Elroy-Sparta State Trail

After some coffee and breakfast, I was off to Wilton to ride the Elroy-Sparta State Trail.  This was the first Rails-to-Trails in Wisconsin.  Planned to ride West from Wilton up to Tunnel 2, a 2 mile ride.  Was a humid, but not too warm morning (low/mid 70s).  Stopped in at the Hardware Hank's that sells trail passes.  Since i will be in the area for the long weekend and will be Wisconsin 2 more times later this year, I splurged with the $20 year pass.

I forgot how exhausting it  grinding up the constant 2% grade on these trails. Had to be stopped to rest my legs and slow down my heart rate a couple times during the climb.  My legs were almost toast when I arrived at the tunnel.  Had my headlight - but not seeing anything in the 1/4 mile tunnel.  Fog rolling out of the tunnel (see photo).  Took a couple photos in the tunnel and headed down the hill.  Really enjoyed coasting the 2 miles back down to town.

Back at the house, I processed photos from the ride. Then time for a shower (felt great).

Gerry and I headed into Coon Valley for lunch.  The bat (Legacy Grill & Pub) had craft beers on top.  Had 2 glasses of Capital Brewery's Wisconsin Amber with a cheeseburger and fries.  We were served by Leah.  Friendly establishment, good selection of craft beers.

More visiting with the family.  Then it was time to finish photos and write yesterday's blog posting.

Lake Manawa Clean-up Day

The annual clean-up day for Lake Manawa State Park is Sunday, May 4th.  This park, located on the South side of Council Bluffs gets a lot of traffic from both side of the Missouri River.  And, unlike state parks in Nebraska - there is no fee to visit and enjoy the park.

The annual clean-up day is a way the users and community can give back to the state park.  Investing just 2 hours of a Sunday afternoon to pick up trash on park lands, makes a big difference.  The park provides gloves, trash bags, and trash skewer sticks.


Registration is usually at Shelter 6.  There should be signs that day directing you to the shelter.  Rain day is Sunday, May 11th.

Frustration

Tomorrow it will be two weeks since I was able to get out in the dirt. Last week, it was rainy most of the week. Trails were just about drying out when I headed to Wisconsin.

Here, it was been raining every day. Thursday I was able to get on the County North Shore Trail - Kenosha & Racine. Rode from my Mom's apartment to Racine (about 7 miles). The trail is crushed limestone. Trail surface was soft and standing water in spots. It is still a pretty good trail - once you get out of the cities.

Wanted to ride some singletrack - Petrifying Springs Park was closed for flooding, and threatening weather before I could drive to Bong State Park.

So, I headed on to Belgium Wisc. This morning I made a short rode ride with my hosts - 5.3 miles. That ride just made me want some DIRT!

Planned to ride in the Kettle Moriane State Park - about 30 miles away. Checked the web site. That said the trails are open - but the last update of trail conditions was on May 13th - 3 weeks old! The web site DID say trails in the area should dry out in 4-6 hours after rain.

Called the state park inquiring as to trail conditions at the Greenbush Trail area. When I called at 8:55, they had no idea, nor could they tell me when they could report on the conditions. They said they should be ridable, but was not sure.

When I got to the Long Lake entrance, they had no idea if the trails are open. She did call, and advised me that the trails were not ridable from the rains. Back 30 miles.

What was the problem with the Office at Mauthe Lake (which I had called). They should have been able to call the Ranger (or tell me to wait until after 9am when the Ranger comes on duty), saving the the gas and time to driver over, just to find the trails are closed. I will be sending in a Guest Comment Card to Wisconsin DNR.