Upper Coeur d'Alene River - North Idaho
May 12, 2012 |
Teri and I took Mortimer on a a short 6 mile hike today. We saw lots of deer and elk on the drive over, which takes a few hours from Spokane. The road is paved all the way so it goes fairly quickly.
The trailhead is at a wide spot off the main road and we drove right by it. If you're following the directions from the "100 hikes in the Inland NW" book, subtract a mile from the directions and keep an eye out on the right side of the road for the trail.
We were both glad to have gloves and coats as the temp was about 30 when we started out. The trail rolls up and down so body heat helped pretty quickly. The trail was in great shape other than a few easily avoided washouts we made good time to the first excellent overlook of the river where we promptly leashed up Mortimer. For such a fearful dog, he had no hesitation at walking right to the edge of all of the cliffs we came to. He remained on the leash for most of the trip. The thing I like about this area (besides the scenery) is that you can hike all day and not see another soul. We had it to ourselves and it was very relaxing. We didn't see any more animals but Mortimer took an interest in the noise made by the grouse all around us.
This is a pretty area with not a single sign of logging or mining and I'm glad we fianlly got in there to enjoy it. |
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