ENAVILLE - When Jim Richards applied for the job to watch after the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, he liked his odds.

"I think it was between me and another person," he said with a chuckle. "The other person backed out, so I was pretty much a shoo-in."

Which is a good thing.

For the past two years, Richards has been the man behind maintenance of the state's portion of the popular trail that stretches from Mullan to just beyond Harrison.

Downed tree? Noxious weeds? Someone lost? Busted posts?

Call Jim Richards.

"We do all kinds of things," he said.

Recently, he had to replace a number of wooden posts and metal bollards after someone drove from Enaville to Plummer, flattening obstacles in their path and causing around $11,000 in damage on the state side alone.

Police did find a vehicle front grill from an Isuzu Rodeo and a license plate at the Medimont trailhead, and the incident remains under investigation.

"Ignorance, pure ignorance," he said, shaking his head.

Richards spent 15 years as overseer of the five-mile section of the North Idaho Centennial Trail from the Potlatch Bridge to Higgens Point. There, he ensured compliance with rules of the boat launch, checked the restrooms, sprayed weeds and kept the trail clear of debris and litter.

He does much of the same on the 10-foot wide Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes - only it's more than 10 times as much ground to cover at 57 miles.

It is, he says with a smile, one of the best jobs around.

Scenery, solitude, wildlife make the work seem, well, like not so much work.

"It's a rough job, but somebody's got to do it," he said, grinning.

The Rathdrum man believes the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes is a great asset to the community - but a bit of a secret even to those who live here.

"There's so many people that don't know about it," he said. "It's crazy."

Richard is out there at least three days a week. Depending on the season, it might be by bike, truck, snowmobile, or in a small, motorized cart. His day starts early, 6 a.m.

"We want to get out here before all the trail users get out here in the summer time," he said. "That way we can get in there, do our duties and get out. So we're not in their way. We don't like to ruin their experience by coming up behind them."

There are days it's paradise.

He's spotted moose, black bears, blue herons and muskrats

"Oh, it's like a zoo. I saw 11 moose one day. You see everything. I haven't seen any wolves yet," Richards said. "I haven't seen any mountain lions but other than that, pretty much everything."

On a recent Tuesday, he cruised in his pickup on the trail between Enaville and Bull Run trailhead at Rose Lake. He enjoyed a view of the Coeur d'Alene River, a stone's toss away, to his right, and pastures and mountains to his left, with towering pines and cottonwoods over head.

Richards often rafted the Coeur d'Alene River as a teen.

"My favorite time is the fall," he says. "Right when things are turning before it gets too cold. And before the duck hunters come out, you see moose all over. Once they come out, the moose all disappear."

One of his favorite sections stretches from Mullan to Wallace, and is almost all downhill.

"You hardly even pedal. It goes along the freeway, but in the spring time you've got all the creeks running, you can hardly hear the freeway."

Sounds super. But he's not out there simply to soak in scenery. There is work to do, even lives to look after.

Kids can get separated from groups and have to be tracked down. Occasionally he has to chase out transients who camp in the woods along the trail. Some run out of food and drink.

But there are surprisingly few problems on the trail that's used by an estimated 75,000 bikers, walkers and runners each year. There's the occasional vandalism, some litter, a bike crash and cut knee. Richards has been yelled at by upset cyclists who don't realize or don't care that it's a state employee coming up behind in a motorized cart.

For three days a week, he rides the trail. For the other two, he files reports, makes repairs. His office is at the state park in Cataldo, and the shop is in Kellogg. Come summer, three seasonal workers will be under his command. Still, it's tough to keep up.

His biggest challenge?

"Time. It's hard to get time to do everything. If I go at a pretty good clip and go from one end of the trail and back, it takes me eight hours right on the dot. That's doing the bare minimum. It's a constant pruning job, trees falling down all the time, so consequently, we carry tons of equipment."

Richards, a 1971 Coeur d'Alene High School graduate, began his career with the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation about 1989 when he landed a job as a seasonal worker at Farragut State Park. He was there five years, than got the chance to be in charge of a spectacular stretch of a trail next to Lake Coeur d'Alene.

For more than a decade, he was there, a familiar sight to runners, cyclists and walkers.

Another opportunity arose.

Idaho needed someone as guardian for the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes.

"This came up and I always wanted to be out there, so I thought I'd go for it," he said.

He did. Turned out to be a good decision.

Because, there is a sense of freedom and adventure you won't find anywhere but there.

"You don't make a million bucks at it, but it sure is a blast," he said. "You never know what's going to be around the next bend."

Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes

The Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes runs 73 miles from Mullan to Plummer. It takes cyclists, walkers, skaters and runners past rivers and lakes, and through the Silver Valley and the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation. It has 20 developed trailheads and 17 scenic waysides with picnic tables and benches. There are also 36 bridges and trestles that cross mountain creeks, a river and lakes.

Popular jumping off point are trailheads at Enaville and Rose Lake.

According to an Idaho State Parks and Recreation guide:

• The east end of the trail passes through a narrow mountain valley once heavily mined for silver. The valley is dotted with numerous small historic mining communities.

• The middle section of the trail follows the Coeur d'Alene River, passing 15 small lakes and marshes, habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife.

• The west end of the trail lies within the boundaries of the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation and along the shoreline of Lake Coeur d'Alene for 6 miles. It crosses a 3,100-foot bridge/trestle to Heyburn State Park. It then follows the remote forested Plummer Creek canyon for 6 miles.