About a week ago took my brothers and went to go do some midwestern riding.
Initially we were planning on hitting Brown Co in Indiana, or maybe Ft Custer in Michigan. A deteriorating weather forecast set our sights elsewhere. We ended up driving through Chicago traffic into Wisconsin to avoid some wet weather locally and further south.
We had a couple of days to play around, and both of my bros are pretty new at the singletrack stuff, so ended up going to the North Kettle Morraine Forest. After we found it, it was a pretty decent ride. Mental notes, if you find T & A you've gone too far, and do almost ANYTHING to avoid 28! And finally give the GIS major a map, don't give him directions. I fired the navigator twice on the way to the trail.
A few hills here, lots of climbing, and some fast downhill things. Overall reminded me of a hilly rail to trail. Didn't bother taking any photos. It was a pretty good intro though for some real singletrack though. No wrecks today. Also a good thing.
One thing I learned about WI trails though, man are they expensive for an out of stater to visit. 3 of us, 2 trails in 2 days = $44. Some fun stuff, but be real, Whistler this ain't. Michigan nor Indiana charge anywhere near that much.
We did two loops before heading out for food.
The second day was much more promising. We went and did the John Muir trails in the South Kettle Morraine. We ended up doing mostly the blue loop, but sliced off the boot. Guess that means it was mostly the Green loop. It's pretty similar to a lot of the other Mid-West Trails I've been too. Trails are one way, mix of soil types, some elevation change but nothing huge.
I loved the mileage options on the trail, and knowing that I shouldn't have to worry about someone coming the other way at me. If we had the legs, me and my bros both, we could have done the full 20+ miles.
The single track was fun, but it had the feel of social trails, you know trails that just kinda appear, instead of being built. It was fun, but not much challenge except for the fitness level. Probably a good thing for my brother. We'll just call him Mudman.
Overall we had three wrecks that day - two sand pits ate my brothers causing endos, and one huge arse mud puddle. Only log crossings on the entire green loop were a fist sized log, not even worth slowing down for, and a pine tree that had fallen over the trail. It was an impaler too - the branch nubs were all still there. Either needed the nubs taken down, or needed to be removed.
It was a lot of fun, and I'll be happy to check out some of the other trails in the area. It was a pretty good trail as one that we only scouted the reviews for the night before leaving.
Oh and one last note... I hate Chicago traffic. We tried three different ways to get through the city at (I think) non rush hour times. We spent literally 11 hours in two days just trying to drive through the city. Next time I head up there I may swing south of the city, or take the ferry across lake Michigan to avoid it entirely. It felt like they were working on every freeway (and turnpike) at the same time.
JmZ
A few pics...
Mudman
Mudman Rides Again
Paul in the Pines (Representing)
Mudman (Frank) & Paul
JmZ Mudman & Mapman
