Thursday, July 17, 2014

We Escaped the Heat on the Hiawatha Trail

It's too hot to ride the Hiawatha trail, It's going to be hot, leave early.  It wasn't hot at all.  So glad we went!  It was a first for Freida Cook!  I love firsts!  Sheila, Jackie and Freida!  The first challenge was getting three mountain bikes on my 4 bike rack.  There is no way 4 bikes would fit on this rack.  Ever!  Three big bikes were a challenge but it got done.  
 The traditional chain oil picture! Look closely it's there!
 Here we go!  It was 67 degrees when we arrived at the beginning of the trail.
 Such cute smiles!  Love these ladies!


 Entering the trail!
The first and longest, darkest, tunnel.  1.7 miles of darkness.  I discovered that the lights I brought were not sufficient.  Sheila rode right in front of me and Freida was behind me letting their light shine on me!

 There goes Sheila!  You will see many pictures of Sheila out in front!

The first tunnel was a bit wet and muddy.  Some of us were effected by that more than others.  Sheila had no mud on her clothes!  As for Freida and I a different story!  Freida was way worse obviously!


 There she is again the fearless leader through the dark, dark tunnels!


This guy and all of his cousins visited us at every stop we made.  No food for you!  Don't feed the wild animals!
 What a view!

 This trestle is one of the trestles we would be crossing later on the ride.
 We stopped and read the signs along the way telling about the history of the area!

I was standing on a trestle and tried to get a picture of how far down it was.  I didn't want to get too close to the edge even though it was very protected.  Didn't get the full effect!

This area tells the story of a fire in the forest when a train was passing through.  One man panicked and jumped out of the train car and...well, not a good decision.  He did not survive.




 My new camera takes selfies!
More sign reading.  Ask Sheila and Freida, they know all there is to know about the history of the trail.



Love this picture.  This was a short tunnel so there was some light.  You can see the sides of the tunnel and Sheila at the end of it.
 There she is again, the fearless leader!
 We made it!  Now the bus ride back up the mountain to our cars!

One last tunnel.  You get to ride through the very first tunnel (the one at the start) after the buses drop you off.  Sheila was having issues with her headlamp!  Glad she figured it out because she was my guiding light.


 Clothing and bikes muddy!
As we always do we have to stop someplace after our outings.  Ian (who was the guide for our zip lining a year ago) told me his brother's restaurant was pretty new and great!  Boy was he right.  Such good food.  I highly recommend the Nook in Wallace, Idaho.
Guess who was there!  Ian!  So good to see him again!  A great guy!  We have communicated this past year because he had someone in his family with ALS.  My one disappointment was no piano.  He is a great piano player and we got to hear him last year!
 Group shot!!!


We visited for a while and then headed back to Spokane!  I am so blessed with great friends in my life.  Even if they didn't know the song, The Long and Winding Road!  I thought we could all sing it on the bus ride.  Nope.  They didn't know it.  I still love them a bunch.  They are obviously younger than I am.

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