The Route of the Hiawatha

In the summer of 1909, two teams of railroad workers -- one from Idaho, the other from Montana -- began work on opposite ends of the same tunnel that would eventually connect the two states through the Bitterroot Mountains. Apparently, the workers began to compete fiercely with one another, and each sought to reach the midpoint of the tunnel before the other. If you know me at all, you know that I would never have brought up this anecdote if it did not turn out well for the Idaho team. They kicked the Treasure State's team's cans. The final product was a tunnel nearly two miles in length, with the border almost perfectly dead center.

Our family recently had the pleasure of riding our bikes through that very tunnel and on down the entire grade for nearly fifteen miles. We passed through nine other tunnels, none of which were nearly as long as the Taft Tunnel (the one connecting the two states), and crossed seven trestle bridges, some of which were well over 200' high. The trail head for the route is just inside the Montana border off I-90, with the vast majority of the trail on the Idaho side, ending in the small town of Pearson.

We were joined on this adventure by Mark and Cami Young of Spokane and their five children, and Jason and Annie Dixon from Pocatello and their daughter. The day before we had spent at Silverwood, a theme and water park just north of Coeur D'Alene in the unfortunately named town, Athol. That's right: just picture Cindy Brady cussing out Bobby. Despite having lugged east Idaho's now rainforest-like weather with us to north Idaho, a good time was had by all, even by those who had enemas publicly perfomed on them on some of the waterslides.

Either destination is well worth the money and time to get there. Be warned, however: you will need good headlamps to get through Taft Tunnel. It is perfectly dark in there for several minutes. Even when the light at the end of the tunnel comes into view, several more minutes pass before outside light is of any use.