Avery Train Tunnels (09-25-04)

[Jerry]

We haven't had any backroad tours lately, so here's a trip report out of
the Backroad Drivers Northwest archives"

Avery Train Tunnels
September 25, 2004

It was a beautiful sunny day! Charlie & Cheryl from Clarkston were our hosts
and we met up with them Saturday morning at the "Come In Café" in
Clarkston. Guess who slept-in? When I reached the café Brook & Jan of Clarkston;
Ed & Patty also of Clarkston; June & David of Spokane and Mike & Linda from Jewel,
Oregon were already finishing breakfast. We pulled out of the parking lot a few minutes
later than scheduled after waiting for possible stragglers.

We crossed the Snake River into Lewiston, Idaho and followed Highway 95 to
the top of the Lewiston Grade. The two-lane highway took us through miles
of wheat fields on our way to Moscow. Just north of Moscow we paralleled
the boundary of the National Forest and the Palouse Mountain Range. Still
on Highway 95 we drove through an absolutely beautiful valley before
reaching our turnoff at Potlatch.

We turned onto Highway 6 at Potlatch and as we passed through Hampton,
Princeton and Harvard we saw several rusty antique cars, an ancient fire engine
and a turn-of-the-century train depot and hotel. The really neat part of
that road came after we entered the St. Joe National Forest where the paved
road narrowed and twisted up the heavily forested Meadow Creek Valley.
After the road crossed the Palouse Divide we found ourselves in the middle
of road construction. We had to wait a few minutes for a pilot car, but it
couldn't have been a nicer place to spend time visiting with new
acquaintances. From the top of the ridge the road followed Santa Creek down
to the next intersection at Highway 3.

Although Highway 6 is technically an Idaho State Highway, it was narrow,
more like a country backroad. Highway 3, our next route, was a little wider
and heavier traveled, but it was still a rural highway that led us into St.
Maries.

St. Maries is a quiet little town located at the confluence of the St. Joe
and St. Maries Rivers and it is only a few miles east of the south end of
Lake Coeur d' Alene. We stopped for lunch there and after a
delicious meal some of us took a few minutes to walk around town.

From St. Maries we took Forest Service Road 50 following the St. Joe River
upstream as it twisted through the river valley. Even though the sun was
high in the sky the whole river seemed to be shaded, reflecting trees from
the riverbank. That's why they call it the "Shadowy St. Joe
River". It was a very scenic and most enjoyable drive all the way upstream
to the community of Avery where we began our trek over the same ground
as the Route of the Hiawatha.

The Route of the Hiawatha is a scenic section of abandoned rail-bed from the
Milwaukee Road that is now a world-class, non-motorized trail. Bikers and
hikers use the trail that runs from the Idaho-Montana border all the way
down to Avery. The southern end, about nine miles of the old rail bed, is
still drivable by automobile and that was our objective.

We turned onto the railroad bed at Avery and soon came to our first narrow
tunnel. The face was framed in concrete, tall and narrow to accommodate
railroad cars with high loads. The first tunnel was engraved CMSPP
(Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific) with the height of the opening
engraved into the concrete below that. We pulled up to the entrance
diagonally and honked (echo, echo, echo) to let possible oncoming traffic
know we were about to enter the tunnel. After a few seconds of no response
we drove into the darkness.

The tunnel walls were jagged solid rock and the roadway was gravel. We
could hear our tires rolling on the thick layer of gravel. It was also
dark. So dark that it was difficult to see the sides of the tunnel with
only the headlights. The first tunnel was not very long, but it curved and
we could not see daylight until after we had driven into it for a short
distance.

Upon exiting the tunnel we found we were in a very pretty valley with the
North Fork of the St. Joe River below and our roadway was climbing gently
and evenly in elevation between the mountains surrounding us. The scenery
was fantastic and the road was unusual to say the least. But it was fun,
interesting and a most enjoyable drive. We drove through six more tunnels
and over two narrow bridges. The first bridge was actually a trestle.

After seven tunnels under our belts we came to the point where the route
turned into a bicycle and hiking path. There were several cars parked in a
large parking lot and lots of people riding bikes. We turned off the rail
bed and dropped down to the river at a place called Pearson on the map. The
road followed the river valley to the northwest until the valley narrowed
and the road started climbing. We enjoyed more fall colors, but most of the
brush in this area had turned bright yellow.

We were soon into the switchbacks on the grade climbing to Moon Pass. Much
of the area had been clear-cut and we could see for miles. It was indeed
very scenic and remote. At least we thought it was remote. After crossing
the pass and starting our decent our narrow gravel road passed occasional
small houses, then the narrow road turned to pavement passing house after
house until we found ourselves on a quiet, tree lined, neighborhood street
in the town of Wallace. It had flat snuck up on us.

We pulled over and talked about our trip, talked about past experiences some
of us had who lived and worked in the area years ago and we all agreed on
how much fun we had on today's tour. Charlie & Cheryl couldn't have picked
a better route.

It was getting late and time to head for home so here is where we ended the
tour to go our separate ways. Thanks to Charlie & Cheryl for another swell
trip

Jerry

[hutchman]

Jerry, that sounds like a good one to revisit. I would love to do some stuff like this, but it seems we spend every spare weekend with the kids and the new grand daughter. I guess that's the way it should be.

[richardattek]

Bring them along, My granddaughter was backroading with us before she was a year old. She's now 6. That is her most favorite thing to do with us