Northern Idaho/Montana ride

[rdschwermann]

I am looking for information on the following ride which we plan to make next summer.  I specifically am looking for elevation charts, and info on the routes (traffic congestion, etc) .  I have some information from Ride #14 in "Biking the great Northwest", but am looking for more info plus we have no info on days 5 -9.  

Here is the ride itinerary:

 Day 1 - Spokane Airport  to Worley, ID (40 miles)  

 Day 2 -Worley to Wallace, ID on Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes bike trail.  

Day 3 - Wallace, ID to Thompson Fall, MT (56 miles) climb Dobson and Thompson passes

Day 4 - Thompson Falls to Troy, Mt (48 miles)

Day 5 - Troy to Libby, MT (approx 30 miles)

Day 6 -Libby to Eureka, Mt ( approx 60 miles)

Day 7 - Eureka, Mt to Yaak, MT ( approx 40 miles)

Day 8 - Yaak, MT to Bonners Ferry, ID (approx 45 Miles)

Day 9 - Bonners Ferry, ID to Sandpoint, ID ( approx 28 miles)

Day 10 - Sandpoint to Coeur d'Alene (61 miles)

Day 11 - Coeur d'Alene to Spokane (approx 40 miles on Centennial Trail)

[Wazoo70]

I rode part of your route last year following the Northern Tier.  Montana Highway 56 over the Cabinet Mountains is pure delight.  Good road and very little traffic.  I am curious why you plan on ending the day at Troy and not going on to Libby.  It only adds 12 miles and saves you doubling back.  Highway 2 in that area has a very wide shoulder and is a gentle grade.

From Libby we used the Forest Service road up the West side of Lake Koocanusa.  There is almost no traffic but does have more up and down than Highway 37 on the East side of the lake.

I have driven the road from Bonners Ferry to Sandpoint and on to Courd'Alene.  This is a heavy truck route and in some areas the shoulder is pretty minimal.  If you want to use the Centienal Trail to get back to Spokane this is probably your only choice.  You can contact the Idaho Dept of Transportation to get a map showing road traffic counts and shoulder width.

I am interested in what you know about the route from Wallace, ID to Thompson Falls, MT.  I am planning a trip this summer and I need a good route to get back to Eastern Washington from Montana Highway 200.  Is this route paved the entire length?

Good luck to you, this is very beautiful country to ride.

[rdschwermann]

wazoo, thank you for the information.  We are staying in a lodge near Troy.  I forwarded your question about Wallace to Thompson falls to one of our group who has been there. I'll let you know.  Do you know of any topo maps with side elevations that are available for our route??

[rdschwermann]

Wazoo70 - I got the information you requested on Wallace to Thompson pass. HEre it is:  

" The route between Wallace and Thomson Falls is paved.  The distance is about 56 miles.  Going from east to west from Thomson Falls to top of Thomson Pass there is 22 miles of mostly uphill.  The elevation of Thomson Falls is 2556'.  The elevation of Thomson Pass is 4842'.
 
We are not spending the night in Troy.  We are spending the night at the Hunting Lodge outside Troy on Hy 56 and do not have to double back.  Its about 30 miles from the hunting lodge to Libby and about 48 miles from Thomson Falls to the hunting lodge, so; to do it one day, would be almost 80 miles.

[Wazoo70]

Daytripper:

Thank you so much for the information on the route from Wallace to Thompson Falls.  This will work perfectly for our trip.  From Wallace we will take the bike path all the way to Plummer, ID and then into Eastern Washington through the wheatfields of the Palouse.

You asked about topo maps.  For Adventure Cycling routes they often include evelvation data for the route on their maps.  Otherwise, the only tool I have found is a program called "Backroads Explorer" from National Geographic.  They have all the roads in the US overlayed on topo data.  The only problem is for the back country roads you can't tell if the road is paved.

Now that I know there is a paved route from Wallace to Thompson Falls I created an elevation profile for this portion of your route.  Because I have to trace the road using the mouse I get a little noise on the profile which I need to remove visually so my numbers may be slightly askew.  Using the route information you gave me I get the following elevation profile:
  Wallace to Dobson Pass:       6 mi, 2800' to 4200'
  Dobson Pass to Babins Jct:   10 mi, 4200' to 2400'
  Babins Jct to Thompson Pass: 18 mi, 2400' to 4800'
  Thompson Pass to T Falls:    24 mi, 4800' to 2400'

If you can't find this program or have specific questions about elevations on other parts of your route let me know and I'll see if I can help.

When do you plan on riding?  

Thanks again, Wazoo70
 


 

[rdschwermann]

Thanks for the info...invaluable.

We are going the first 2 weeks in July