I got out for some gravel/trail riding recently. The weather here has been unseasonably warm as of late, so might just as well take advantage of it. This was my garb for this ride...mountain bike, backpack with lunch, camera, gps, and bear spray because I did some hiking on this ride also.
I passed a few of these little grassy swamps yesterday.
There has been some wind along with the warm weather, so the leaves are falling...already :-)
This was the logging job the sign warned of. It was a thin job and they are done now. They only have a couple truck loads to haul.
This little gravel trail came out next to two of the few farms in our area.
It is unbelievable how widespread and destructive the July 1st windstorm that came through eastern MN and northwestern WI really is. This stand of Poplar trees is just some that suffered large scale damage.
The above picture is part of the North Country Trail. There is a lot of hours going into to clearing these trails to be passable again. One day a couple weeks ago while geocaching, I estimated I walked 3 miles of blow down with no trail cut. I can attest to the fact that it is some very tough walking. I often wonder how the critters manage in the blow down area...and how many perished the night of the storm.
This is my favorite type of riding...the riding of little old gravel roads and trails. Just doesn't get much better in my opinion...but that's just me.
This bike has been very good to me.
and
Lets get outdoors and have some Fun!!!
Nice post and pics! That looks like fun riding. Whats the North Country Trail?
ReplyDeleteThat must have been some serious winds!
ReplyDeleteHerringbone...When typed this up I had intended to go back and make a link to the North Country Trail. I forgot. I did go back and put a link to their site now. It is a hiking trail that when finished will go from North Dakota to New York. We live very close to the trail, so I have day hiked some of it.
ReplyDeletelimom...We had three damaging wind storms this year, but this first one was huge. It covered a massive area. There were confirmed tornadoes. To make matters worse, some of the trees from the first storm that didn't go down were weakened enough that it didn't take much for the next two storms cause a bunch more damage. I do not know the exact amount, but it was roughly 50 miles wide by 75 miles long of forested area dotted with many lakes that sustained most of the damage. It was like pockets to where it would wipe out one section, lift for a little, and wipe out some more...strange. It snapped 100 year old trees like tooth picks. We were very lucky in that it went mostly west of our area by 2 to 3 miles.
No worries! I checked out the link. Thanks! Are people riding it? Is it multi use? I hope you keep posting your adventures. It's a great way to dream about other places.
ReplyDeleteIt is strictly a hiking trail...although people have been known to bike parts of it.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely year of the "great fall"...I thought it would happen last year, but it didn't. It happened this year though...I found and ate 2 wild strawberries on October 9th.
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When we were looking at Michigan as a retire,emt cadidate we came across the North Country Trail in Northern Michgian and that section was used by Mountain bikers and skiers.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever run across the Rough Stuff Fellowship? Certainly like minded folks.
http://www.rsf.org.uk/
Was just reading your latest entries and saw that you posted a link to my "Midwest Chronicles" blog. Thanks for adding it to your blog list and thanks much for your comments, including the ones you posted on my blog. We've been enjoying your blog and have learned about some interesting areas to check out thanks to you, such as Amnicon Falls. The road riding in the Hayward/Seeley/Cable area has been great and we've only just begun to explore the mountain biking.
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