StevenThis morning I started out going to hike up to the north Chilco mountain peak that supposedly had fantastic views. It’s about 50 minutes away, which is not bad, especially if I can get some good views. The main reason it takes so long is the nice paved road suddenly turns to a dirt road with lots of washboard sections.
I drove 6 miles of hairpin turn dirt road, constantly climbing up the mountainside and finally found the trailhead, then I saw this:
Well that doesn’t look good…
So they close the whole trail because trees might fall. I could’ve probably easily dodged them, if they fell at all. I decided to go to my next stop after severe disappointment.
At least I got a decent view on the way down the mountain.
My next stop was Wallace, Idaho. I’d driven past this small town twice on this trip already and it looked like an interesting town. It turns out, every building downtown is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Next I went back to Coeur d’Alene to the Mineral Ridge Nature Trail. Thankfully this one was open.
I was excited to look in this abandoned mine, but when I got there, there were 5 college aged kids sitting in there listening to music and talking. They weren’t moving anytime soon, so I decided to keep going.
Making it to the top, it’s crazy to see the elevation is only 2,800 feet. Last week I was in the 7-8,000 foot range.
From here you can go back to the parking lot or take another trail to the right. I decided to check out the Wilson Trail.
At the end of the trail was a bench that had a great view.
I love carrying around this MagSafe tripod on my phone. It makes it easy to take shots like the one above.
From here, there was another trail going up the mountain a little more. I’m not sure if “Lost Man Trail” was foreshadowing or not.
This trail provided one good view, but then got really narrow with tons of foliage.
The trail just ended up at a clearing on a dirt road, so I decided to head back to the parking lot.
I need to look over the trails I was doing tomorrow to make sure they’re open. Tomorrow is my last day before I fly back on Saturday. So sad!