The Palouse to Pines Tour

When we came back to Idaho a month earlier than planned (and three months before we can move back home), Erik and I decided to tackle some smaller trips around the Pacific Northwest. We want to show people you don’t have to travel as big as we did. Small trips are pretty special too.

Our first trip was a sentimental one that covered the Palouse region in Eastern Washington and North Central Idaho.

Our two kids attended the University of Idaho in Moscow.  It sits on the fringes of the Palouse along with another college town, Pullman, WA, home of Washington State University. The two campuses sit 8 miles apart and are connected by the Bill Chipman Palouse Trail. It is one of our favorite places to come back to.

The Palouse is a uniquely beautiful region. Photographers come from all over to capture the light on the rolling hills and the expressive colors of the wheat, lentil, chickpea, and canola crops grown here. By riding this route in June, we hit the jackpot of great weather, green hills, and quiet roads.

We decided to do this trip over three nights. The ride could be done in two but with rising temps and impressive hills, we broke the ride into shorter days.

We parked in Moscow and left our car in a quiet neighborhood before joining the Latah Trail to get to the town of Troy, ID. After an open ride through the rolling hills leaving Moscow we hit a gentle descent through a lush forest and ended up at the tiny Troy farmers market. We climbed out of town on Highway 8 and ended our short day at Spring Valley Reservoir. Not the best camping and it was painfully hot.  Luckily they provided a large shade structure where we stayed until the later part of the day. Went to sleep listening to an inebriated man chasing and taunting geese below us.

The next morning we joined a gravel section that climbed through rural farm lands and ranch properties. Before joining Hwy 9 north of Deary, ID, the gravel went straight down and we encountered an older couple who walk up that hill every day to stay in shape. Kudos to them. Hwy 9 had a nice shoulder and the traffic was minimal. We had our first views of the Palouse River and left Harvard, ID before getting to Laird Park which provided shaded and forested campsites along the river. Great to cool off after another hot ride.

We took Hwy 6 the next morning which would take us through Potlatch, ID, and Palouse, WA. The first section was a little scary with a tiny strip of a shoulder and logging trucks. But we had a system and removed ourselves from the road when the trucks couldn’t move over for us safely. Once in Washington, we hit those famous Palouse hills. The colors were striking. Got into Palouse, resupplied, and made our way to Kamiak Butte County Park.

Kamiak Butte was the highlight for us. You really have to work to get up to the park (I had to hike my bike the last section), but the camping was spectacular. We were rewarded with incredible views of the Palouse hills at sunset.

Our last morning took us into Pullman where we joined designated bike trails towards the connecting path between the universities. We stayed in Moscow that evening and celebrated a fine ride with brews and food from our favorite Hunga Dunga Brewing.

We throughly enjoyed seeing the Palouse by bicycle. This was not an established route, but one we created to highlight the landscape variation in this serene part of the country. Nice to be back exploring our home state by bike, but a little strange to have our car waiting for us at the end. We will get used to this right?

Here is the link to our route.

Cortney