Trip Summary Trip Dates: Jul 26 - Jul 30 Start - End Locations: Plummer, Idaho - Plummer, Idaho Days: 5   Rest Days: 1   Level of Support: Full Surface: Bike Trail/Paved  Riders: 20 Type: Supported Meals: Catered meals Accommodations: Camping Physical Difficulty: Beginner   Airport: Spokane, WA Cost for Parent: $649 Cost for Child: $549 Booking Status: Closed

“Slow down, you move too fast; you got to make the morning last.” So goes the opening line of “59th Street Bridge Song,” Simon and Garfunkel’s classic ode to feeling good by taking your time. It’s a tune you may find yourself humming as you re-discover the joys of going slow, pedaling along at a mellower-than-usual pace beside the kid(s) in your life.

The route for this trip is very similar to our other north Idaho offering. However, we’ve tossed in several events and activities that will make the adventure, like Family Fun Colorado, an ideal opportunity to introduce bicycle travel to your favorite youngster. You’ll ride predominantly on car-free pathways—most of the miles paved, but some on cinder surfaces—over gentle terrain, past marshlands, lakes, open meadows, and dense forests. At the end of each riding day you’ll enjoy catered, family-friendly meals at pleasant campgrounds.

The trip takes advantage of a pair of the finest rail-trails in the West. The extraordinary Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes traces an abandoned Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way, reaching from the mining town of Mullan, Idaho, located at the base of the Bitterroot Mountains, to Plummer, situated close to Idaho’s border with Washington state. In between the two towns lies a 72-mile stretch of smooth asphalt that takes you through the history-rich Silver Valley, along the shores of glimmering Lake Coeur d’Alene, and through the undulating hills of the Palouse Prairie. Along the Coeur d’Alene River stretch, you and your young cycling companion will be on the lookout for wildlife and bird life that might include bald eagles, great blue herons, moose, and beaver.

The second trail, dubbed the Route of the Hiawatha, follows a 15-mile stretch of the old electrified Milwaukee Road line. After burrowing under the Montana-Idaho state line by way of the dark and chilly, 1.7-mile-long Taft Tunnel, you’ll ride a gentle downgrade to the trail’s western terminus at Pearson, Idaho, where you and the rest of the group will be picked up by a shuttle van.

Off-bike hours can be spent exploring Cataldo Mission, the oldest structure in Idaho; strolling around Wallace, a community so steeped in lore that its entire downtown district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places; and going wild at Silverwood, the largest amusement park in the Pacific Northwest. North Idaho’s answer to Disneyland boasts more than five-dozen rides, ranging from scream-inducing roller coasters to more peaceful rides for the younger kids. Other activities like boat tours on Lake Coeur d’Alene and a zip through Spokane, the Capital of the Inland Empire, on the Centennial Trail, will round out this great trip.

You already know the rewards you’ve reaped through bicycle travel. Why not share the bounty with your son or daughter, or even a favorite niece, nephew, or grandchild? With its gentle terrain, relatively short riding days, and abundance of fun stuff to do when not aboard the bicycles, Family Fun Idaho could be just the ticket to inspiring a new lifelong cycling companion.

For more detailed information, see Supported trip logistics. Minimum age for participation in the Family Fun tours is eight years old.