together before I have to hit the trail again to catch the evening train back home.    

It was a wonderful Sunday biking adventure.  If you are ever in the San Francisco south bay area check out Coyote Hills park.  You will not be disappointed.