|
|
Google Earth Animations
of the four season mountain recreation universe centered on
Wallace Idaho
|
IF you have the
FREE Google Earth program installed, you
may open the following tour scripts immediately or save them for viewing later.
- Skiing
at Lookout Pass
- travel over I-90 from Mullan to Lookout Pass, fly over Runt
Mountain to explore the Saint Regis Lake Basin and look down on Stevens Peak
and its lakes, before returning to
Lookout Pass Ski Area
for a good view of the runs on the Montana Side (chairlift #2)
modified
October 15, 2008
- Skiing
at Silver Mountain
- travel over I-90 from Pinehurst to the Gondola Village in Kellogg,
follow the gondola uphill to the Mountain Haus and then circumnavigate
1600-acre
Silver Mountain
Ski Area, paying attention to three
high risk areas around Kellogg and Wardner Peaks
modified
December 20, 2008
- Wallace
to Murray
- travel north from Wallace up Nine Mile Road over Dobson Pass to the North
Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River and the Gold Rush town of Murray,
home of the
Sprag Pole Museum
modified
September 27, 2008
- Wallace
to Burke
- travel east from Wallace up the narrow and historic Burke Canyon,
where once 5000 miners toiled in the towns of Gem, Frisco, Black Bear,
Yellow Dog, Cornwall, Mace and Burke, and then continue on a rough road
to the Montana border and the Glidden Lakes
modified
September 27, 2008
- Wallace
to Pearson
- travel south from Wallace along Forest Road 456 over Moon Pass to
the Pearson Trailhead on the
Route of the Hiawatha
modified
September 27, 2008
- Taft
to Pearson
- travel from the Taft exit on I-90 to the parking lot for the
Route of the Hiawatha
and continue
15 miles on the mountain bike trail to the Pearson Trailhead
modified
September 27, 2008
- Pearson
to Avery
- travel along the North Fork of the Saint Joe river on the
scenic Alternate Milwaukee Road from Pearson to Avery, the
little town at the entrance to the Saint Joe Wild and Scenic River Area
modified
September 27, 2008
- Avery
to Plummer
- travel downstream 47 miles from Avery along the Saint Joe River on
the multi-use Original/Alternate Milwaukee Road Trail to Saint Maries,
and then continue 19 miles on country roads and the
Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes
to Plummer on the Palouse Prairie
modified
September 27, 2008
- Plummer
to Harrison
-
Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes:
travel from Plummer 15.3 miles downhill to Heyburn State Park on Lake Coeur
d'Alene, across the Chatcolet Bridge and along the lake shore to Harrison,
population 267
modified
September 27, 2008
- Harrison
to Enaville
-
Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes:
travel from Harrison 31.8 miles from the Lake along the
Coeur d'Alene River through the isolated Chain Lakes region to Enaville
on the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River
modified
September 27, 2008
- Enaville
to Mullan
-
Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes:
travel from Enaville 24.3 miles, gradually climbing through a series of
small towns that make up the famous
Silver Valley
until Wallace,
when the grade increases to a maximum of 3% as the bike trail follows the
South Fork upstream to Mullan
modified
September 27, 2008
- Mullan
to Taft
- travel 21 miles from the end of the
Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes
in Mullan on a multi-use dirt road (the NorPac Trail) over Lookout Pass,
which continues into Montana to the Taft exit, where the
Route of the Hiawatha
may be accessed.
modified
September 28, 2008
- 21
Alpine Lakes
-
This tour of 21 alpine lakes found within a 23 mile radius of
Wallace proceeds alphabetically. There is currently no flight
path among them; I'm working on it.
modified
October 26, 2008
|
Technical Notes
- Make sure that the Terrain checkbox is checked under
Layers; please uncheck all other layers to avoid
distraction and confusion.
- These tours go from placemark to placemark, pausing for 10 seconds at
each placemark icon to display information and sometimes a photo.
If a tour proceeds without a "balloon" containing text/images popping up
at each pause, your local settings have overridden mine.
Open your Tools tab, then Options, then Touring.
Check the box that reads "Show balloon when tour is paused" and set tour
pause to 10 seconds as some photos may take moments to retrieve.
- The first placemark in every tour (kml file)
is actually a flight path over the places described.
If you simply "run" the tour by pressing the triangular button at the bottom
of your Places panel on your visible Sidebar, you will only
see the first frame of this flight path before the tour moves on to the second
(actual) placemark. To see the fly-over first (recommended), press the square
"stop" button to halt the first process when the flight path's information
balloon appears, and then "run" the flight. The motion should now become
smooth and forward looking... although flight through narrow mountain
canyons naturally becomes bumpy at times.
- If you see a weird looking "wall" (that defines the flight path),
make it go away by unchecking the box next to the path name,
or move the Places overlay slider to the left to fade it away.
The extension of my
traveling focal point, 101 meters above the ground, to the ground makes
this "wall." This construction is very helpful when crafting a flight
path, but may be distracting afterward.
|
|
Remember that the aerial photos that make up the
Google Earth mosaic were taken at various
times... some several years ago, in fact. So you won't see
the new Wal-Mart in Smelterville or one of the new expert ski runs at Lookout Pass,
but these tours will certainly give you a great perspective on your next
vacation.
If these tours make you want to know more about
northern Idaho history and culture, hard rock mining and/or
full-season mountain recreation in the area,
please check out
Greg
Marsh's Wallace Store with books
and sporting goods specifically selected from Amazon's huge inventory
to match this unique place in the American West.
|
|
|
|
