After passing all the discarded trash along the trail, Zilla and I heard an engine slowly approaching us from behind. I was a bit annoyed as the trail is closed to motorized vehicles, but decided to keep my mouth shut. I moved out of the way to let the car pass but instead, the car pulled over and a man got out and started to talk to us. It turned out, he was the farmer who owned the land we were riding on and it was only recently that he had signed an agreement to allow cyclists to use his trail. I thanked the man for his generosity and was glad that I’d held my tongue about yelling at him for using his car on the trail.

About 15 minutes later, we said our goodbyes and Zilla and I got off the trail onto the dirt roads that would ultimately lead us to Plummer and what would undoubtedly be one of the highlights of our trip, the Trail of the Coeur d’Alene! The Trail of the Coeur d'Alene is regarded as one of the most beautiful and distinct rail trails in the US and is inducted into the Rail Trail Hall of Fame. It probably has something to do with the fact that the trail is 73 miles long, paved, and runs through such beautiful and wild terrain that it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll run into a moose and maybe even a bear, all while riding on virtually flat, car-free pavement.

The rest of the day’s ride was fairly quiet as it took us through rural dirt/gravel roads, a paved road that was closed for construction, and the backroads of the Coeur d'Alene reservation. We only saw a few cars and even better, it was more or less downhill so there was lots of coasting and cool breezes for Zilla to sniff and learn about his surroundings. We were even treated to a rabbit hanging out along the side of the road.

Eventually, we rolled into the town of Plummer and the official, unofficial start of the Trail of the Coeur d'Alene (more on that next post). We then treated ourselves to a delicious burger and milkshake at a local restaurant before finding a place to spend the night before our first day riding the Trail of the Coeur d'Alene!