Bemidgi to Walker

Before we left Bemidgi this morning, we back tracked a couple of miles to see their version of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox.  We were going to do that yesterday as we came into town, but decided against it because of the rain.  Here is what we saw.

I personally liked better the other likenesses we saw as we were riding north, but now I know.  There was also a statue of a Native American in the same park as Paul.  This statue was made out of iron & is bigger than life size.

Then we started our trip to the next trail.  That means much of the day we were on country roads.  They were well paved with wide shoulders and a rumble strip to alert any drivers who may accidentally drift.  I felt very safe.  A lot of the roads we have been on carry this designation.

We are close to the headwaters of the Mississippi River, and it is a tourist attraction for many.  We probably crossed the Mississippi 5 or 6 times today.  In this territory the river does not run straight south as we are accustomed to thinking about it.  It runs north out of Lake Itasca, then west, then south, then east etc before it makes the big turn south towards New Orleans.  It is also much smaller as you can see in this picture.

I do understand why Minnesota is called the land of 10,000 lakes.  Here is another perspective on that with a little different look than some pictures I have posted before.

 There is another piece of the landscape that I have seen other places before, but today for the first time on this trip.  A large swampy area with thousands of dead trees.  They aren't really large trees, but big enough to have grown for 10 - 30 years I would guess.  Makes me wonder what caused all of them to die.

One human interest picture today from the road.  I choose to call it the tire fence, but the tires are spaced out so far they won't hold anything in, and they are sunk in the ground about 1/2 their diameter, but the thing that made it picture worthy is that every other tire is painted either purple or blue.  Why?  I have no idea.

After about 25 miles on the roads, we did come to a trail that took us to our overnight stop in Walker.  Tomorrow we have a full day of roads before we come to the next big trail adventure.

48 miles today.

Hackensack to Bemidgi

Another full day on the Paul Bunyan Trail, but of course there is always something different to make things interesting.  The weather forecast was for good conditions until 3 PM, so we planned our departure time so we qould arrive at 2 PM, just in case the forecast was off.  That didn't do any good, because it started raining about 1:30 PM!  Fortunately I had packed my rain gear, and that prevented me from getting very wet, and the temperature was in the mid 60's so I didn't get cold.

Most of the trail today was very much like what we experienced yesterday, except there weren't any small towns with interesting things to take pictures of.  The pictures I have posted on previous days pretty much cover what we saw today, with just a few exceptions.  I've talked about bike trails that are created from former railroad beds, and much of what we rode today was that.

Fortunately, our volunteer coordinator and route planner is always looking for interesting options, and today there was an opportunity to take an alternate trail route.  I knew it would be interesting because at the start of the alternate route there was a sign which said something like "Notice: The next 8.5 miles could be a challenge for some riders".  I count myself as part of that group.

The terrain was winding and hilly.  I certainly worked harder on that section than any other part of this trip so far.  It is interesting to me that they don't have a sign to tell you when there is a long uphill grade coming, but if it is a downhill, this is what you see:

There was also one flower blooming, which I found picture worthy (and it also gave me an opportunity to catch my breath for a bit.)

We did have an interesting lunch experience.  Stopped at about the only place open in the little town of LaPorte, and arrived just about the same time as a group of about 20 Red Hat Ladies.  There was one bartender, who also was the waiter, and as far as we could tell, one cook.  They were doing the best they could, and we are a pretty laid back group, so we just waited them out.  Had to do some extra stretching before finishing the last 20 miles after a longer than expected lunch break. 

We have now reached our furthest North location.  Starting tomorrow we will be heading mostly East until we reach Lake Superior in Duluth.

Thanks to Nettie for tonight's sunset picture

57 miles today

Baxter to Hackensack

 If you've been following my blog, you may have noticed that there was no post yesterday.  That is because we had a day off riding.  As much fun as this is, it is still nice to have a day where you don't have to get everything ready & ride.  In this case, it was also nice because it rained, which would have been unkind for riding.  It did clear toward evening, which means there is a picture to post.  When I first saw it, I thought it was a wildfire, but it is actually the sunset.  Thanks to Jim A for this picture.

We had two unpleasant surprises as we were getting ready to start out today.  First, one of our riders had not been feeling 100%, and this morning he tested positive for Covid.  He has a daughter who lives in Minneapolis, and she came to pick him up.  If he is able to get a negative Covid test in the next week, we will welcome him back.  

Second, as I was getting ready to check the tire pressure on my bike, I noticed that the rear tire was completely flat!  With all of the experienced bikers here, it didn't take long to replace the tube, but it is a mystery to me how it was fine when we arrived the other day, the bike sat for a full day, and now it was flat.  Here we are working on the repair.

Notice in the picture how everyone is dressed with extra layers.  It was about 40 degrees when we left this morning, but the sun was shining, and it warmed up nicely during the day.  This was an interesting day of riding because we were 99% of the day on the Paul Bunyan Trail.  The first stretch out of Baxter took us deep into the woods, and had some beautiful scenery.  Here is a picture where the clouds show a mirror image in the lake below.  Thanks again Jim A.

We then got into an area where there were a number of small towns along the way.  Paul Bunyan is a big deal around here, and each town seems to have its own way to celebrate his popularity. Pequot Lakes has Babe the Blue Ox.  Here I am with Babe in my color coordinated gear for the day.

Hackensack has Paul's wife Lucette.

There are also a number of old train stations along the way, some of which have also turned into museums. 

The further north we got, the more the trail ran alongside a highway, which gave opportunities for a few more pictures.  Notice the horses made out of old fuel oil tanks.

Tonight we are staying at a resort just outside of Hackensack.  Our leader could not find a hotel for us, and he convinced the resort folks to rent to us for just one night.  They usually have a one week minimum stay, so we are grateful they are allowing us to stay.  It also means that there isn't a restaurant close by, but because the cabin has a fully equipped kitchen, we were able to make our own meal.  Kind of a nice break from the standard schedule.  My contribution was to wash the pots and pans, which is about all I am qualified to do when it comes to food service.

One feature of the cabin we are staying in is the absolutely largest bathroom I have ever seen.  It could be a bedroom.  Someone commented that they maybe just haven't installed the hot tub yet.

The resort is on a lake, and I am going to finish my post with a more traditional sunset than the wildfire look I started out with.

51.5 miles today.  More trails tomorrow.

Little Falls to Baxter

 We started out today with cooler temperatures & the threat of rain.  That caused me to wear full length leggings, a sweatshirt under my long sleeve jersey, and full fingered riding gloves.  I also packed in some rain gear.  Sure enough, after about 5 miles it started to rain slightly, so I put on my rain coat.  Again that had the effect of causing the rain to stop.

Our first 25 miles today were on roads, headed to our next trail.  The roads were good, and lightly traveled, so it was an easy ride even with a little rain.

Part of my theme from yesterday had to do with the railroad, and today that theme continues, but in a totally different way.  The first thing that happened was we came to a bridge that carries cars, and also has a railroad track running down the middle of it.  I've never seen that before.  We couldn't tell if it is actually still used for trains, but it appears to be in good enough condition.

Railroad tracks are a true hazard for bicycles.  The worst are tracks that cross a road in anything other than 90 degrees perpendicular to the road.  It is so easy for the bike tires to get caught up in the tracks, and before you can even think about it you're down.  This track which ran over the dual purpose bridge then started to curve away from the road.  One of our riders wasn't sure to have his bike cross true perpendicular & went down hard.

I was a few hundred yards behind him, and didn't actually see him go down, but he was flat on the ground when I came up to him.  Fortunately he was not injured badly, and after about 10 minutes of recovery was able to get back up on the bike, and rode the rest of the way.  Here is what that curve looks like.  This picture was taken as we were heading out.

A little further on, we got on the Great River Road.  Here's a picture of a few of us riding that stretch with me out in front.

Our next stop was at a rest area which was the start of a large park & the Paul Bunyan Trail that would take us into Baxter.  Of course I had to get a picture with the namesake.

Just minutes after our arrival, some real rain started to come down.  The radar showed it would last about 30 minutes, so we took advantage of some rest time in the visitor's center.  After some rest and refreshments, we headed out for the final leg.  This trail was a real treat. Nicely paved, gentle curves, reasonably flat.

At one point the trail is diverted onto a road with a bridge crossing the Mississippi River.  This far north, the river is not as mighty, but still certainly navigable.  When we stopped there were a few kayakers coming down.

I recruited a fellow rider to get a picture of me as I rode past the trail sign.

 We had no further weather to challenge us on the way into Baxter, but we did put on some extra miles trying to find our way through town.  There were no less than 4 either mistaken turns, or missed turns.  Three different riders, including the leader who set up the route in the first place took turns leading the way, and then giving up.  I am unqualified to offer any assistance, so I just rode the extra distance.

This is a great group, with no one belly aching about such a situation, and in the end we made it through just fine.  The hotel wasn't fully ready for us anyway.  We normally enjoy a nightly dinner together, and tonight was no different.

Tomorrow is a rest day, followed by a couple of days of almost exclusively trail riding.

40 miles today.

Cold Spring to Little Falls

 We said goodbye this morning to a couple of riders who could not stay for the entire trip.  The route today started out on some country roads, rode about 30 miles on the nicest trail we've seen so far, and then finished off on a road that runs right along the Mississippi River.  There are still farms around, but it seems to me like there is more just "up north" forests, prairies & swamps.  We did see some Elk, but they were in a fenced in field, probably grown for the meat

After about 10 miles we entered our trail for the day

Lots of interesting vegetation, but only one picture of that today.  This particular plant/bush was in a number of places along the trail, and the red color just stood out to me

One of the benefits of a ride like this is the opportunity to think through stuff.  Here is what I was thinking about today. No pictures, because pictures would not do it justice.  I hope my words will.  The subject is rails to trails.  I have known that a lot of bike trails like we are riding are old railroad beds, but the thing that struck me today was the amount of effort that had to go into making the original railroad track surface.  I've heard that trains don't work nearly as well if there is a more than 4% grade, either up hill or down.  That means a lot of filling in and digging out.  We are in Northern Minnesota.  There aren't really any mountains here, but as I was riding along the trail, I noticed that there were some areas where the trail was as much as 20' above the surrounding landscape, and other areas where it was dug out by at least 10'.

I was trying to imagine the engineering that went into designing this, and the amount of construction work that had to happen.  And this was probably all in the mid 1800's.  We bicyclists are grateful, because we prefer to not ride uphill on more than a 4% grade.  The downhill would be okay, but it is a worthwhile trade off.  That's what I was thinking about.

We came to a town on the trail named Hollingford that provided a couple of interesting picture opportunities.  First off a covered bridge where I recruited some locals to take my picture

Another thing I have noticed about Northern Minnesota is that they really seem to like murals.  I've seen probably 6 of them so far, but this is the first one I really found worthy of posting.  The sign on the right even gives a history of the town, if you're interested.  I hope you can zoom in on the picture to read it.

And finally, riding right down main street was a one tractor parade.  This is obviously not a working machine, but fully restored, and classic.  It probably also stood out to me because it is the same brand that my grandfather had on his dairy farm as I was growing up.

Another 10 miles down the road, we came to our lunch stop in a small town named Bowlus.  Of course we had to get lunch at the cafe with the bicycle hanging outside above the front door.  Oh, and also we went there because it was the only place in town.

Now those of you who know me well enough, also know that I am far from what can be considered a food connoisseur (I'm not even sure if that is spelled correctly), but I just have to comment on my lunch sandwich.  I do enjoy a good Reuben sandwich, except I do not like Rye bread.  So any time I order one, I try to substitute the bread.  Unfortunately too often, they don't seem to be able to make that transition, and I have to send it back.  That didn't happen today, but when asking for alternative bread choices, they offered Wild Rice with Cranberry bread.  And it was so exceptionally tasty that I just had to share a picture.

It was more than I wanted to eat because I still had some miles to put on, and when I offered to share it with others in our group, there were multiple takers.  One liked the bread so much that she bought a whole loaf that we can share over the next few days with the whole group.

Soon after the lunch stop we were off the trail and back on the road to Little Falls.  The road was good, the Missisippi river was on our right side, and the wind was in our face.  Here I am at the bridge

Overall a very good day.  We arrived at our hotel, but our rooms weren't ready.  Being an enterprising group, we got a couple of six packs, a couple of bottles of wine & sat on the front porch until they were ready to check us in.

51 miles today.

Spicer to Cold Spring

 Today was going to be a short day.  That sometimes happens when putting together a trip like this.  The average day is 50 miles, but cities with places to stay don't always space them out that consistently.  It worked out nicely for us today, because the weather forecast was for rain after 1 PM.  The group decided on an early start so we could reach our destination before the rain.  We started to get a few sprinkles in the last 30 minutes, and one of the riders stopped to put on some rain gear.  10 minutes later I thanked her, because the sun came out!  I'm sure she caused it by getting protected.

The route today was mostly on trails, which is the main reason we came.  Unfortunately, less than 10 miles out, this is what we saw:

So much for planning.  It turns out they were converting the highway next to the trail from 2 lanes to 4, and they managed to mess up the trail at every intersection:

Some of the more experienced and skilled riders managed to weave around the concrete obstacles and gravel while riding.  

Some others decided it was safer to walk:

There were at least 5 such obstacles to navigate, which slowed us down.  We did come up on an area where they were obviously mining the gravel to complete the roadway.

After that we did get into a trail area that provided a variety delightful vegetation.  I'm not smart enough to identify everything, so I will just show the pictures:

Since every day needs to have some adventure, we had a navigational challenge to overcome.  With 10 riders, we don't all just line up and follow each other.  Some ride faster than others, some stop to take more pictures than others.  The tour coordinator (for lack of a better title) spends a lot of time putting together these routes.  The computer application allows him to print out a page for every day, telling each rider how to get to the destination.  There are also computer files that can be loaded onto a bike computer which allows the riders to have an electronic assistant.  

I have such a device, and used it to cross the USA in 2019 with not a single failure.  This morning, when I tried to load today's route, the file wasn't there.  That made me very conscious of not being left out there by myself, because I am not very good at reading the paper route sheet.  I was riding in sight of 4 other riders, when one of them said that another rider had not turned when he was supposed to.  I looked at the route sheet, and it did say to take a slight left, but the turn being suggested seemed to me to be more than a "slight" left.  Since my bike computer was nonfunctional, I just stayed out of the discussion.  

It was decided that a couple riders would chase the supposed errant rider, and the others would head toward the hotel.  I was in the group to go toward the hotel.  The chasers took off, and after they were gone another rider spoke up and said he thought making that turn would be a mistake.  His bike computer said to go straight, the same direction the chasers went.  He verified that with the GPS on his phone.  So we continued on in the same direction as the chasers, but at a slower pace.

It turned out that the original rider was correct, and the chasers were on a wild goose chase.  In fact, the original rider arrived at the hotel, and the chasers went right past.  Good thing this was already a light day.  The chasers ended up going an extra 5 miles by the time they were contacted about their mistake.

Everyone arrived before any real precipitation.  I spent some time this afternoon in the hotel hot tub along with some others.  We had a nice dinner gathering tonight, and will be ready for a hopefully more normal day tomorrow.

I also spent about an hour trying to figure out what happened to my bike computer.  I think I have it solved, but I won't know for sure until tomorrow.

Total of 35.7 miles for me today.

Hutchinson to Spicer

 We started out this morning on the nicely paved Luce Line Trail, but after only 4 miles it became a gravel trail & we opted to ride the roads instead.  It was all two lane roads, mostly with a nice wide shoulder & I felt very safe.  There was some traffic on certain roads, but like yesterday they were courteous.  Didn't see any plastic animals today, but did stop to take a picture of some real wildlife.  Also saw some Canadian Geese flying over, but couldn't get a good picture.

We could tell we were really getting out in the country when we would roll through a town & there weren't even any restaurants to stop for lunch.  Fortunately there were some gas station/convenience stores where we could get something to eat.  A couple riders reported that when we were stopped in Grove City at a Cenex Station, the mayor came out to greet us.  He asked if we were staying in town, but I don't know where we could have stayed.  All we saw was the Cenex, a bar, a couple of churches & a large grain mill.  We were probably the closest they got to a celebrity today, and we felt very welcomed.

Our goal today was to get to Spicer, where we can pick up a nice trail.  The group tends to stretch out a bit on the roads because people ride at different paces.  I was riding close to a couple of others, when one of them took off ahead.  I thought he was going to try to catch the next group ahead, but when he got out far enough ahead, he stopped and took this nice picture of me and another recumbent rider.  Thanks to Jim Aldeman for sharing.

Total of 51 miles today.  Tomorrow we will be mostly on trails.