The ride back is just a long slow steady climb. There is no grade over 3% as this is a railroad bed. I'm 70, female, and it was a fine ride. The really cool part about the return is that the wildlife knows there are few return riders and they come out on the trail. 30 miles round trip and beautiful. The first half is pretty much all down hill, an easy coast, and there are historical placards and wonderful views. My only caution to round trippers is to consider taking two strong sources of light, like a headlight and a headlamp or flashlight. That long tunnel twice will use them both...and maybe a set of gloves and a warm jacket for that tunnel. Keep pedaling!
This is amazing trail.its worth the $.its all downhill for 9 miles,worth the $ to take bus back up.caution:bring flashlites,u go thru many tunnels.folks,this is a once in a lifetime experience,DO IT...
whoopty doo the trail needs maintained. It costs money. The bus that takes you back to the top costs money. Making sure those trestles are sound and don’t collapse and bats don’t take over the tunnels, all that costs money.
Super cool. Thanks for sharing. My kids are now excited about the possibility of riding the trail someday. They're pestering me to take them out to practice riding bikes now! Ha ha. Beautiful location.
@@JonConti Thanks. U got a sub out of it too. :) kids insisted. We'll have to look at the other ID videos. CA residents here who see ID as one of the best options to match our values and lifestyle. Will be neat to see the other videos you have to offer.
Clive Bunker An hour and 5 is very specific haha. If we say 2 hours and it takes people 1.5 they’re happy they got there early. If we say an hour and it takes 1.5 they say this is farther than those guys say and they aren’t happy so we ere on the safe side for people.
It seriously used to take me 45 minutes from that location to CDA, now it takes me at least an hour and a half, with all of the traffic now. Thanks for the great videos, cheers !.
1817 German Inventor Karl von Drais is credited with developing the first bicycle. His machine, known as the "swiftwalker," hit the road in 1817. This early bicycle had no pedals, and its frame was a wooden beam.
I know it's a wonderful bike trail, but it's too bad Amtrak didn't take over the like after the abandonment in 1980. That way Amtrak would've had its own dedicated line between Chicago and Seattle without having to fuss with BNSF all the time about trackage rights and timing.
Played this Trail/Railway on a trainsim, just exactly as how its today, except the simulator takes a map from the 1970s, such a shame not even a bit of track remained to show the glorious past of the Milwaukee Road Railway, at least it became a nice tourist atraction! :)
Agreed. It kills me that they wrecked the track, locked up all that country, and turned it into a yuppie tourist trap. We used to have so much fun up there. Now it's all city people littering.
Obviously a mountain bike is the preferred bike to use on this trail. But, I'm wondering if my bike will do OK. It's a Trek 750 Hybrid. Has a double butted, CroMoly frame with 700-38 tires with a knobby, mountain bike tread. I appreciate any opinions. Thanks!
Hey Dan, I really don't know anything about bikes. The best people to talk to would be the people at Lookout Pass (208) 744-1301. I'd give them a call and ask. Cheers!
Hi Jon. Where is the end of the trail. As in, can I leave our own shuttle vehicle from our group down at a city or parking lot where all the busses are. If so, where is that. Thx!!
The busses are down at the bottom of the trail in a dirt parking lot. You can arrange your own shuttle. I would call Lookout Pass 208.744.1301 they'll have more information for you
Jon, you mentioned I can buy the trail pass at the east portal if I don't need any gear. Can I also buy the bus ticket ride back at the east portal shack?
Martin Williamson you can walk the trail but you will still need to purchase a pass to get on it and/or use the shuttle service. Also the trail is only open between 8am and 5pm. As for what you can and can’t take you’ll have to be more specific, or contact lookout pass and ask them if you have something unusual you were looking to bring. Link to them is in the description. Good luck hiking it! We didn’t see anyone doing that. Walking the St. Paul tunnel would be nuts 😀
The Adventures of Jon & Chad ok im into H.E.M.A. and part of my training is marching in full gear on wildlife trails for miles the gear is one lance a kite shield two hachets and a short sword full chainmail and gambeson helm and a small tool kit water and other things are carried as well
@@Sir_knight_trooper O wow that sounds like a lot of gear. I don't see why that wouldn't be allowed on the trail, but I would call look out pass ahead of time and let them know so you don't run into any hold ups when you go.
It's on my list, but this is THE most confusing rails to trails description and map set I've ever come across for planning purposes. They can't even give a frame of reference for downhill and uphill or where I-90 is on the maps or parking or RV parks. Bring in a cartographer please and a writer.
I've toured a restored Olympian Hiawatha passenger train that used to travel along the trail route and OMG that would've been soooo awesome to travel through that area while sitting in the super dome observation car!
I hate rail trail I wish it was trails to rails who cares about riding a bike we like trains and that is a really historic train line and I hope to God it gets rebuilt to a train track
JGvids well the trail is 15 miles long so if you only ran 8 miles then no, you wouldn’t be able to run it 😀. But they don’t allow foot traffic on the trail. It’s only for bikes
At 2:58 we say it's been all downhill and if you want to turn around and go back up it will be grueling. Which I thought answered that question haha. If you go down it's easy and if you go up it's grueling.
Brian Rouse exactly 😂. We could’ve touched on how well the trail is maintained but... ya it’s all downhill or all uphill. Downhill is easy, uphill is hard. Have you done the Hiawatha before?
@@BrianRouse That's awesome! What did you think of the trail? And if you don't mind me asking how did you find this video, did you just search Hiawatha Trail?
