On the Hiawatha Trail

Some friends from New York City are visiting and I proposed the 15 mile bike ride through the Bitterroot Mountains on the Hiawatha Trail, a fabulous ride through 10 tunnels and over 7 300' tall trestles on an abandoned railroad track. See the Hiawatha Trail site here. This intrepid crossing of the Bitterroot Mountains was started in 1804 on the Montana Side and 1805 on the Idaho side covering over 2000 miles of territory. (History of the building here ) After the route was abandoned in 1980, it lay dormant until a group from the Lookout Pass Ski area decided to make it a bike run. It's 15 easy miles on a gentle downhill slope through the most gorgeous scenery.... More pictures here

Wait...did I say easy? The first 1.66 miles is through the darkest, longest tunnel. The temperature dropped from 82 degrees outside to less than 40 degrees inside. I felt like I was going into the jaws of a Stygian hell, since my lights were woefully inadequate. The walls were constantly weeping into a drainage ditch on both sides. As my group dodged around puddles, the weaving lights made it somewhat disorienting and they were quickly swallowed up in the darkness. Hmmm....note to self: better lights next time. Keep pedaling...the end will show up soon....and it did! We burst out into bright sunlight, doffed our sweatshirt and fleeces and off we went...past waterfalls, through tall alpine firs, tamaracks and cedars and over the tall trestles. Now THIS is easy...and fun! And beautiful! Smiling people passing us if we stopped to have a sip of water or read a sign. Everyone shouting ,"Hello!" Some groups were pedaling back up the trail rather than taking the shuttles below. The picture shows my friends looking down from one of the trestle beds as we head to another tunnel. The other tunnels are much shorter, btw. We spent the evening at a restaurant and then bid each other a fond good night....making plans for next time when they add another 32 miles of trail. Another adventure in the making!