A Fall Getaway
Trip Interrupted
Our plan for the fall was a three week trip into the Southwest. Stops included Vernal, UT to See Dinosaur National Monument, Grand Junction, CO to ride the Colorado National Monument, Ouray, CO for via ferrata, Mesa Verde and Moab. We were tow days into that trip when we abandoned it to return home after my mother fell and broke her hip.
After things settled a bit, we planned a short more local trip.
A Trip North
With the fall colors beginning, we decided to head North in Washington State to check out the Ferry County Rail Trail. We have heard a lot about it over the last couple of years nad have been wanting to explore it. We booked a stay at Curlew Lake State Park and headed out to see what it was all about. Our stay was October 3-6.
We have been to Colville and Republic, but had not been over Sherman Pass between those two towns. Sherman Pass is beautiful and has lots of hiking and some more primitive campgrounds for dry camping. It would be fun to spend a couple of nights there, not sure how that might work out since sites are limited and first-come-first-serve. We stopped at the burn site pullout and the Kettle Crest Trailhead on the way to Curlew Lake.The trail seems like it should be checked out sometime. We stopped at Sherman Pass Campground and walked around a bit on the way back home. The campground was already closed for the winter. The sites here are large enough for our trailer, but totally dry caming. There is a nice little viewpoint trail that we walked.
Curlew Lake State Park
This park is a very well maintained grassy campground on Curlew lake. The site we had was very large and open with a hillside on the patio side that provided a lot of privacy. Cell coverage (Verizon) is very poor. This time of year it is very quiet with a little more activity on the weekends. The park has full hookups and again, it is VERY well maintained. The close proximity to home makes this a great getaway. The Lake is between Republic and The town of Curlew. Republic is a small town and we did not find much to offer in teh way of eats. Curlew is a very small little town and basically the services are provided by a small general store. We did find a nice coffee shop along the highway just out of town.
Curlew Lake is a pretty long lake, but at the campground we didn’t feel we were on a big lake. There seems to be a lot of fishing there. The campground has a nice dock and what looks like a swimming area in the summer monghths. It would be a good place for kayaking this time of year.Apparently it gets quite crowded in the summer months.
Ferry County Rail Trail
We did two rides on the trail. The first day was very cold and overcast. We rode from the trailhead just south of Lake Curlew North to where the trail became unimproved. It was a pleasant ride along the lake and the trail surface was gravel and smooth. We were surprised to find that the trail is not rideable all the way. We were under the impression that it is rideable from Republic to the Canadian border: not true. It has a few segments open. This ride was around 14 miles
Our second ride went from Curlew North, again till the trail became unimproved. This segment is really nice. It goes along the river most of the ride. We had hear about the “otherworldly tunnel” and were curious to see what it was. As it turns out it is basically a hole through a rock that is around 150′. After riding the tunnels on the Hiawatha and the Spruce Railroad trails, it seemed a bit underwhelming. We really enjoyed this segment and would happily ride it again. This ride was about 19 miles.
All said, the trail is worth doing, but it is not what we expected. There is another section from Republic to apparently where we started our first ride.That section is partially paved, undetermined mileage.
In Conclusion
This was a nice little getaway, the trails were fun and the campground was great. Sherman Pass definitely needs to be explored more. The whole area is remote and has a time forgotten feel to it.