Bike Trails – Valerie's Voice

Root River Trail and Beyond

It was a sandwich board that caught my attention while biking on the Root River State Trail.

I saw the words “lefse chips” and, being the Norwegian that I am, all things lefse makes me curious. So we veered off the trail and biked a block into the small town of Peterson, population 227.

We found the store (not too difficult) and walked through the middle of the magnetic screen door – a great invention.

This screen door is flexible. The two screens come together in the middle and latch with magnets. One can easily walk through the door. It was unique.

Tiger Trail Lefse Chip Co. is a small store that makes and sells lefse and lefse chips. I had never heard of lefse chips (much like Mexican tortilla chips) . They sell mainly online, and mostly to breweries and wineries. However, in this small storefront there were several samples of the lefse chips to taste. We liked them all. We bought a bag of the Hot Honey BBQ chips to bring home (and support this small business).

More cyclists stopped to explore the store too, and it felt festive on this chilly morning in this small town… that has big displays of gnomes, including statues, flags and wall murals.

This mural is painted on the side of the Post Office.

The light poles in the town of Peterson have banners with gnomes on them, in multiple colors.

After a good rest, we got back on our bikes to ride the “rail to trail” bike path that runs along the Root River. Yellow coneflowers, goldenrod and black-eyed susan’s were blooming along this beautiful portion of the trail.

Even though it was a chilly morning, the sky was partly sunny and the trail was busy with hardy bicyclists. Earlier in the morning we left Northfield and drove a couple hours to get the trailhead. It was about 50* when we started to bike.

After our ride, we ate our picnic lunch outdoors, at the Rushford trailhead (it had warmed up by then).

An old jail house. Through the windows you can see the bars of the small, cell inside.

The old train depot, in Rushford, is currently being renovated. Next door was an old school, a chapel and a jail house. Presumably those three buildings, along with the depot, will be part of the trailhead museum when all is finished. The town of Rushford, population 1,852, seems to be growing.

The Root River trailhead in Rushmore, Minnesota.

After lunch we continued to drive to Marquette, Iowa for an overnight stay. The drive took us through southeastern Minnesota bluff country and along the Mississippi River.

It was picturesque with green bluffs, the blue skies and puffy white clouds. A great day for a gorgeous drive. The place we stayed had some beautiful annual hanging baskets that are still vibrant.

We stopped to observe an interesting boat while driving back from the restaurant that evening.

It was intriguing to see this “pushboat” resting on land on the banks of the river, near Prairie du Chien. (This is when the internet is so useful. We found the faded name of the boat, on the outside of the bridge, so we looked up Wade Childress and found information.) We learned it had sunk near Fort Madison Iowa in 1985.

It was a fun day of discoveries.

Along the Sakatah Singing Hills Bike Trail

The other morning we biked on the Sakatah Singing Hills Bike Trail in Faribault. To our delight, we were gifted with several bird and animal sightings.

As we drove to the bike trail, we passed an egret near a pond, standing tall and beautiful.

A little later I saw a majestic eagle flying overhead. I never tire of seeing eagles.

On the trail, we noticed a pretty bluebird going into its house, several red-wing blackbirds flying by, and heard cardinals singing.

Sandhill Cranes are large birds and are usually with their mate.

We stopped to watch a lone sandhill crane look at us and then walk across a field…I wonder where his mate and friends were? (Two days later we saw a pair of Sandhill cranes in a different field.)

We saw several bunnies darting in and out of the grasses along the bike trail. We spotted a “spotted” doe, and saw a snake slithering across the trail (not too thrilled about that!)

As we passed a farm field, I noticed Holstein cows running down an incline in the fenced in farmyard. That was an unusual sight…running cows.

All this time we’re pedaling our bikes down the paved trail, getting some exercise as nature put on a show for us, complete with music from the birds serenading.

Painted Rocks

It intrigues me, every time I find a painted rock when I’m hiking, or at a picnic area…or in any unexpected place.

Three of my unfinished rocks among the “teacher’s bunny rock” she painted while she supervised our work.

I mentioned this to a friend and she said she paints rocks and asked if I would like to come over sometime and paint rocks with her. Yes, I said enthusiastically. And she invited three others.

The table was all set for our creative endeavors.

She had all the paint, and brushes, and ideas, for us to be successful in our first-time rock-painting “class”, plus a delightful time was had by all.

We were attentive to our projects and having fun!

I learned some good tips. I will find time to paint more rocks, with fun designs and encouraging words, and place them on trails, or in my fairy garden, or who knows where???

It’s a fun activity.

Spring Lake Park Reserve

The other day we rode a new-to-us bike trail, beginning at the west end of the Spring Lake Park Reserve, near Hastings.

A monarch butterfly on butterfly weed. How appropriate.

This beautiful trail meanders along with a prairie on one side (complete with bison), and the Mississippi River on the other. It was hilly, but fun… and is now one of my new favorite trails.

The prairie wild flowers were in full bloom, bountiful, and showing off. That was a perk, as was having the Mississippi River, on the other side of the trail.

But the biggest bonus, and surprise, was at the trailhead where we planned to eat our picnic lunch. There is a bison paddock there where eight bison were brought here to live in a very large, penned-in area.

Mother and babe…maybe…all adults together care for the young.

On this day, we were fortunate to see all eight of them, plus four calves, up close sitting right in front of us as we ate our lunch. Locals told us it was unusual to see them so close.

The Bison are being reintroduced to this area where they once lived. They seem to draw a lot of interest. We were told when the project started last fall, they acquired eight females, and four of them were pregnant. Several signs offered different interesting facts about bison.

Standing, lying down, walking around…the bison were active.

The bison were all lying down when we first saw them. And then they would get up and move around. They were fun to watch. A couple hours later when we got back from our bike ride, all twelve were gone, and nowhere to be seen.

The space where they are corralled is a vast prairie land where they can roam, and are often hidden from view. The beginning mile, or so, of the bike trail is along this paddock.

Cone flowers, black-eyed susans, fleabane…

Seeing the bison, and the river, and the wildflowers, created a great impression for our first ride on this trail. The temperatures had cooled off too, with low dew points. It was awesome.

Prairie Clover, with a beautiful butterfly I could not identify.

I took time on our way back to stop and take pictures of the gorgeous flowers. Often there were butterflies or bees on the flowers.

There were so many different species, and colors, shapes and sizes. I decided to take only a few pictures since I had to keep getting on and off my bike. 😉

A metal Bison sculpture seen along the bike trail. The yard was full of metal art. The artist was identified as Dale Lewis.

This trail is one we will ride again and again, I’m sure. It will be interesting to see how often we see the bison herd, and to see how the landscape changes throughout the seasons.

Other bison seen along the trail… Metal sculptures: Dale Lewis

The bison were all gathered in this one corner of the paddock, near the trailhead.

An Autumn Ride

These photos were taken a couple weeks ago, while riding on the Sakatah Singing Hills State trail. It was a cool, fall evening, and surprisingly we had the trail to ourselves.

The trail was canopied with trees that had not dropped all of their colorful leaves, and yet… the asphalt was covered with crispy, autumn leaves, and it was beautiful.

Gary and I rode along this portion of the enchanting path, with the sound of “crunch” underneath us. It was a fun ride!

Bees on the Trail

These past few days have been glorious. Bright sunshine and low humidity and comfortable temperatures. Great days for bike rides.

The new mile markers on the Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail.

We were bicycling on the Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail on one of these fine weather days. The trail is in good condition. We rode out several miles, stopped for lunch and then turned around and rode back. It’s a delightful, easy ride.

There are about 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae commonly known as *sunflowers*.

Once again, this time of year, we were surrounded by yellow daisy-type flowers and goldenrod and yellow cone flowers. It is pretty, especially with blue skies.

This field of yellow flowers were full of bees. I couldn’t capture them on camera, but there were hundreds of them.

We stopped for a water break and noticed one field of flowers bursting with busy bees. It seemed as though there was a little bee on every flower, collecting nectar and pollen. It was a good sight to see.

I appreciate these colorful, autumn bike rides, especially during the week when there are few riders on the trail. We saw more bees than people!

Dundas Trail

Yesterday I took a morning bicycle ride on the Dundas Trail. Even though it was cloudy, it seemed like the sun was shining…

because bright sun flowers were blooming profusely on both sides of the trail.

Golden rod was already blooming yellow in a few places too, adding to the vibrant yellow color all around.

Golden Rod, a sure sign that fall is coming.

To top it off, three yellow (gold) finches flew across the trail in front of me. I didn’t capture any photos, but they are always a delight to see, and added much cheer to the already lovely, yellow scenery.

I don’t know the name of this variety of sunflower.

Also, I’m grateful for the garden club who tends to the flowers in these bicycle sculpture baskets that are on the Dundas Trail.

Getting Lost and Finding Waldo

We started our annual bike trip by getting lost. While finding the house we rented through AirB&B, we had transposed the numbers into the GPS…whoops. Eventually, we found the house.

Once settled in, we ate lunch and then took off for a bike ride. It was a beautiful day. We rode on the South Riverside Trail. It went along the Cedar River into Cedar Falls where there happened to be an ice cream shop. Perfect. We enjoyed some tasty ice cream and met a local man who had also biked to the shop for ice cream. We visited together while we ate.

We said good-bye without getting his name, and started back the way we came…but somehow missed a turn and we lost our way back to the rented house. With some backtracking we finally found a different trail back.

The next morning it was rainy so we went to the John Deere Tractor Museum and then went into a couple shops on main street in Cedar Falls, where the guys ran into the same man again. They stopped and chatted. Once again, we did not get his name, so as a group we decided to call him Waldo.

That afternoon the weather cleared; it was sunny and nice outside. We hopped on our bikes and rode out in a different direction, towards Waterloo. According to the map, there was a designated trail around the town…but we didn’t find it. It started out well marked, but soon we couldn’t find the trail. We ended up using our GPS system to get back to the house. It took about 1 1/2 hours to go four miles.

The Cedar River, our house on the right, seen through the trees.

Once back to the house, we decided to ride the same trail as the day before. We followed it and found ourselves back at the ice cream shop. Hooray!

And…there was Waldo! It was quite comical. We visited and ate our ice cream with him (but still didn’t get his name). He retired from John Deere Engineering.

Fortunately, we paid attention to our turns this time, so finding our way back to the house was no problem. We did not get lost.

Sitting on the deck, watching the river flow.

The house we rented was lovely… lots of windows and a large deck overlooking the Cedar River. It was nice sitting there, watching the river flow, after being lost three times…and finding Waldo three times.

Twenty-six geese, all in a row, swimming up river, against the current.

Autumn

Warm, autumn days in southern Minnesota have lingered longer than normal it seems, and we continue to enjoy the sunny days outside. We are grateful for them!

Part of the Spring Lake Park to Hastings trail.

Over the weekend Gary and I biked on another “new-to-us” trail…we went over the Mississippi River and through the woods, along the river to Prescott, Wisconsin.

The bridge over the river, includes a pedestrian/bike lane.

It is a paved trail. We started in Spring Lake Park in Hastings, Minnesota, a lovely park on a bluff, with a great overlooks of the mighty Mississippi River.

We rode from Schaar’s Bluff, down, down, down into Hastings. We have riden our bikes on this part of the trail before. It’s a fun ride. Next we rode across the beautiful bridge over the Mississippi River in Hastings.

From the middle of the bridge, looking south to the railroad bridge.

We crossed the bridge using the pedestrian/bike lane on the east side of the busy traffic lanes. It was exciting to be on our bikes looking over the railing to the wide river. Once across the bridge we continued riding into Prescott, Wisconsin, on an established bike/walking trail that follows the river, and goes through the woods.

It was a awesome, autumn day…blue sky and cool crisp air. When we arrived near Prescott, we rested along the river and watched the river traffic.

A while later we turned around, rode back to Hastings and then went up, up, up to Schaar’s Bluff. We saw a great blue heron, an eagle, three white swans, many ducks and geese…and lots of people. Many folks were out enjoying the last few days of this unusually, warm weather in Minnesota.

There were some beautiful fall colors in different places. I was reminded of a saying I read on a sign I saw in Pennsylvania this month…

“Autumn shows us how beautiful change can be.”

Root River Trail

We enjoyed another bike ride on a rail to trail system…the Root River Trail, formerly the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. We started our ride at the trailhead in Lanesboro.

It’s an easy-going trail that winds along the Root River and offers a lot of shade and a lot of views of the Root River. The river was flowing swiftly because of recent rains in the area – a welcome sight after seeing many signs of drought lately.

We rode the most popular section of the trail (and beyond) on Saturday morning. It was busy but not crowded. However, when we arrived at the town of Whalen, known for its wonderful pie shop, there were lots of people congregated along the trail. Of course we stopped too, for pie, even though we had eaten a fabulous, and substantial, breakfast at the B&B we were staying at in Lanesboro. The pie was yummy!

It was humid, but we felt the cool breeze from biking. On our way back it did start to rain, but just lightly, and we were ok with that since most of our state needs rain. It didn’t “dampen” our spirits.

I was intrigued to see this placard along the trail featuring part of a poem, “The Ghost Tree Speaks” by Richard J. Dorer. It “spoke to me”. I like trees, nature, words.

Back home I looked online for the poem and found it is also a book title, so I believe the placard is an excerpt from the poem. I also found this quote by the author Richard J. Doer:

“The charred body of a burned tree, a ghost tree, stands in a blackened swath in Minnesota’s wilderness forest. Through the years the tree watched seasons pass, and with them generations of animals and men–Indians, voyageurs, pioneers, timber-cruisers. Finally, a moment of man’s carelessness with a match denied the tree the fulfilling destiny of being a ship’s mast, a sheltering house, or a sturdy floor. Eventually he will fall and Mother Earth will take him back in her embrace.”

It was another great trail ride, with an interesting twist.