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<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\nThe trail starts almost at the Washington State border and ends just before the Montana border. It is a joint project of the Coeur d’ Alene Indian tribe and the government of Idaho.\u00a0 The trail runs along an old railroad bed which is why it is almost flat.<\/p>\n
Are there downsides of the trail?\u00a0 It is tough to find something negative to say.\u00a0 The trail caused my camera to run out of power, because the views were so photogenic.\u00a0 That is really not a negative.<\/p>\n
The single small downside is that the trail has water at the beginning and end, but not in the middle.\u00a0 In the trail\u2019s defense after riding it I looked at some websites that discuss the trail and they say \u201cbring water\u201d and a camera.<\/p>\n
I got on the trail at mile marker 6 and had no idea what to expect.\u00a0 I was using Google Maps.\u00a0 It said, \u201cturn left here.\u201d\u00a0 I turned left and saw a sign \u201cno motorized vehicles.\u201d\u00a0 I started pedaling and then after a mile pulled over to see what the next set of instructions were going to be.\u00a0 I scrolled through a couple of screens of going straight when suddenly the screen showed I was supposed to be cycling in the middle of a lake.\u00a0 I felt a bit confused but Google Maps had done well so far that day so I decided to take a chance.<\/p>\n
A few miles later a giant bridge appeared that was open only for walkers and bicyclists.\u00a0 The bridge crossed a large lake right where Google indicated I should be pedaling.\u00a0 By the end of the bridge I knew I was on something special, since even the bridge was built to make cycling up it easy, with short flat spots interspersed with up-hills, so you were not continuously climbing.<\/p>\n
On the other side of the bridge the trail didn\u2019t just hug the shore.\u00a0 Instead there were times it bisected inlets and small ponds.\u00a0 The vegetation kept changing along the side of the trail and the distant scenery kept changing from farms, to alpine meadows, to mountains.<\/p>\n
The skies were busy with birds flying about trying to catch insects.\u00a0 I joined the birds by occasionally swallowing a few bugs too.\u00a0 The difference was that they were trying to catch bugs and I just opened my mouth at the wrong time.<\/p>\n
There were a few other special moments.\u00a0 I was about 20 miles in on the trail when I saw what I thought was a horse on the trail in front of me.\u00a0 Another bicyclist coming towards me saw me brake while staring ahead. \u00a0He turned to look back and whispered, \u201cMoose.\u201d \u00a0We stood there about 20 feet from a teenage moose who was sniffing trees on both sides of the trail before jumping in the water to swim off.<\/p>\n
The trail has many interpretive signs.\u00a0 My goal was to read the heading of every sign as I pedaled past.\u00a0 I saw one that said, \u201cbald eagle nesting ground.\u201d\u00a0 A few minutes later I could hear a pair of eagles screeching to each other, but I could not see the actual birds.<\/p>\n
Another memorable\u00a0 experience was about an hour later.\u00a0 A moose started to crash out of the woods beside me.\u00a0 Just as his head broke through the thicket I whizzed by.\u00a0 We looked at each other from about 6 feet away.\u00a0 The moose sniffed, turned and darted back into the forest.\u00a0 While I don\u2019t smell particularly fresh, I sill felt a bit insulted the moose darted off that quickly once it caught wind of me.<\/p>\n
To top it all off, I booked a motel three blocks off a trail entrances in Kellogg Idaho.\u00a0 The room is clean, comfortable and quite cheap ($45).\u00a0 What more can you ask for in one day?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you read day 4’s post you might ask, \u201cWhat is the point of cycling across the USA?\u201d\u00a0 Today answered this question emphatically. While yesterday had some low moments, today had one long and continuous high moment.\u00a0 I had this experience during my last 50 miles of the day, while pedaling the Trail of the … Continue reading Day 5: Spokane to Kellogg, Idaho<\/span>