Camas Prairie Road Trip, Day Two, Lawyer Creek, Cottonwood and Cold Spring Canyon.

I took a two day trip to explore the Camas Prairie and specifically the old route of the Camas Prairie Railroad. The Camas Prairie is south of Lewiston Idaho. Yesterday I hiked from Rubens to Lapawi Canyon.

The previous evening, I did a reconnaissance in search of a likely place to park so I could hike a section of the rail easement that had some of these tall trestles in vain. Most of the farm roads that crossed the rail line were one lane gravel roads with ditches on either side. However I did locate a number of impressive bridges. That narrowed my search down.

Finally the next morning I found a place. Visible enough from the main highway to check the probability of vandalism to my rig and far enough off the main road to make it look like I might be a farmer checking his fields all without blocking access for others. The only rails I saw on this hike were embedded in one of the few paved local roads in the area.

The hike started with open views of the Camas Prairie farmland while it slowly curved away from US-95. The highway for the most park stays within a mile to the east of the railroad easement making this section much less remote than yesterdays hike down Lapawi Canyon.

After a short walk, I came to my first trestle. Looked like an easy walk but looks can be deceiving.

This turned out to be the old trestle over Old US-95. It had to be one hundred feet high and much longer than it first appeared. There was no metal plating one this bridge and it looked like it had been abandoned much longer than those I crossed yesterday.

A lot of the wood was rotten, some of the ties loose or missing and the structure creaked and moaned under the weight of a full grown man. There’s no way it would support a train ever again. For the first, but not last time I was unnerved by the crossing. I was kind of surprised that it has not been removed as a safety hazard to the road below.

When I got to the other side I got a better view of the true size of the trestle. The good news was I made it across. The bad news was it wasn’t practical to bypass it on the way back so I was going to have to do it again.

Next I followed the rail easement through shallow cuts and small embankments with stunning views of wild flowers and farmland.

Further down the line, I came across a partially removed trestle. I guess it was the end of the line for me on this hike.

Well it turned out this trestle was bypassed years ago when the line was still active. The actual easement followed a newer embankment around the site.

Another cut through the rocks was next. The trail passes through open ponderosa pine forest here on the way to the next goal.

Here is the start of Lawyer Creek Canyon trestle. It doesn’t look like it from here but the bridge is 1500 feet long and almost 300 feet above the canyon.

Although this bridge looked to be in much better shape than the Old US-95 bridge, I opted to only walk out the first hundred feet or so to just before it opened up out of the forest. The bridge is highly visible from the highway and by now I was more worried about having to recross the first bridge.

I did manage to get under the south end of the bridge to admire the construction. The trestle continues in to the distance far outside of the forested area in the photograph.

I turned around and retraced my path to my rig. Crossing back over the Old US-95 trestle was a little scary but uneventful. Now it was time to explore the area.

I drove through Cottonwood and explored some of the back roads west of that town. I came across the St. Gertrude Monastery. This has to be one of the most unique buildings around. The view of the old monastery is partially blocked by over landscaping and ugly newer buildings but still worth a look.

The end of the pavement brought me to Kuetterville and this amazing chapel. Holy Cross Church was an unexpected sight out in the middle of farmland.

On the way back towards the town of Cottonwood, I was treated to this amazing view across the Camas Prairie towards the Seven Devils Mountains in the Hells Canyon Recreation Area. I last visited this area a couple of years ago and it’s about time for a return visit.

The Camas Prairie sits on a relatively high plateau (plus or minus 4000 feet) partially surrounded by the deep valleys of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers which are about 1000 feet above sea level. It feels like it’s own little world up here and kind of like stepping back in time half a century, and that’s in a good way.

I wasn’t done exploring the Camas Railroad so I drove back to Craigmont to try and find another quiet section of the easement to walk. About three miles northwest of town, I found a place to park off the road next to a crossing with the old easement.

Again I walked through small railroad cuts in the landscape bracket by rolling farmland. I figured I had about two more hours to kill before I drove back to Post Falls. I didn’t know what I’d find but hoped that whatever it was that it would be worth the effort.

Around the next corner was just about the prettiest view I could have imagined.

I even flushed out a couple of white tail deer.

Past another bend or two I found myself at the east side of the Cold Creek Canyon trestle. This bridge was much bigger than I expected and in similar condition to the Old US-95 bridge. I decided to cross it anyway.

It was definitely an adventure. I always wanted to check out some of these engineering marvels. After this trip I think I’m good now.

On the far-side I was able to get a better perspective on just how big this bridge really is. The timberwork is amazing. Parts of this old rail line were used in the Charles Bronson movie, Breakhart Pass.

I walked about another mile on the other side and found this old speed limit sign. I came to the only place in my trip that the old railroad easement was blocked a little further so I turned back and again crossed the Cold Creek Canyon trestle.

This time after I made it across, I descended a little way down the canyon to appreciate the timberwork from below.

Now it was time to return home. I made the nearly three hour drive back down Lapawi Canyon, through Lewiston Idaho, up the Lewiston Grade, through the Palouse Prairie and back to Coeur d’Alene. I’ve always been fascinated with abandoned railroads. After this trip I’m thinking maybe some bigger mountain hikes might be in order.