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.
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.
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