August 27 - Highcliff State Park

Took a ride out to High Cliff State Park on Saturday.  Great weather again so it is wonderful to be out enjoying it.

 The area has a lot more houses now than I recalled - haven't been out this way in a few years.

 A good spot to stop and enjoy an ice cream cone.

 From the bench we were seated on we could see these guys on the golf course.

 We rode up to the beach area - it looked so pretty with the sun sparkling on Lake Winnebago.  Then we rode up the hill to the camping area - broke a spoke on the way up.  That has been happening a lot lately - think it is time to get a new wheel (or maybe stop eating ice cream cones).

We took a different route home and came across this sign.  We usually ignore them - and historically that has been a good thing as we have been able to ride right through.  Here, we did have to ride on the gravel road for quite a distance but could make it through.  Ended up with a 28 mile ride.

August 25 - Trestle Trail - Friendship Loop

We just did a 20 mile loop since it was such a beautiful day.

This is riding over the railroad - we have ridden over here many times before, but today there happened to be a train going underneath at the same time.

                  

We took a little different route and turned off on Clayton Rd and came back on Winchester Rd to pick up the trail back over the lake.

 Some boaters wee using the lock so the draw bridge was up.  A gentleman pulled up behind us and we struck up a conversation.  He was the highlight of this ride.

Glen is 81 years old.  He is on his 2nd pace maker and rides about 2600 miles a year.  He said he began riding at age 55, retired from his work when he was 57 and has been enjoying retirement ever since.  It was wonderful to visit with him and he mentioned some rides he would recommend, including the Merrill Colorama in  late September and the Menomonie/Marinette ride in late June.  The gourmet bike ride through Neenah also ranked highly - great things to eat on the water stops.  You are an inspiration Glen!

August 13th - Firefly Lake Camping and biking trip

The third day's trip Larry had planned will take us up into Michigan.  We will drive up towards Land O'Lakes and then begin the route.

As we neared the point he thought we could leave the trucks we found there was a store there and a parking lot and quite a few people with bikes and a "welcome Leinies" sign.  It seemed there was an organized event , so we went to the check in tent to get info.

The Wilderness Bicycle Route was having a fund raising ride and the route they were taking was not too different than Larry had mapped.  In fact it was better, because Larry learned that some of the trails he had incorporated into the route were ATV trails and would be too rough to ride.

So, we signed up and planned to ride with the first group - leaving in about 20 minutes.  What a deal!

We turned onto Thousand Island Lake Road a few miles down County B and road that for miles.  It is really a beautiful ride and you enter Michigan not too long after your begin the route.

After some time we skirted the Sylvania Wilderness Area which was a designated bathroom site - so we took advantage of that and also stopped into the welcome center and visited with the ranger.  No wheels or motors allowed in the park; you can hike and camp.  He said there are trees down in the park that are several hundred years old.  We thought it would be a neat area to return to and visit.

By this time we are the last riders in this group, but that is okay.

We rode into Watersmeet - a designated water stop and filled up our bottles.  Then we went on Hwy 45 for a short distance and then peeled off onto Duck Lake Road.  It was quite cloudy and looked like heavy rain in front of us.  We were wondering if we were just slow enough to miss the rain - but figured the rest of the group were probably getting wet.

This was a very pretty ride as well.  The roads were wet and steaming in some places.  This road had a section that was gravel - 4 or 5 miles and then the blacktop took us in to Land O'Lakes.

There was a stream of riders now - we had linked up with those doing the shorter route.  Not too far out of town we turned off the road onto the bike trail.

At one point we were able to pick raspberries along the trail.

We got back to the store and loaded up our bikes and headed over for the brat lunch and Leinies beer.  This vehicle was used to escort the short trip riders through town.

There were a lot of people enjoying the brat lunch.  The sun had come back out and it was steaming hot.

We snagged a seat under the umbrella to enjoy our lunch and beer- it tasted mighty good!
The entry fee included the lunch and beer but also some raffle tickets to win a Leinies canoe and various other items, so we drank more beer while we waited for the raffle drawing.

We met another couple from the Appleton area who were up visiting friends and took the ride.

We also met Chris who formerly lived in Appleton and even worked at AAL.  We had fun chatting.  Chris was doubly lucky and won two raffle prizes.

We did not win the Leinies canoe, but Deb won a Leinies paddle - how cool is that!  Dick Leinenkugel was present and did the ride and he even autographed the paddle for me.
This was a cool way to wrap up or 3 days of cycling.  Today we rode 38 miles.  If you are ever up near Land O'Lakes check out this cycle route - it really was a beautiful ride with a good number of hills thrown in.

August 12th - Firefly Lake - Camping and biking trip

We decided to begin the cycle route for day 2 in Minocqua.  Rather than ride our bikes there we drove the truck as we were uncertain just how much road traffic there might be given that it is a Friday.

It seems both of us failed to take many photographs today - sorry.

We bought a day pass for the Bearskin Trail and headed out of Minocqua.  We exited the trail south of Hazelhurst and took Country Road D to Lake Tomahawk.  While in the town we got ice water from a hot dog stand and had a fozen yogurt .  Then back on the road again.

Not far from town we road next to this large body of waterr that is the Rainbow Flowage - part of the path the Wisconsin River takes.

We stopped at Carroll Lake and ate lunch and swam.  The water was quite cool and the biting flies were a bother.  Evidently there is a triathlon in this area tomorrow.  We continued on County Road J, past the fish hatchery and wound our way back to Minocqua.

Had our ice cream cone sitting on the new dock area behind the restaurant at Bosacki's Boat House and then wound our way back to the park where the bike trail begins and where we left the truck.

There was plenty of traffic on the roads now since it was later on Friday afternoon.  Our ride today was 34 miles.

August 11th - Firefly Lake Camping and Biking Trip

We camped at Firefly Lake in the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest.  It is a smaller lake, crystal clear and surrounded by woods.  It appeared to have a couple of resident loons.

Larry planned 3 bicycle routes for the 3 days we would be up here.  Today's route will take us to Sayner, St Germain, Star Lake, Boulder Junction and back to Firefly Lake.

We began on the trail that connects Firefly Lake with Crystal Lake and then heads toward Sayner.  The blacktop trails are very nice to ride.

The trail skirted around Sayner.  It seems there are lakes around every corner up here.

We rode through an area that had many butterflies.  I tried to take photos of them on flowers, but the best shot I got was when I went to get back on my bike.

Before St Germain there was a section of the trail with a steep decline to this reservoir area, and a very steep incline after it.  There were signs asking riders to dismount and walk their bikes - since there was no one else around we rode it carefully.
We stopped at the visitor center at St Germain and met another family visiting from Appleton.  We also got fresh ice water and a couple of chocolate chips cookies at the Subway before we left town.
En route to Star Lake we had a down pour, so got a bit wet, but just up the road from where we took shelter it appeared it had not rained at all.

Downtown Star Lake - a good spot to have our packed lunch.  After lunch we headed out for the park to take a swim - it turned out it was only a stone throw down the road.

The swim was refreshing.  Then we put our gear back on and headed on.

We rode Country Road K towards Boulder Junction.  It is labelled a rustic road and it was so beautiful.

I believe this was called Lost Canoe Lake,  The weather looked a bit stormy again behind us.  We biked on to Boulder Junction.

If you have been there I am sure you have sat in this gigantic rocking chair.Now it is time for the reward part of the cycling trip - the ice cream cone.  We asked around for the place to get a good cone and was told Mad Dog Jake's was the place to go.

It was at the other end of the downtown strip - but that is only a block or so.

It did not disappoint.  Notice the chocolate dipped waffle cone - yummy!

We ate our cones outside and there was a very loud crap of thunder, but that was it. 

The blacktop trail runs from Boulder Junction all the way to our camp ground - what a nice way to finish our ride.  The trail runs alongside and through the Trout Lake Park also.  Trout Lake is quite a large lake.

When we got back to the campground we did ride across to Crystal Lake and take a dip there, even though it looked like it might rain at any moment.

Today's route was 54 miles.