Route of the Hiawatha

I finally got a chance to check this off my travel bucket list.  We rode bikes on the Route of Hiawatha.

 

The Boys

The Route of the Hiawatha is a rail trail on the Idaho/Montana border.  The trail travels over 7 trestles and through 9 tunnels.

trestle we rode over

The longest tunnel is the first tunnel, Taft Tunnel, is 1.7 miles. The length of the trail we traveled was 15 miles.

The boys after the Taft Tunnel

Me after riding through Taft Tunnel
This is a wet tunnel

Waterfall outside Taft Tunnel

The Route of the Hiawatha is a 2% grade and downhill. A shuttle is available down at the bottom and will take you back to the top tunnel to ride back to your car. We did see people start at the bottom and ride both ways.

view of top of one of the trestles

We rented our bikes at Lookout Pass exit 0.  The staff was awesome there.  If you rent a bike it comes with a light and helmet.  They also provide bike racks.  We brought our own bike rack. You drive to exit 5 and drive to trail head.

We had some opportunities to see some really well fed chipmunks on the trail.  We also saw 2 deer crossing the trail.

This was a fabulous adventure and we saw all kinds of people using the trail.  This was a great family experience.