Hiawatha Trail

The Chicago, St. Paul, Milwaukee, and Pacific Railroad, more usually known simply as the Milwaukee Road, was a railroad that headed west from Chicago across the northern United States. By the early 20th century, it extended all the way to Seattle. The railroad had financial difficulties through much of its existence and went into bankruptcy in 1977. The line to the West Coast, the so-called Pacific Extension, was abandoned in 1980.

This part of the route, through the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest, included some of the most spectacular rail line in the U.S. Much has now been converted to hiking and biking trails, including the section crossing the Continental Divide at the Idaho-Montana state line. This is called the Route of the Hiawatha, or just the Hiawatha Trail, named after an express passenger train that ran in the mid-20th century. In turn, the train was named for the Iroquois leader, who was renowned for his swiftness and made famous by a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem.

The Hiawatha Trail begins with a tunnel across the Continental Divide, the St. Paul Pass or Taft Tunnel, 8,771 feet (1.66 miles) long. It is also called Tunnel 20, the tunnels on the main line being numbered in increasing order from Chicago. The bike ride traverses 10 tunnels, nine of which you bike through (#23 is closed due to unstable rock), and also crosses seven trestles. The bike loop is about 15 miles in total, but only drops about 1,000 feet, which makes for a mellow ride. The turnaround, where you pick up the shuttle back to the top, is at the former railroad stop of Pearson on the North Fork of the St. Joe River.