Jeanette’s Jaunt

Jeanette’ Jaunt is an excellent showshoe trail for beginners, following an old logging road along the side of a mountain paralleling I-90. For most of the trail the incline is negligible, signage is superb, trail maintenance is much improved, and heavy usage turns much of the trail into easily-traversed packed snow.
Location
  • Coeur d’Alene Mountains
Rating
2.2 out of 5
Difficulty
Easy (last half mile before shelter is steep)
Distance
7.1 miles
Duration
2:41 hours moving time (Snowshoeing)
Elevation Gain
641 feet
High Point
3,128 feet (Trailhead)
Low Point
2,783 feet
Features
Outing Type
  • Daytrip
  • Trail Type
  • Lollipop
  • Trailbed
    Old logging road and hopefully lots of snow!
    Trail#
    Water
  • A few brooks
  • Camping
    • There is a warming hut near the trailhead (follow the ski trail for about 200 yards) and a warming shelter at the turn-around point. Both locations also have pit toilets.
    Conditions
    • Pretty good. A few trees needed to be climbed over. Trail signage is excellent.
    Administration
  • Coeur d’Alene National Forest
  • Status
  • Unprotected
  • Maps
    USGS
  • Lane
  • Fees & Permits
  • None required
  • (Park n Ski permit required for parking during winter months)
    Open To
  • Hikers
  • Dogs
  • Horses
  • Mountain Bikers
  • ()
    Directions
  • Take I-90 exit #28 (Fourth of July Recreation Area) and head south for half a mile. Follow the lower road to the ski trailhead. The trailhead to Jeanette’s Jaunt starts about 50 yards into the ski trail, dropping down to the right.
  • Season
    Winter
    Date
    December 22, 2016

    We had not completed this loop in almost a decade, largely due to dubious memories of crawling on all fours over and under overturned trees and snow-heavy bent-over saplings. Today’s snowshoe proved to be a pleasant surprise, as the trail obviously received extensive TLC, including updated signage and a new loop section near Peaceful View shelter.

    To get to the trail hike along the groomed ski trail at the rear of the Fourth of July Recreation Area parking lot (to the right) for about 50 yards. The snowshoe trail drops steeply downhill on the right side in a couple of switchbacks that emerge onto a logging road. The trail stays on this logging road almost all the way, with the incline very gradually downhill. This makes for easy hiking, particularly for the first mile, which is so heavily used that the packed snow makes wearing snowshoes completely optional.

    On the downside, this trail is hemmed in by tall trees pretty much all the time, so views are extremely limited, and for three-quarters of the way it parallels the freeway, so bring your earplugs.

    The trail veers away from the freeway around the 3-mile mark and about a half-mile later comes to a Y. The ultimately more gradual ascent is the steeper trail going left and up, and it reaches the Peaceful View shelter after about a half mile (following a traverse of a knoll with the only reasonable views along this hike). The shelter is at roughly the same altitude as the trailhead, meaning the elevation lost on the logging road (about 300 feet) must be made up in this last half mile. The shelter is stocked with firewood and has a fire ring, but is not entirely enclosed. There is also a pit toilet nearby.

    To turn the trail into a loop, return via the Alternate Route, which drops steeply through the forest along a singletrack down to the forest road. The ascent to and descent from the Peaceful View shelter are really the only more difficult parts of this trail. Once you reach the logging road it only takes a few hundred yards to return to the Y and the 3-mile return stem of this lollipop loop.

    Alternate Routes

      Things to Consider

        Not so great

          The trail drops downhill to the right, off the ski trail. It is well-signed.
          The first mile of trail receives a lot of traffic. The trail is usually packed snow.
          Bridges cross the first two brooks
          Snow cover is good this year
          Naughty checking for squirrels
          The trail follows an old logging road
          The brooks carry just a trickle of water and are easily crossed.
          A few trees need to be clambered over!
          A mix of fir, pine and red cedar
          The logging road widens towards the end
          Two ways to ascend to Peaceful View Shelter
          The last half mile towards Peaceful View is much steeper.
          The knoll just before the shelter provides the only significant views
          Approaching the shelter
          The skiing trails are excellently groomed this year.
          Peaceful View shelter
          The Alternate route offers filtered views of the opposite hillside
          This must have been a mighty big tree once!
          Trail completing the loop
          The sun making an appearance

          One Comment

          1. naughtyhiker says:

            Hiked this again a few days ago. Most of the trail is packed snow to the extent that you don’t even need snowshoes. A few downed trees, especially in the second half of the hike.

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