Day 33: La
Crosse to Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
July 23, 2004
Miles: 95 (92 predicted plus 3 for "piddling")
Today was another long day but really good. At route rap last
night, Mike predicted that we'd do a lot of piddling around today and
we didn't disappoint. Andrew, Judith and I rode together the
whole day, including a sprint to the motel parking lot (Andrew and
Judith have a contest going. Yesterday, by not climbing the
scenic overlook, Judith beat us to the motel. Today we vowed that
would not happen.)
Our good weather streak continues. If anything it was a little
too cold in the morning. I put on my lightweight jacket until we
reached the first SAG, at the trailhead of the Elroy Sparta bike
Trail.
The trail is built upon an old railroad right of way and
includes three tunnels of 3/4, 1/4 and 1/4 mile.
The trail surface is
crushed limestone with sand in spots, easy to ride. Although the
highway was often only a hundred feet away, it felt like we were in the
middle of the forest:
The tunnels, which must be walked with the
aid of a flashlight, avoided a bunch of climbing. The most "rain"
we've seen so far on the trip was in the first tunnel, which has an ice
cave above it that was dripping water from the ceiling and walls.
Here is one of the views from the trail through a break in the forest:
The trail connects several small towns; we started with pie in Norwalk:
and lunch (with more pie) in Wilton. The trail lasted for about
30 miles, after which we hit our second SAG and then had to comtemplate
riding our bikes back in the real world of pavement, cars and trucks.
Last night at route rap, Neal urged us not to judge
southern Wisconsin by Wisconsin Dells, which is a tourist trap with few
peers. The contrast between the bucollic country and the water
parks, buffet dining places and other tourist entrapments of the Dells
is jarring.
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