Day 1 Vacation Pics

[Don McRitchie]

I'm now on the third day of my vacation in the US northwest after finishing up a work conference in North Dakota on Thursday. This is the first sustained internet access I've had since leaving the conference. For some reason, there are fewer hots spots in the cities here than in most other places I've been.

The pictures below are from Thursday, the start of my free time. The theme of this vacation (like the last one in Colorado in May) is tracking down old ghost towns and rail lines through the mountains.

[Don McRitchie]

This is Moon Pass Idaho on my way to St. Paul's Pass where I had hoped to bike the old abandonned Milwaukee railroad. Unfortunately, the bike trail was closed due to a rock fall in one of the dozen tunnels on the path. I could only follow the path by forrestry road from a distance. I hope to try again on Monday, when they hope to reopen the path.

[Don McRitchie]

One of the dozen or so trestles on the bike path taken from the road below. The raised bar used to support catenary wires since this was an electric railroad. Not many people are aware that there was once a transcontinental railroad that crossed the entire mountain ranges of the western United States that was electrified for most of its lrength.

[Don McRitchie]

Another one of the trestles off in the distance as seen from the top of the rail pass.

[Don McRitchie]

The St. Joe River, which the rail trail follows at the bottom of the pass.

[mikebake]

Fabulous!