TaterTOT--Around Kellogg
TaterTOT
TaterTOT
Kellogg offers several activities to supplement your riding the trail. One of the best ways to get an overview of the area is to ride the Silver Mountain gondola, based across the street from the Guesthouse Inn.
Expert mountain bikers love the ride down. You are permitted to take your trike up on the gondola for an offroad thrill ride, and at least one TaterTotter has. If you try it, take maps and a gps too.
But Kellogg isn't all recreation. It was built on mining, and the Silver Valley got its name from being the leading producer of the metal in the world.
The mining riches were not without cost. In 1972, one of the worst mining fires in U.S. history brokeout, killing 91 miners. You can learn more about it at the Kellogg Museum and talk with some of the volunteers there who roles in the rescue or lost family and friends. The disaster is also well documented in the book, The Deep Dark.
Another cost of the mining was the toxic material produced, resulting in the area's designation as a Superfund site. Geometric mountains of the contaminated rock and dirt are arranged around Kellog since the volume is too great to safely dispose of any other way. Some of this was used on the railroad bed to create the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes. Superfund money is used for the required repaving and sealing of the trail. The toxins are the reason for warning signs to stay on the trail and not to drink from any of the water sources.
Earth moving continues around Kellogg.
Two Cats.
By the way, you might have a low front tire. Would you like tob borrow my pump?
While you are headed that way, you might want to stop at the Cataldo Mission, which dates back to the 1850s.
