Lakes to Mountains Tour

Rolling Down the Trails

Wed, Apr 30: Elroy to Lacrosse: 65 miles + 1.3 walking through tunnels; sunny, 64; 11:15-6:15
Another unique question from a young schoolgirl: "Do you ever collect the trash, make a [craft] project with it, and give it to a student?" Another good question: "Have you ever thought about forming an organization to help you fight littering?"
I felt positively Yoda-ish today, rolling down the Elroy-Sparta Trail, putting my vacation philosophy into words: The best trip is one where the journey is the destination. Worry not where you end up, focus on how you got there. [Come to think of it, that's a good philosophy for life, too.]
At times on these bike tours, that ideal is tough to achieve. When you're grinding in low gear up an endless hill; when you have to protect your six inches of road shoulder from traffic zooming by; when a sudden downpour leaves you drenched and cold - then you're just cycling to get done with it.
Today, though, that focus was easy to keep. The Elroy-Sparta and La Crosse River Trails got me away from roads and traffic, and the old railroad grade never exceeded 3%. I rolled past farmlands and marshes, through prairies and woods. Perhaps the highlights were the three tunnels on the Elroy-Sparta Trail, the first two at 1/3 mile long each and the third twice that. You could always see the light at the far end, but needed a flashlight to see the path you walked along. In the long tunnel, water seeping from springs dripped constantly, nearly a waterfall at points. The drips echoed in the long dark corridor, drowned out only by the silly railroad sounds I made.
All told, the last day and a half were a first for me. Never before have I traveled over 80 miles point-to-point, entirely on trails. (And if we headed north at the Mississippi instead of south into La Crosse, we could have taken the Great River Trail for even more miles.)

posted by Glen @ 9:27 AM