The hotel in St Maries unexpectedly provided a courtesy shuttle, dropping us and our bikes 15 miles down the road at Heyburn State Park. They stated they provide the shuttle as the road to Heyburn was dangerous, although it seemed no different than our previous day. The state park is a trailhead on the "Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes", a "rail trail" which took us all the way to Pinehurst. Nice trail, especially the beginning section. The flat trail was welcome but became sort of monotonous once we got past Anderson Lake. Guess you need a few hills to keep it interesting. Stopped for lunch at the Snake Pit in Enaville (air conditioning!) Then biked a few more miles through triple digit heat to the "By the Way" campground (RV Park) in Pinehurst. Billy's knee was bothering him a bit and the intense heat was making us question our chances of succeeding with this tour. Hung out under a large gazebo with a fan, took several cold showers, and talked with some young guys from Montreal who were camping while waiting for their car to be repaired. They had been there almost a week, uggh. The RV Park is near a noisy highway but there was a store within walking distance. Beer, food, ear plugs, good night.
Trail of the Coeur d'Alene. An old rail line converted to a nice recreational trail.
The trail had terrific surface and was primarily flat, but in all honesty it was pretty monotonous. Of course the triple digit heat may have skewed my assessment.
