End of the Trail
Dogzilla and Captain Fantastic at the Mullan Trailhead - Mullan, Idaho
Having just donated over $600 to the Shoshone County Humane Society, Dogzilla and I were on an emotional high… or at least I was. Zilla had filled up with a bunch of treats, so he was more likely in a food coma. I knew that this was just the first of many donations to come, but I wanted to savor the moment as this was something really special to me. I only wished that Captain Fantastic could be there more than in spirit when it happened. Our journey was far from over though, so after visiting for a while, Zilla and I headed back out to the bike and continued our eastern journey across Idaho towards the Montana border at Lookout Pass. But before the pass, we would come to the end of the fabled Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes which we’d been following across most of Idaho.
We were also still riding on the booted tire, but thankfully there was a bike shop practically across the street where we made our donation to the Shoshone County Humane Society. I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and replaced the boot that I had used and I also picked up a replacement tire. I didn’t put it on though, I decided to push the boot as hard as I could so that I’d know in the future what kind of punishment they could take before failing. This meant that I was carrying a spare tire in the trailer with Zilla, but they fold up pretty small so it didn’t take up too much space and make him uncomfortable.
As we rode away, Zilla and I ran into a woman out walking her dog and we stopped to chat. It turned out that she worked for a local vet clinic and that her pup, Scruffy, had led quite an interesting life. As a pup, he had been brought up in a home with lynxes as playmates!! Talk about a unique life experience! Now at 12, Scruffy still walks several hours a day with no signs of slowing down. It was a pretty cool encounter!
Not wanting to be outdone, Dogzilla hopped out of the trailer and had to show that at 14.5, he still walked about 4 miles a day and was just as spry as in his younger days. I’m sure he’d walk more if I let him, but I don’t want to make him work too hard! Besides, he seems perfectly content to hang out in his trailer, watching the world roll by, and taking in all the new and exciting smells.
Leaving Kellogg, we continued east along the Coeur d’Alenes River. Just outside of town, the trail takes on a much more wilderness feeling even though you’re still fairly close to the interstate. As usual, we didn’t see many people out on the trail, but we did pass a work crew that were replacing telephone poles. We watched them in passing, but I didn’t think it was a good idea to stop and take pictures because a) it just feels weird gawking at people while they work and b) if something went wrong, we didn’t want to be anywhere near a pole as it fell!
As we continued our climb, we passed by the towns of Osburn, Silverton, and Wallace. It seemed like all three were past their heydays and that now that there was an interstate, most people ignored these towns and just drove by instead of driving through them prior to the interstate being built. It’s kind of a double-edged sword in that we need good roads for trucks and cars to go between major cities, but then the smaller towns seem to suffer as a result.
After Wallace, we had just 7 miles to go to the end of the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes and the hardest part was yet to come. This is fairly relative though as the entire trail follows an old railroad bed, so even though the trail got steeper, it wasn’t anything that trains couldn’t have handled back in the day. At any rate, it was fun to have the added challenge of a slightly steeper climb as it would add to the sense of accomplishment.
Zilla and I found ourselves entering into a much more narrow mountain canyon with steep mountains on either side as the trail snaked its way up towards Mullan. It was a beautiful setting for the end of the trail. We stopped a couple times along the way to savor the moment and just hang out for a bit. I knew this was going to be one of our last days riding for the year so I didn’t want to rush things. Ultimately though, we did have a goal to make, so we got back on the bike and finished the last few miles of the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes at the trailhead in Mullan. It had been a beautiful experience all around and I would gladly do it over again!
This didn’t mean our journey was over though, we still had a long way to go to finish the Great American Rail Trail in Washington D.C., but in the near term, we were setting our sights on the Idaho/Montana border at Lookout Pass.
End of the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes - Mullan, Idaho
