The Best Rail Trail in the West!

If you have never heard of the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes-boy are you in for a treat. It's a 72 mile paved rail trail that runs across the Idaho Panhandle from Plummer on the Palouse to Mullan on the Montana Border. I have sampled sections of it over the years and probably one of the nicest sections is the one in Heyburn State Park. Here you can traverse Coeur d'Alene Lake on a 2/3 mile trestle-then follow along the lakeshore for miles! I sneaked a 10 mile run on that section of trail on my way to Lewiston last week. There is great camping in Heyburn State Park ans some nice hiking trails too. Matter of fact my Best Hikes with Dogs Inland Northwest spotlights Heyburn as well as the nearby Mary Minerva McCroskey State Park. And if you have never driven US 95 between CDL and Lewiston-you are in for a real treat-it is one of the prettiest sections of road in the entire Northwest. Have fun exploring-don't forget to pack your bike.

Back from my Eastern Washington (and a little bit of Idaho too) Whirlwind Tour

Last night at around 11:30 pm I returned from an 8 day trip that was quite productive and fun and a tad bit exhausting. I apologize for the lack of blog entries during my absence-but I don't travel with a laptop. Wouldn't have had any time to use it anyways even if I did travel with one. So where did I go and what did I do?
Okay-
Book and hiking talk and presentation in Wenatchee.
Run 6 miles on the Golden Tiger Rail Trail in Republic Washington
Hike 10 miles on the northern Kettle Crest and Little Vulcan Mountain
Hike 5 miles in 13 Mile Canyon Roadless area
Book talk and presentation in Spokane
Hike 4 miles on Tubbs Hill in Coeur d'Alene Idaho
Walk a few mils on the Centennial Trail
Run 10 miles on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes at Heyburn State Park, ID
Hike 14 miles on Tucannon River Trail and Hunters Spring in the Blue Mountains, Umatilla National Forest
Hike 4 miles in the Juniper Dunes Wilderness
Book talk in Walla Walla
Run 6 miles on the Mill Creek Trail and Bennington Lake Reserve in Walla Walla
Visit the Whitman National Historic Site
Hike Hat Rock State Park, Oregon
Hike Crow Butte
Run a 10K race in Moses Lake
Visit Dry Falls
Drive way too much thanks to a road closure on the North Cascades Highway

Quite a bit of activity there for 8 days uh? Tell me about it! I'm exhausted- time to rest on this Memorial Day Weekend. I'll tell you more about some of the places I recently visited in the my upcoming posts. Its great to be back home!

(photo-Garfield County Courthouse in Pomeroy-the middle of nowhere and one of my favorite corners of Washington)