A little over two years ago, we did a trip through the US Northwest. One of our stops was the Route of the Hiawatha trail. We were a bit concerned initially as the kids were 9, 8, 5, and 3. But that turned out to not be a problem. Hiawatha had bikes for us, a tandem bike for Lillie, and a bike trailer for James.

You have to book your tickets at the nearby Lookout Pass Ski & Recreation Area. We rented our bikes there as we did not take bikes with us on our trip. They delivered the bikes to the beginning of the trail so we did not have to worry about getting the bikes from Lookout Pass to the trail. The night before we stayed about 45 minutes away in Superior, Montana.

As an interesting side note, we ran into Clay Handy and his family at Hiawatha. I hadn’t expected to run into anyone from Cassia County on the trail, let alone the parking lot!

Route of the Hiawatha literally follows the old train line from Chicago to Seattle. The last passenger train passed through in 1961. Afterward the rail lines were removed and much later the idea of a biking trail was conjured. That is why the trail is so agreeable with so many people, it is train grade. Starting on the Montana line it is literally downhill for the entire time! Those who get to the end and do not want to ride all the way back uphill can take a bus back to the Taft tunnel. Then you only have to ride the mile tunnel through St. Paul Pass back to the trail head.

There were some breathtaking views, which is one of the draws of the trail/ride as well.

The bike trailer turned out to be pretty convenient. James slept the entire time! All 15 miles! But he kept our backpacks company.

The Hiawatha trail boasts 10 train tunnels, 9 that you actually get to ride through.

Hiawatha also boasts 7 sky-high trestles. That was a pretty exciting part of the ride. If you are afraid of heights, you can see the trestles are wide and have a road base. You can stay in the middle and then venture out to the side to safely take a picture.

If you are really adventuresome, you can even look down below.

Here is another view of crossing one of the trestles.

As you can see, the trail is wide and safe. Even on the trestles they have ensured safety with the cables. Injury will come only to those who are reckless or careless. Some of the trestles are truly sky high.

Here is another view up from the trestle view above.

Lillie was able to ride a tandem bike. Frankly, it was the perfect fit as she worried us if she had to be on her own bike.

Some of the tunnels as you approached looked somewhat scary. But the closer you got you could see there was sufficient light in the tunnel.

The trail is well maintained. You can see that they put some extra protection near the tunnels to avoid rocks falling on the trail.

The trail is only open during the best season. It opens in May and goes through September. These photos are from our visit on 3 August 2020.

There are some restrooms along the trail. We had lunch at one of them. You can always pull over anywhere else if you wish. The trail has plenty of space. James even slept through snack time.

It was here at Pearson we loaded up on busses altered with bike storage in the back to haul us and our bikes back to the Idaho side of the Taft Tunnel. We had to go back through the mile long tunnel to get out on the Montana side. There we were able to turn over our bikes and be done.

We stayed that night in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Other than our stop to visit the graves of family in Mullan, Idaho, we traveled the hour drive to CDA. I had a lengthy hearing the next day so I felt I needed to prepare. I would highly recommend the Route of the Hiawatha to anyone who needs a great opportunity to ride bikes, see nature, and experience train tunnels and trestles.