My soggy hike on Canfield Mountain in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Janna Rankin Scharf, GRI, CLHMS, SFR, AB - Coeur d'Alene Idaho Homes for Sale

This morning dawned dreary and the weather man predicted rain.  Rick and I had planned to meet up with my fellow exercise boot campers for an 8 a.m. hike up Canfield Mountain, but I was thinking staying in my warm, cozy bed sounded like a great idea.  It wasn't raining, Rick said we should just get up and go, so off we went.

I was a little apprehensive, having never hiked Canfield Mountain before.  There are twenty five miles of trails, and we planned to hike about 3.5 of those in a big loop.  Mostly UP HILL.  I came prepared with new trekking poles, and up the mountain we started.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that the steady climb wasn't a big deal. 

We passed the others doubling back down the hill about a mile from where we started.  They decided to cut the hike short and turned back.  Rick and I decided to keep going.  I was enjoying the sights, sounds and wonderful smells of the autumn forest. 

Somehow we missed a turn about three miles up the mountain and ended up going another mile uphill in the wrong direction. I've always known that my bum knee hurts less going up hill or up the stairs, and hurts like the dickens coming down.  In my 4th uphill mile I was blown away with the realization that I was feeling absolutely no discomfort whatsoever!  It was a miracle!  A real, walk-on-water kind of miracle!  I learned that walking uphill is actually less painful on my knee than walking level! 

When we got to the fork at the next trail and realized we had missed our turn a mile back, we turned around to retrace our last mile down the mountain.  At that point, starting downhill, my knee immediately began hurting.  Bad.  Oh my gosh, I actually found it comical that I could really barely walk.  Did I mention that by then it was raining?  No piddly dribble, it was full on raining!  We were sloshing along in little rivers that used to be trails. 

It was cold, slippery and a little scary for me to realize that I had to get myself down that mountain, there was no alternative!  At that point we had gone 5 miles, and when we finally thought we found the right trail, we still had a couple more miles downhill to navigate!  Soaked to the bone we continued down, fingers crossed that we were on the right trail. 

Most of the way I laughed at how ridiculous it was to be hobbling down a mountain in the rain soaked like a drowned rat. My BOLD coach Brian would hve been so proud of my positive attitude!  I gingerly took one step at a time, through the ruts and over rocks and around through the puddles.  At one point when I did start to lose it, I realized that there was something kind of cool about hiking through the forest in the rain.  I pulled out my phone and snapped a few pictures as I limped along.  This took some effort because my hands were numb and frozen into a grip around my poles!

I truly enjoyed my soggy autumn hike on Canfield Mountain in spite of it being much more of an adventure than I had anticipated.  Looking at the trail maps later, we calculated that we hiked about 7 miles, probably a little more.  I am looking forward to hiking Canfield Mountain again, on a warm and sunny day!

Check out the Canfield Mountain Trail System Here!

"I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances." 
                          Martha Washington