Seasonal conditions
All year — best May-October; the St. Joe road is plowed but gray and damp November-March.
ROUTE
Silver Valley and St. Joe Loop — Coeur d’Alene to Saint Maries
Mining history and cedar river country: 174 km from Coeur d’Alene up the Silver Valley through Wallace — the richest silver district on earth — then down the wild St. Joe River to Saint Maries.
scenic-road174 km3.8 heasy
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/70271022@N00">David Taylor</a> from Coeur d / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0
ABOUT THIS ROUTE
The route in detail
This loop runs two of northern Idaho’s great rivers: I-90 east climbs the Silver Valley past Kellogg’s Bunker Hill gondola to Wallace — the whole downtown on the National Register, bordello museum and mining tours included — then the return drops south at Kingston to Highway 3 and the St. Joe River road, one of the quietest, greenest river rides in the Northwest, into Saint Maries. Add the Route of the Hiawatha or the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes for a cycling doubleheader.
This loop runs two of northern Idaho’s great rivers: I-90 east climbs the Silver Valley past Kellogg’s Bunker Hill gondola to Wallace — the whole downtown on the National Register, bordello museum and mining tours included — then the return drops south at Kingston to Highway 3 and the St. Joe River road, one of the quietest, greenest river rides in the Northwest, into Saint Maries. Add the Route of the Hiawatha or the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes for a cycling doubleheader.
PLAN RESPONSIBLY
Season & safety
Key hazards
- I-90 truck traffic in the Silver Valley.
- Rain-slick river road in the shaded St. Joe canyon.
- Weekend crowds in Wallace summer Saturdays.
- Deer everywhere on the river stretch.
Required gear
- Certified motorcycle helmet and full protective riding gear.
- Rain layer — this is cedar-rainforest country.
WAYPOINTS
Route points
- 01
Kingston — the Silver Valley exit
waypoint
- 02
Wallace — the Silver Valley capital
waypoint
MAP & ROUTE
On the atlas
Elevation932 m high point645 m low point1,270 m total climbing7% steepest stretch (km 144.9)
DESTINATIONS
Places on this route
Coeur d'Alene
A lakeside resort city on the Spokane River, where bald eagles winter over the water and the world’s longest floating boardwalk loops a five-star marina.
Northern Idaho
Silver Valley & Wallace
The richest silver mining district on earth — a preserved Victorian mining capital, a rail-trail through the trestles, and the deepest recreation of the 1910 fire story in the West.
Northern Idaho
St. Maries & the St. Joe River
A timber town on the “Shadowy St. Joe” — the highest navigable river in America — where steamboats once climbed into the Bitterroots and the Northwest’s oldest state park laps the lake next door.
Northern Idaho
INTERESTS
Why riders & travellers love it
WEATHER
Weather along the route
Forecast data from Open-Meteo. Updated regularly.
REGIONS
Explore the region
KEEP EXPLORING
The atlas continues
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