We'd hoped to ride part of the Paul Bunyan State Trail during our time in Minnesota. This celebrated trail is the longest continuously paved rail-trail in the US, at 115 miles total. We'd missed out on riding the southern terminus during our ill-fated stay in Crow Wing State Park earlier, but we had a second chance to ride a part of the trail. The Paul Bunyan trail intersects the Heartland Trail just a few miles east of Akeley, where we were staying, so we hopped on it there. I knew from looking at the map that there was a hilly section coming up, but it started out nice and flat. After a couple of flat miles, we reached this roller coaster section. It was a challenge even for me, but no problem for Barry! The hills actually continued for about seven miles by my bike computer, not just the 3.5 advertised. Barry thought this was some of the best cycling he'd ever experienced, between the gorgeous scenery, challenging climbs and exilarating descents,, and peacefulness (no cars and almost no other cyclists). That's saying a lot after all the miles he's ridden over the years! Our goal for this ride was Hackensack. Total mileage to and from Akeley was around 43. Finally we reached the end of the hilly, curvy section and merged with the straight, flat part of the trail, passing a couple of small lakes. We passed a lovely farm with the most amazing garden. The hard-working gardener told us that gardening, for her, was not as hard as riding a bike. To each her own; I know how much work a garden like this would take. Stunning! Her friendly dog came out to greet us as we took a few photos. Once he'd sniffed us and ensured we meant no harm, he trotted right back to his owner. We reached our goal of riding to the city of Hackensack. The trail is a big deal here, as is Paul Bunyan. His sweetheart was born here, and her statue dwarfs the statue of Paul himself. Next on the agenda, and even more important to us, goodies! Barry had researched online and found this awesome ice cream parlor, the Big Dipper, so of course we had to stop in. The extensive flavor list made choosing almost impossible. We bought two slices of strawberry-rhubarb pie and some delicious ice cream. Also a couple of cookies to take back with us! After stuffing our faces, it was time to hit the trail back to Akeley. The miles back and the hills we had to climb in reverse would burn at least some of the calories we just ingested. I helped a turtle cross the trail. Always love doing that, so long as it's not a Snapper! Much tree damage was in evidence along the hilly part of the trail. This area was especially hard hit by the intense storms a couple of weeks prior that I have mentioned before in this blog. The damaged trees had been cleared off the trail, but the remnants remained.
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Akeley City Park: Not our favorite campground, but a great base camp for riding the Heartland Trail8/17/2016 Of all the places we stayed during our time in Minnesota, the Akeley City Campground was our least favorite. It sounded so charming from the reviews I'd found online, but it was really not much more than a sandy road with a plethora of RVs parked up and down the sides of it, tightly spaced. I guess for folks who want to be right on the lake, it might be just right, but to us it felt tight, cramped, and kind of haphazardly constructed. Our site was a dirt pull-through across from the lake and shared between two sites (12 and 14). With two rigs, it was tight, but fortunately we had it to ourselves for three of our four nights. It was thankfully larger than most of the sites right on the lake. Leveling took quite awhile and a lot of boards under the front wheels and jacks. There was a peek-a-boo view of the lake through trailers on the other side of the road in lakefront sites, but only weedy grass, dirt, and very little patio area to the door side of Pearl. There were water and electric hookups at each site and a campground dump station. Akeley is a tiny town, population 438. But they make the most of it with a HUGE statue of Paul Bunyan, a big draw for tourists seeking photos. No grocery store, but they did have a coin laundromat, always a plus for us, and a grassy area by the city park entrance where we could play ball with Paisley. Here are some photos we took around town. The Woodtick Theater, right on the main street through town, offers musical shows combining country, bluegrass, folk, gospel and comedy. It is a bit pricey at $18.50 a head (adults) and not really our thing, but I am sure it brings people into this small town. I don't think the Blue Ox was open, but I liked the painting! I particularly loved this admonition: One thing we did like about the Akeley Campground was the sunsets over the lake. On our last night there, we had the most spectacular one! Sitting on a dock and watching the colors change and the calm lake shimmer was one of the highlights of our entire time in Minnesota for me. The proximity to the Heartland State Trail was excellent, just under 1/2 mile from our campsite. We stayed four nights and rode the trail every day. But more on that in our next post!
Mabel Lake Campground is in the middle of nowhere, but we still managed to find some fun. There are excellent unpaved, but well-maintained, forest service roads in the Chippewa National Forest easily accessible from the campground. So of course we had to take the mountain bikes out for a ride on a beautiful day. Along the way we encountered lots of downed and damaged trees from the heavy storms with straight line winds that had passed through many parts of Minnesota in the previous two weeks. The Forest Service had done a great job at clearing what must have been impassable roads quickly, but the evidence remained. It was so sad to see so many of these beautiful birches down. There was no traffic whatsoever to contend with, and no dogs. But an even greater nemesis would plague us for much of the ride: deer flies! These evil pests are incredibly persistent and would follow us for a long way, mostly swarming around our helmets --another good reason to wear a helmet even on unpaved roads! We could occasionally outrun them if we hit a fast descent, but they'd catch back up (or a new group would find us) on the flats and climbs. These annoying flies pack a painful bite, so we were kept busy trying to stay ahead of them. Both of us did get bitten several times, though, especially on our butts, right through our bike shorts. They are attracted to dark colors (especially blue, apparently, with black a close second). These bites would turn into huge welts and itch for days on me, as I seem to be more allergic than Barry. As an aside, I found the MOST HILARIOUS EVER diatribe against deer flies online that you might want to check out, but be forewarned: it is not safe for the kiddos (lots of bad language but so so funny). Check it out at My Nemesis: The Deer Fly. I am thinking that his blue solo cup head apparatus might be a worth addition to our bike helmets during deer fly season. It would certainly keep people guessing! Much to our surprise, we crossed the Soo Line Trail, an unpaved rail trail running through the state, popular with the ATV folks. We had no idea it crossed here. So, we rode that for a short distance just to check it out. But it proved to be impassable with huge puddles all the way across from the rains. And the deer flies were even more numerous than on the FS roads, so we quickly backtracked. It sure was pretty, though, and would be a fun time at a different time of year, sans flies. We did stop to apply Deep Woods Off towelettes. Unfortunately, they were ineffective against the aggressive deer flies. Once we got closer to the campground and Mabel Lake on the return trip, the flies thinned out, and we could better enjoy our ride. The countryside of Minnesota is gorgeous, and even with the annoying flies and itchy bites afterwards, this was still a great day and a fun ride.
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Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
July 2019
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