Friends of the Coeur d'Alene Trails

With the Northern Pacific Railbed Restoration Project completed, except for maintenance, we are turning our attention to enhancing the Old Milwaukee Road railbed/road along the Saint Joe River between Avery and Saint Maries. This multi-use yet semi-abandoned dirt road is the key to establishing a spectacular 185 mile bicycle loop route. One day, the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, the Northern Pacific railbed, the Route of the Hiawatha, and the Old Milwaukee Road will form a loop known the world over for its variety, rigor and beauty.

We are encouraged in this effort by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a nonprofit organization working with communities to preserve unused rail corridors by transforming them into trails, enhancing the health of America's environment, economy, neighborhoods and people. The photo shows folks from the national office checking out a section of the Milwaukee Road as it travels along the Saint Joe River.

We present here three ways to look at an Old Milwaukee Road bicycle adventure.

• Pearson to Marble Creek.
  Our Other Trails page documents this as Ride #14. This all-downhill journey starts at the Route of the Hiawatha Pearson Trailhead, which can be reached via the Moon Pass Road (NFD 456) from either Wallace or Avery. This could be considered a FREE continuation of a ride down the Route of the Hiawatha. The trail follows what we have dubbed and signed as the Old Milwaukee Scenic/Alternate Route. It goes 10.8 miles, past a newly renovated campground on the North Fork of the Saint Joe River, to Avery on ATV-wide trail, and then continues another 12.8 miles along the wide Saint Joe River to the Interpretive Center at Marble Creek.
  • Pearson to Marble Creek annotated topo map with milepost comments:
    384 KB, two page Microsoft Word document
  • Pearson to Marble Creek Musical Slide Show:
    40.4 MB Windows Media Audio/Video file, 5:34 minutes
  •     Photo Trail of the Old Milwaukee Scenic/Alternate Route:
    26 interactive photos taken in the fall of 2009
   
  
• Marble Creek to Saint Maries.
  Our Other Trails page documents this as Ride #15. The mostly dirt country road follows the Saint Joe River for 33.8 miles from the Marble Creek Interpretive Center into the town of St. Maries.
  • Marble Creek to Saint Maries annotated topo map with milepost comments:
    2,183 KB, two page Microsoft Word document
  • As shown below: in June, 2005, some of us made an initial exploratory ride along the Saint Joe River between Marble Creek and Saint Maries, on what was the Old Milwaukee Railroad right-of-way.
   
  
• Pearson to Saint Maries.
  This treatment considers both sections together as part of what we are currently calling "The 300K Bitterroot Loop."
  • In August, 2006, a group of adventurous ladies from Denver rode the 185 mile loop in six days and wrote up their itinerary for us (12 KB pdf file).
  • In September, 2010, two riders produced this photo essay:
    The Grand Rail Trail of North Idaho: 170 miles in three days using the "Wallace cheater option" (1.8 MB pdf file).
  • Towns and elevation changes along the 185 mile loop (8 KB pdf file).
  • Useful and emergency contact information for the 185 mile loop (8 KB pdf file).

If you have Google Earth installed on your computer, you will find the following kml tours informative and entertaining.

Google Earth is a broadband, 3D application that not all computers can run.
• Desktop computers older than 4 years old may not be able to run it.
• Notebook computers older than 2 years old may not be able to run it.

    [This is a work in progress. Please keep checking back for updated files.]
• Plummer to Harrison (Lake Coeur d'Alene segment; 15.3 miles)
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• Harrison to Enaville (Chain Lakes segment; 31.8 miles)
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• Enaville to Mullan (Silver Valley segment; 24.3 miles)
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• Mullan to Taft, Montana (Mountain Pass segment; 20.9 miles)
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• Taft to Pearson (Route of the Hiawatha segment; 17.0 miles)
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• Pearson to Avery (North Fork of Saint Joe River segment; AKA Scenic Alternate Milwaukee Road; 9.0 miles)
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• Avery to Plummer (Saint Joe River segment; AKA Milwaukee Road railbed; 65.4 miles)
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