Athol)
by secondlaw

The way points of this bicycle route:

Start

Brunner Road, where it skirts south of the Silverwood theme park is unpaved for a bit under 1/2 mile. After you cross the railroad tracks it is paved and I think this short unpaved distance is worth it to avoid other routes that have much heavier and more dangerous traffic.

Clagstone Road

Turn right.

Highway 54

Straight across.

Enter Bonner County

This route now proceeds over about 7 miles of unpaved roads. I did this on my skinny tire road bike and found it tolerable. I am a pretty cautious rider but even so I found the road surface mostly ridable. I did walk the bike in a few spots where there was a lot of loose gravel, the roadbed was steep or steeply banked, or particularly rough washboard.

Road Junction

Watch carefully for this junction - it looks as though missing it will take you quite far off route. I didn't see good road signs on the unpaved section of this ride. Turn right, cross railroad tracks, and then turn left.

Road junction

Take the left fork

Spirit Lake Cut-Off Road

Pavement again. Hallelujah! Straight ahead.

Dufort Road

Turn left.

Priest River

It's a short ride across the bridge to Priest River, a good spot to take a break. There are some small shops, cafes, and a tourist center in downtown, and the typical gas stations/quick-marts and a small city park with a restroom on Highway 2. Straight ahead to continue this route.

Hoo Doo Loop

Hoo Doo Loop avoids some of the stretch on Highway 41 where there is heavy traffic and not much of a shoulder. I also found it VERY scenic. Turn left.

Highway 41

Ok, you've got about 12 miles on Highway 41. I rode this on a Sunday, and there was lots of traffic and not much shoulder. I would guess that during the week it could be very heavily travelled. Be careful! Turn left.

Blanchard

A friendly survivalist at the EZ Mart in Blanchard chatted me up while I was resting. It's definitely Idaho. I learned two things in Blanchard: poaching logs and selling them for firewood is a quick way to make a buck; and, the residents of Athol, fed up with the jokes about their town name, voted to change it to Anuth.