They say that the title of a youtube video should explain to you, the viewer, exactly what said
video you clicked on is all about. That it should work with the video thumbnail to instill curiosity,
enticing you to click. Because if you don't click, you won't watch.
It's an agreement of sorts. The title and thumbnail have offered you something and now that you're
watching, this video must deliver on the promise of what's been offered or you'll stop watching.
These first 60 seconds are crucial and i'm not sure if explaining how youtube titles and thumbnails work
will work, but hey whatever i'm giving it a shot. The seconds along with the title
and thumbnail have to always hold your curiosity just enough to make you want to continue to watch.
Am i doing this? I have no idea. At the time of writing and recording this i don't even
know what the title and thumbnail are. I haven't figured it out yet. How do i
describe a trip like this with one picture and 65 characters. We better start from the beginning.
So here we are. In the beautiful little city of Spokane Washington and i am in the historic
Davenport hotel today. For the next six days i am doing a bike tour from here in Spokane to
Coeur d'Alene, through the trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, down through Harrison and Wallace and
up through the Hiawatha trail and back here to this very hotel. I was asked to join a six-day
rail to trail e-bike tour through Washington, Idaho and Montana. The trip starts in Spokane
Washington and from there makes its way east through Coeur d'Alene, Harrison, Kellogg, Wallace,
eventually finishing with the crown jewel of the rail to trail system the Hiawatha. That's the big
deal about this trip the rail to trail part. Rails to trails are retired railroad lines converted to
multi-use trails. These trails are either paved or have a surface of gravel, dirt, or mulch. With wide
widths and gentle grades. There are over 400 miles of rail trail in Idaho but the miles that people
come from all over the world to ride are way up north. The 73 mile trail of the Coeur d'Alenes
and the route of the Hiawatha. Now before i put these videos together i do have something in my
mind, a way i want to shoot these, a way i want to edit them. And i just spent a week shooting
downhill mountain biking and i was like that's how i'm gonna do this trip. I'm gonna go super slow-mo,
i'm gonna have pretty girls smiling, cute couples, cute kids you know big thumbs up. And i went to
the orientation last night and met my group of models, and i believe the average age is 76.
Oh come on Jon stop exaggerating. Look there's Austin he's your age.
Austin was on the trip with his dad Bob which is super cool. But it can't be helped this is a
video that you can see with your eyes, and my group was a fun bunch from an older generation, enjoying
their golden years. Now how is it that this group is going to ride bikes all the way across Idaho.
So we're starting the day at Riverside state park here in Spokane which i believe is the largest
state park in Washington. And i think we're going to start with this Spokane river centennial trail
which cuts right through Spokane on our way to Coeur d'Alene. A good 39 miles we're gonna do
today so everyone is getting their bikes. I've never ridden cruiser e-bikes before it's really
nice it's some luxury bike riding for sure. A lot different than the normal bike riding we do.
Pedego e-bikes, with these bad boys you can go as fast as you want with as little or as
much pedaling as you prefer. I ended up preferring barely pedaling at all. E-bike innovation has come a
long way and now trips like these are possible for the whole family. Maybe your kids are still
young or your parents are a little older. That's how Austin and Bob can ride across a whole state
together. Even at Bob's ripe young age of 80 years old. Age is just a number people. And for these
tours Pedego partnered with local Idaho travel company Row Adventures to facilitate the trip.
So Pedego provided the bikes, and Row arranged the hotels, meals, and provided the guides.
Like Connor and Connor here. They also drive the van and trailer. Now plenty of people spend a week up here
road tripping from trail to trail or doing something like the Hiawatha as a day trip.
But if you don't want to ride on highways you'll need to do some driving, and having a shuttle driver is
even better. I'll leave a link in the description below if you want to look at booking this trip.
It includes your bike, food and lodging, shuttle and guides. If you're more of a do-it-yourself type
i get you and hopefully by the end of this you have most of the info you need to plan
your own adventure. All right i think that's all the backstory we need and now we're way behind.
That's why, while i was blabbering, i showed you day one. A nice ride around Spokane. Now let's
go to day two. Which starts in the famous North Idaho tourist town of Coeur d'Alene
This is blackfall island boat ramp. We're about to get on the beautiful lake
Coeur d'Alene, the reason everyone comes here, for a little kayak tour with Row.
We had a nice bike ride around the lake this morning, a good 16 miles. But Row gave us the day to
just explore Coeur d'Alene because i mean it's such a cool town you got to spend a day in
Coeur d'Alene. And i have chosen to hop on one of their kayak tours to be able to see it from the lake.
So here we are, morning day three. We are in the town of Harrison which i'm super excited about
because if you followed me for a while you'll remember that back in February i was here with
Chad and Brett doing this exact same stretch, the trail of the Coeur d'Alanes on an e-bike.
We were supposed to be on fat bikes riding on snow but there wasn't enough snow so we ended up doing
e-bikes on this beautiful stretch and i loved it. So if i loved it last time when it was cold and
pouring rain i think that this time, when we have beautiful weather, an actual bluebird day, no smoke,
80 degree highs. I think it's gonna be a really good day.
Just having a sip of coffee here. This coffee shop in Harrison called the bike house
and weirdly enough i just noticed they rent e-bikes. So if you don't
go on your Pedego tour and you want to just spend a day
or do a day trip in Harrison and you actually want to do a day trip with e-bikes you can just
come to this bicycle coffee shop house in the middle of Harrison and rent your e-bike.
We've already bumped into one moose on this ride. A female moose and her calves
and a few miles down the way there's another moose out in this wetlands.
This one is male and he's just out here feeding on the reeds and grass.
So here we are, this is a Silver Mountain, Silver Mountain resort. I have been here
a couple of times now and i always love Silver Mountain it's a super cool place.
There's North America's longest gondola up to the top of the mountain. We're
staying in the condos right in the lodge. There's restaurants downstairs, there's
bike shops, there's coffee all around, Idaho's largest indoor water park is here.
We just made it to Wallace and there's a moose, a mother moose and her baby behind me.
On day four we make it to the gateway of the Hiawatha,
Wallace Idaho. Oh man how do i explain Wallace. Better pick some different music.
You know when you're at the bar and you have one too many and come up with an absolutely outrageous
nonsensical idea with your friends. Usually you forget about it the next morning or think to
yourself, "Wow that was a crazy idea." Well somehow the citizens of Wallace turned their drunk thought
into their city's biggest tourist attraction. Co behind me is the famous Wallace manhole cover.
The self-proclaimed center of the universe. So the story goes, is that a bunch of friends were
drinking in this bar right here and basically were like, based on the law of probability or
possibility if we claim that Wallace is the center of the universe then it must be true. Basically if
you claim it's the center of the universe then you can't prove that it isn't. That's Wallace for you.
What a crazy town. Movies are shot here, There's about one bar for every 100 people
and the old brothel is still standing. But now it's just a museum. In the 70s the federal
highway administration tried to build i-90 through Wallace. So some clever citizens banned together
and had the town placed on the national register of historic places. That's why you see i-90 going
over it and the buildings downtown haven't changed much. There's also a deep mining history in Wallace.
See what i did there. Wallace is the heart of the Silver Valley recognized as the richest silver
mining district on earth having produced 1.2 billion ounces since 1884. To this day Wallace
is the largest silver producer in the world. In the afternoon our group hopped on the
Sierra Silver Mine trolley downtown for the Sierra Silver Mine tour. This is Idaho's second most popular tour.
I've done it twice now and i'll probably do it again. It's a real mine, with real equipment, and
best of all a real miner leads the tour. So every time you go you get a different miner
telling different stories, with different degrees of hearing loss. Wallace Idaho, i've never been
anywhere like it. Alright we're 15 minutes and 4 days into this thing have we found our title yet?
Maybe not the title but i knew what thumbnail i'd be using before i ever made it to North Idaho.
In the land of silver, there can only be one crown jewel. We finally made it to the Hiawatha.
So here we are we are at the east portal for the famous Hiawatha trail. If you've never heard about
the Hiawatha trail i don't know how you came across this video, but the Hiawatha trail at the
time of its construction was the most expensive rail line in the united states. It was funded by
the Rockefeller, John D Rockefeller for $75,000 a mile. Which in those days was astronomically
expensive and you'll see why it was so expensive. It's because of all the trestles and tunnels and
things like that that needed to go in to get this train through these mountains. So you start
the ride off with a one and a half mile tunnel called the Saint Paul's tunnel. It is the largest
tunnel in the rail to trail system and it's always 47 degrees in that tunnel and dark.
They say that the end of a youtube video should be quick, abrupt almost.
To not give the audience any indication that the video is coming to a close because once i do,
you'll start looking for the next one. I had more, more footage, more info, leave it for the end screen.
We're always on to the next thing. The next video, the next adventure.
Hiawatha, rail to trails, a bike trip across the Idaho panhandle. Simple, basic. Did it peak your interest?
Hold your curiosity? It's been a blast North Idaho and now, on to the next one.
Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time.