The Northwest Cycling Adventures of Peter and Chris: Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes (Part II)

Ride #6

November 9th, 2014

Cataldo, ID to Harrison, ID and back
53.4 miles
Rainy, 40-47 degrees

Peter and I enjoyed the first part of the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes from Plummer to Harrison so much that we figured we had better continue tackling it over the next few weekends. For part two, we decided to go from Cataldo to Harrison and back, and what a ride it was! Due to some sort of planning oversight, we had expected this ride to be ~40 miles. It turned out to be 53.4 miles. It also turned out to be raining... fairly heavily... nearly the entire day. But that just made it all the more fun!

With the new upgrades to my bike and Peter's new bike, we were both excited for the ride. Once we had all our rain gear on and secured, we took off toward Harrison. Our initial pace was noticeably faster than on previous rides. The ride was cold and wet, but it passed by quickly thanks to some good conversation and multiple animal sightings. We saw horses, cows, llamas, several blue heron, and even an eagle! We also had the trail completely to ourselves. The only other person we saw was a friendly hunter, decked out in camo, riding his ATV parallel to the trail. He gave us a big smile and wave.

In Harrison, we stopped for about a 20 minute break. We had some snacks and water and took a few pictures, then got on our way back to Cataldo. The ride back was similar to the first half; cold and wet. We made good time and only stopped once for a quick water break. The sight of our pick-up truck was extremely welcome as we crested the very last hill. We were both anxious to get back to the warm, dry car.

After changing into some dry clothes, we left Cataldo and headed to the White House Grill in Post Falls for some much needed post-ride food. For an appetizer we got the Turkish cigars, Turkish plate for the main course and a couple of pints of beer to wash it all down.