Drive west to the prairie...

Today is one of those perfect summer days which you wish you could pack up and open in the dark of February like a birthday pop up card.  It opens to let out the sun, the blue sky and the soft summer breeze.  We were lucky to have this perfect day for biking.  It was an adventure going back to one of our earliest trails that we biked on our tandem but that we haven't been back to for more than a year.  The Glacial Lakes State Trail http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_trails/glacial_lakes/index.html starts in Hawick and goes south to Willmar.  The trail winds through farm country, dotted with series of small lakes created by the glaciers.  It's the end of July and the sides of this old Burlington Northern railroad bed are covered in wild flowers - yellows, pinks, purples from the giant mullein which can reach six feet in height (and we saw some that tall) to delicate birds-foot trefoil.  As we ride along we are constantly pointing to the next flower.  We discovered a new plant called the lead plant, a member of the pea family.  Tt has a cluster of blue or purple flowers and its leaf is divided into tiny leaflets.  According to my wildflower book, it can live for centuries but will never get more than 3 feet tall.  Its growing is in the root which can delve more than 10 feet into the ground.  Parts of the plant used to be made into tea.  Another of  the hundreds of flowers that were blooming is the common milkweed.  Did you know there are 13 varieties of this pink flowering plant in Minnesota?  It's important to us because it is the only plant that the Monarch butterfly uses to lay its eggs.

We had our share of wildlife sightings including a hawk, three deer (looking but not bolting), a heron, numerous rabbits and ground squirrels plus a toad.  We took one break and sat on a bench listening to the sounds of the trail:  wind rustling the leaves of the cottonwood, bird song, insect clicks and buzzes, and the solitary mow of a cow off in its pasture.

The 36 miles of trail wind through several communities.  Each is marked by a monument that carries its name and something unique about the town.  For Spicer it was Green lake and a picture of a sailboat. Life ebbs and flows in the small towns.  The grain elevator in Spicer is for sale but the junk yard outside New London seems to be busy. We did see the original telegraph poles still standing along the trail outside of Hawick.  It takes some imagination to think of the trains once passing through all these places we are now biking. 

Neither rain, lightning nor broken bolt....

A 4th of July weekend to remember on the Central Lakes State Trail. If you want to see lakes this is the trail to ride. And then throw in pelicans, herons, egrets, night heron, cormorants, belted kingfishers and you're in Heaven. We started biking in Dalton, a very small town with alot of traffic for some reason, and rode out to Fergus Falls. This is the most scenic part of the trip with one lake after another - some just small glacial puddles while others stretch into bays with islands covered with birdlife. A fawn crossed our trail and alongside the trails were purple coneflowers, yellow clover, false sunflowers, daisies, etc. Unfortunately the trail stops abruptly in Fergus Falls and we didn't even see the town. There is a trailhead at Pebble Beach which we skipped. We rode back toward Dalton toward Ashby hoping to see Lake Christina and Pelican Lake. Despite the weather forecast of fair skies we were caught in a rain shower just outside of Ashby. No thunder or lightning so we waited under the branches of a tree for the shower to pass. The tree as umbrella worked well and we headed out again once the rain let up. Unfortunately the dark clouds started to fill in once we got to Pelican Lake. We smartly turned back and rode like the wind only to hear ominous thunder in the distance. To the South it looked clear but not right over us. We did pause to see a kestrel (small hawk) on the utility line along the road. Large raindrops turned to a heavy shower. We tried the tree trick again but the rain was getting serious as was the thunder. We were within five miles of Dalton. Rats. So off we went into the rain, thunder and lightning and the back spray coming into my face. By the time we got to the car (35 miles round trip) the gutters along the road were overflowing. Will threw the bike into the car; I covered the seats with our raincoats (which we had left in the car). We stripped off our shirts and at least had dry t-shirts on. Driving into Alexandria toward our B&B, The Cedar Rose Inn we noticed the roads turned dry just past Ashby. There was no rain anywhere but right above us. Waiting for us at the B&B was a decanter of sherry and a huge bathtub. We washed up, went out for dinner, and slept like logs.

July 4th was a perfect day. We had a full table at breakfast with folks from the cities in Alex to watch their kid play baseball and another couple from North Dakota on their way to the Twin Cities. We decided to bike out from Alex to Garfield and then back to Alex and on to Osakis for close to 50 miles. Halfway to Garfield we heard a crack. Will said those famous words, "that doesn't sound good" and I look down to see the support for his seat hanging loose. It looked like our ride was over. Will found some adhesive tape and managed to bandaid the support and we rode back to Alex. We remembered walking past Ace Hardware the night before and decided to ride a few more blocks to see if it was open. We drove down main street - not easy for us - and pulled up to find the store open. YIPPEE! The helpful clerk found Will the right size bolt; we screwed it in and off we went back to Garfield. Thank you Ace Hardware! In Garfield we met a 77 year old biker and his wife. He biked 77 miles on his 77th birthday. He looked like he could give most of us a run for our money. Very inspiring. From Garfield we turned around and headed to Osakis. The scenery on this end of the trail is not as inspiring as the Fergus end but we saw tons of wild flowers including a prairie lily, thistles, red clover and purple coneflowers. There were the occasional killdeer trying to lead us away into the corn fields, lots of goldfinches and one rabbit. We were looking for shade and frequently rode along the wrong side of the trail to get some cool breezes. We did travel past Oakis to see where this trail hooked up to the Lake Wobegon Trail. We almost have both trails complete - just missing small sections. Arriving back in Alex and went immediately to Dairy Queen and ordered large cold things to each and drunk.

That evening we headed back down to the Depot restaurant and sat outside on the patio looking over the trail and Lake Agnes. Pelicans and cormorants flew by, fish jumped, about 20 ducklings waddled by. We drank and ate and ended a great day together.

Notes on the trip: we saw a few remnants of the trains besides the rail left in Fergus Falls including a few crossing markers, mileposts and a water crossing post. Alexandria has a charming downtown but it was almost totally closed over the holiday. We'd like to see the Runestone museum on a return trip. The speedway in Alex operates from Memorial Day to Labor Day on Saturdays. It is very loud and kind of intrudes on early to bed people like ourselves. Alex is a very walkable town and has a number of interesting buildings which I have on Facebook. We ran into fun and gregarious people each morning at the B&B. Everyone sat around for more than an hour eating and talking.

Lake Wobegon trail

After the coldest start to June since the 1950s we finally had a warm, sunny Saturday. After waffles and ligonberries at Steamworks, we headed west to the Lake Wobegon Trail. The spring wildflowers were still in full bloom probably because of the cooler weather. We saw golden Alexanders, campions, wild geraniums, wild roses, Canadien Anenmones, Virginia Waterleaf. Two new flowers: Cow parsnips (our favorites) and Daisies. Keep in mind that there are lots of other flowers out there but we're tracking the ones we can identify.

I hopefully will also post a photo of one of the old telegraph poles from the original railroad line. You can see these between Bowlus and Holdingford. Not much wildlife besides birds but we heard peepers and saw an occasional chipmunk.

Our pace was great considering the headwind and uphill route to Albany. The ride back to Bowlus was mostly downhill and with the wind. We decided not to head for the dam but instead chatted with Louie, the resident caretaker of the trailhead, for a while and then ate lunch at Jordie's Trailside Cafe. I heartily recommend Jordie's for a great lunch with homebaked pie! It's located right behind the depot.

The screamer was well behaved today as were its riders. We drove the scenic route home through Little Falls and Pierz (where I got into the wrong car). It was great to be back riding. People were really friendly and chatty this weekend. Probably because it finally felt like summer had arived. We did hit showers near Mille Lacs but sunshine back home.

Return to the Cannon Valley

Memorial Day with American flags decorating Victory Memorial Drive. We left at 9:00 am to return to do the second half of the Cannon Valley Trail from Welch to Red Wing and back. It's our tune up to doing the full trail next time. Remember we are geezers!

On the rails to trails it's an adventure to try and see vestiges of the old railroad. On this trail the concrete mile markers still exist include WX (water crossings). On the way to Red Wing from Welch you can see one old telegraph pole and overhead a telltale. The brakeman used to stand on top of the cars. When they felt the telltale sweep over them they knew to lay down before the bridge hit them.

One new wildflower sighting - a Golden Alexander. There is an eagle nesting just before milepost 14. It was on the nest when we cruised by. Swallow nests on the bridge. The swallows were flying over the Cannon River scooping up insects. We saw a dragon fly. No turtles on the pond. Sigh.

Great ride - sunshine and cool. Lots of people but mostly well behaved. The bike didn't have any hiccups. Remember - no coasting!