078: 05/31/2022: Tekoa-Rosalia WA: 19.4 miles today, 3543 miles in total.

On my way out I quickly cycled through some of Tekoa and came across this beautiful mural at the Museum. 

Next to it is the Town Hall and a small rest area.

Accross the street are the Eclairs Coffe Shop and the Empire. I was glad that I could get a good coffee here.

I needed some time to plan ahead. The details of the Palouse Trail east of the Columbia River is somewhat murky and I wanted to get more information.

I met another cyclist last night. He is going in the opposite direction and told me about muddy patches that I would get to immediately after crossing the Tekoa Trestle. He advised taking a detour.

Must say, I have never seen pink-colored lids for coffee cups. The coffee was still good though. :):):):)

More specifically, I also chatted with the bakestress that will bake a special cake for the hard opening of the Trestle this coming Sunday. She had a wealth of information on how the community came together and started workinging for funding to repair the trestle. 

The repairs to the Tekoa Trestle (in total about US$1 million) have been completed and this coming weekend would be the "hard" opening with the Governor of WA State there to formally open the Trestle. I met up with this group of volunteers busy soring out the parking area. 

I asked the team what the conditions are up ahead and they told me about the bad mud that there was quite before. They even had a nickname for the section, the Swamp. A lot of work was done in 2021, so I would be able to get through easily. There may be small spots of mud here and there, but nothing when compared what I went through yesterday.

I decided to follow the trail rather than go for a detour from the start.  

This is how the Trestle was constructed so many years ago.

This is what it looks like now that it is repaired. Of course, now for a much lighter use. 

Good job, guys!!!!

Of course, the view from the trestle over the town is great.

From the Trestle, the Trail condition was great and I was making good time. 

Even the swampy areas had good, but softish surfacing. I thought everything would be OK up ahead. 

Until I reached Lone Pine where plans became unhinged very quickly.

The mud was clingy and the entire trail width was wet. I was quite upset to see how the earlier work was done on the trail surface (probably filling potholes, etc.) and the side drains were not touched fo long sections. Without drainage you will get serious ponding and this is what is going on here.  

I pushed for about 1.5 miles, cleaning wheels regularly. 

At last I was out of the mud. 

However, my problems did not stop. This part of the trail has quite large pebbles and rocks on the surface and my gravel tires are just not wide enough to make the ride comfortable. I pedaled on, as the next town, Rosalia, was quite near. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery. Rolling hills with newly germinated plantings and flowering trees along the rail line. 

I soon came to the Seabury Trestle. 

There are good views from here, both oveer the surrounding farmland and the 

alignment of a crossing rail line that made this bridge essential, but now also abandoned.

There are quite a number of missing trestles along this section.

But the scenery is great.

By the time I came to this missing trestle, I had enough of the bumping and cycled the last 5 miles on a parallel paved road to Rosalia. 

I continued to enjoy the surrounding scenery. You can see the trail on the right in the picture above.

I soon reached Rosalia where I passed the local Caltex filling station and 

a repair shop. The Vampyrie car is fun.

I stopped at the Red Brick Bakery for a Coke and a slice of Apple Tart. Both were great. I again looked at the road ahead and, as I was going into an area where the 2020-wildfires burned through entire towns with very reinstatment completed. I decided to tackle the next sections tomorrow.

I pitched my tent for the first time this trip under 

beautiful Cottonwoods in the Rosalia Camp Ground. I was humbled by the friendliness and responsiveness of the Camp staff. The Camp is not fully open yet for the new Season. It looked as if somebody lived in the Men's restroom. The cleaning personnel immediately came and did a thorough cleanup. Thank you, Margie, and staff.  

077: 05/30/22: Rose Lake ID to Tekoa, Washington State (WA): 48 miles today, 3524 in total.

It was a great day at home and seeing Lizl and her family again. Even better was the drive back to the Trail this morning. Christine and Lizl decided to also cycle a section of the Coeur d'Alenes Trail. 

This was taken at Rose Lake Trailhead where I started again.

Still cold and windy today. But the rain let up to make the cycling more enjoyable.

The Trail continued through foresty areas with

wetlands on the one side and 

the Coeur d'Alene River on the other side. You can literally stop at any point along the trail and enjoy nature. 

It is still too early to see many Spring flowers and some of the migrant birds. But I had to take a photo of the new family, the first one I saw.

Before the Medimont Trailhead I cycled under this road bridge. There were so many birds in this area. 

The Medimont Trailhead.

This was a dense stand of trees a couple of miles before Harrison.

Such a beautiful River.

The main road connecting Harrison with Coeur d'Alene and the I90 where it crosses the river and the Trail.

I had to stop for a toasted sandwich at One Shot Charles Restaurant, Harrison. We stopped here before and the food was still  great.

The view from the porch. Here I met up with some more cyclists, among others, Sharon, who kayaks with Christine. 

Talking about Christine, she and Lizl enjoyed their cycling as well. We are glad that her thumbs are recovering well. 

From Harrison the trail follows the banks of the Lake Coeur d'Alene. This is a great ride and already quite busy. This area is called the Steamboat Landing, where steamboats, that plied the Lake, used to dock.

A small cut along the way. The rail trail crosses through the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation as well and I particularly like the cooperation that exists to manage the Trail. There are several Trailheads with Indian names while the maintenance of the about 15 miles from Harrison to Plummer is the responsibility of the Coeur d'Alene Tribal Authority. 

Another highlight of this Trail is crossing the lake with the Chatcolet bridge. 

This used to be a level rail bridge with a turning section to allow lake traffic through between train crossings. When the Trail was developed, it was decided to remove the turning bridge and replace it with a higher level fixed bridge. 

The grade of the new fixed bridge includes a unique design feature. It consists of a series of short rises and landings, certaily designed to make the bridge more pedestrian- friendly.

The last section of the trail goes though beautiful forests. 

It is a pity that a fire destroyed a section of these forests.

A trestle close to the end of the Trail. You will note that the owners started cutting down all the dead trees on the right. I trust there will be a replanting effort as well. 

A small bridge over the creek.

Too soon I reached the Plummer Trailhead of the Trail. This was surely a beautiful ride.

At the Trailhead there is a sculpture commemorating the Indian lives lost in the wars, including the modern wars. I took a short snack stop and had another chocolate chip cookie, specially baked for me by Mia and Michael. 

A view of the Plummer Trailhed. I was now cycling to both the ID-WA stateline and the start of the next trail, the Palouse to Cascades Trail.   

Just outside Plummer, I passed this large sawmill. Just look at the piles of logs waiting to be processed. 

The linking road runs through beautiful countryside. Tekoa, the first town in Washington State, is visible in the far distance. At this stage I was still doing very good time.

The start of the Idaho side of the Palouse Trail. This section of 3.5 miles is on private land with the farmers allowing visitors to use the trail. 

My rate of progress reduced quite a lot.  The trail has a lot of potholes, all filled with water after yesterday's rain Several were quite large (swimming pools - hehehe) and I had to take detours around the side. 

The potholes were acceptable, as the area remained beautiful.

I also saw the first bunches of Spring flowers along the Trail. 

Christine is sorely missed. She knows her flowers and would have made these photo stops so much more interesting.

This is coming to the end of the trail in Idaho. The hole in the trees on the other side of the cut is in Washington State.

Goodbye Idaho and Hallo WA. This is the last stateline to cross. The road on the left is the Stateline (border between ID and WA) while the trail continues to Tekoa straight ahead.

This is the last sign on the Palouse to Cascades Trail with Idaho in the background. The Trail was declared a State Park (Palouse to Cascades State Park Trails the formal name).

1850 miles to Chicago, the end of the Milwaukee railway line. I am not going there now - been there done that. Now I want to finish the trail through WA and reach the Pacific next week.

Such beautiful countryside.

The trail surface is a bit rough.

Freshly ploughed farmland.

Along this section of the trail I ran into very sticky mud. 

This slowed me down a lot and I reached Tekoa much later than I thought.

In the end I walked around all the mud, but this was slow work. 

Grain elevators. We shall see more of these along the trail.

Beautiful farmland.

Boy, was I glad to see the first buildings of Tekoa.

The rail trestle at Tekoa. This was opened for pedestrains this last month.

I slept at the municipal park. I was a Smart Aleck. I decided to sleep on the basketball court to get away from the damp grass. This "saved" me from pitching a tent. However, I forgot about the dew and ended up with the tent's groundsheet over me the whole night. I had some damp spots this morning, but these dried off quickly.