The Montana "Man Trip", part IX: Webb Mountain Lookout to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
I (Laura) was particularly excited about entering Idaho. I have always wanted to visit Idaho, ever since I had made a good college friend, Lindsay Jones, who was from there. The geology is interesting and the scenery spectacular. We had already made a half-mile jaunt into Idaho on this trip, but it was so small that road signs did not even announce that we had changed states. Today, however, would be the real deal.
On the gravel road down from Webb Mountain to the main road, we saw many more deer and two more red foxes. For perspective, here is John pointing to the Webb Mountain lookout from the last post. You can also see the Koocanusa bridge (across the Kootenai, which spans the Canada-USA border), where we took some of the night photos from earlier.
We drove along the Kootenai River for a while, stopping to stretch our legs at Libby Falls and the Swinging Bridge. The hike is maybe 0.5-1 mile from the lot on the main highway to the falls, including a bridge with stairs across the train tracks. There is another parking lot to the east that was a bit closer, but still required the stairs, so keep that in mind if stairs will be an issue for you. When we hit the river, we had to choose going left to the swinging bridge over the river or right to the falls. One could easily do both, but we had little time, so chose the falls. I (John) enjoyed photographing the falls and experimenting with the different effects that exposure length had on the water. I ended up preferring the 2- to 5-second exposures over the 25-second exposures because the longer shots gave that misty look but robbed the falls of its raw power. The photos below cover the range and some pairs actually compare exposure lengths.
Laura also loved the rippling on the rocks caused by the water in the past, when one wouldn't want to be standing here for fear of drowning in the ocean.
Laura narrating: After another driving stint and stopping to eat a picnic lunch at the Sandpoint Beach, we drove into Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. It was almost shocking to be in such a large town again. We parked in the paid parking near the lake in order to meet up with Timberline Adventures for ziplining. We were surprised that the Timberline storefront was inside of a fancy mall. Videos of the ziplining were playing in the background of the shop, while we were signing the release waivers and stowing our belongings in the lockers and John and I were trying not to look for fear of spoiling the surprise. After watching some of the videos, Johnny decided to back out due to his fear of precipices. So, Johnny and Uncle John took off to explore Coeur d'Alene, while John and I prepared for our treetop adventure.
The guides fitted us with helmets and harnesses and took us in a van around the lake and part of the way up the mountain. Then, we were escorted in UTVs for a short, bumpy ride up to the top of the zipline course. At the top, the guides gave us instructions and demonstrated how to use the equipment. After the first zipline, I was hooked! It was magical to fly through the forest and stand on platforms that were built around huge living trees, sometimes 100 feet up in the air. And, the scenery could not be beat. The tour overlooks lakes and mountains the whole time. John and I had never ziplined before and I highly recommend this tour. Two guides go with each group, so that one guide sets you up at the top of each line and one handles the brake at the bottom of each line. You do not need to do anything while you are on a line other than enjoy the scenery and watch the trees fly by! I was nervous at first, but found it a lot less intimidating to step off of the platforms backwards, while looking at John and other friends we met.
We met another couple who had both gone to Florida Tech, where John got his MSc! They live in Coeur d'Alene and have an AirBnB. They were so delightful wot spend the day with on the tour and we would love to stay at their beautiful home, here. The lines increased in length as the tour progressed, so we gained confidence and also had more and more to look forward to. One of the last lines was 1/4 mile long and went over a valley between two mountains. The view was breathtaking, fast, and it was over too quickly! Overall, I was surprised that this tour was my favorite part of the Man Trip (with the fly fishing float and hot spring close behind).
The guides fitted us with helmets and harnesses and took us in a van around the lake and part of the way up the mountain. Then, we were escorted in UTVs for a short, bumpy ride up to the top of the zipline course. At the top, the guides gave us instructions and demonstrated how to use the equipment. After the first zipline, I was hooked! It was magical to fly through the forest and stand on platforms that were built around huge living trees, sometimes 100 feet up in the air. And, the scenery could not be beat. The tour overlooks lakes and mountains the whole time. John and I had never ziplined before and I highly recommend this tour. Two guides go with each group, so that one guide sets you up at the top of each line and one handles the brake at the bottom of each line. You do not need to do anything while you are on a line other than enjoy the scenery and watch the trees fly by! I was nervous at first, but found it a lot less intimidating to step off of the platforms backwards, while looking at John and other friends we met.
We met another couple who had both gone to Florida Tech, where John got his MSc! They live in Coeur d'Alene and have an AirBnB. They were so delightful wot spend the day with on the tour and we would love to stay at their beautiful home, here. The lines increased in length as the tour progressed, so we gained confidence and also had more and more to look forward to. One of the last lines was 1/4 mile long and went over a valley between two mountains. The view was breathtaking, fast, and it was over too quickly! Overall, I was surprised that this tour was my favorite part of the Man Trip (with the fly fishing float and hot spring close behind).
John took this photo from his ride down the last line, which crossed this entire valley! What weather we had! This will be hard to beat on future zipline tours! |
After the tour, we met up with Uncle John and Johnny and walked around Coeur d'Alene. It is a lovely town that reminded up a bit of Banff, Alberta. I think my parents would love it up here. There are tons of great eats in town and we had a delicious dinner before crashing in our hotel room in Post Falls.
The next morning, we got up early to sort all of our gear, food, etc. in our mess of a rental car. I had contacted The Girl Scouts in Spokane Washington to donate our bear spray, since you are not allowed to fly with it and we don't have many bears in Southern Illinois-haha. The Girl Scout camp director was thrilled. We stopped at their headquarters on the way to the airport, with a lot of other donations, such as nonperishable food and propane canisters. They bestowed cookies upon us for the flight. We also stopped to see the garbage-eating-goat statue and the impressive Spokane Falls in Spokane. After takeoff, got to see some more lovely scenery out the window, including the Grand Tetons' jagged peaks. On the plane, I thinking how thankful I was that John had done such a fantastic job planning this trip. We definitely made the most of our fire tower adventure and we can't wait to do more traveling again soon! Thank you for following along on our journeys.
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