I come from a family that likes to ride bicycles.  Admittably, I don’t have the stamina of my siblings. My sister rides – and runs – competitively, and thinks nothing of cycling along the roller coaster roads of the Appalachians or the Canadian Rockies.  My brother rides the steep and curvy roads of the Texas Hill Country when he’s not peddling the treacherous streets of Austin, maneuvering through that city’s dense and chaotic traffic sans bicycle lanes. My sibs are real cyclists.

I’m afraid I'm outclassed when it comes to bike riding, but still, I try to take one long, multi-day trip on my two-wheeler each summer.  This summer was no exception, and I recently completed a 150 mile ride through the hills of southwest Wisconsin.  It is beautiful  country, with quaint small towns, picture book farms, and lots of bike trails.  In fact, the modern trend of converting abandoned rail corridors into bike trails began in this part of Wisconsin in the mid-1960’s.  That's when Wisconsin purchased a recently abandoned Chicago and Northwestern Railroad corridor between the villages of Elroy and Sparta.  The Elroy-Sparta Trail is the oldest rail-trail in America, as well as one of the most popular and scenic rural trails in the country.  In the past few decades, it has been joined by several other connecting trails, creating a 150 mile biking corridor.  This region caters to bike riders, and cycling is an important part of the economy. 

I am happy to contribute to southwest Wisconsin’s bicycle economy.  With this post, I offer some impressions of this small corner of the world from my perch atop a bike saddle.  I hope you enjoy the ride!

 

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Much of my ride parallelled the Baraboo River, and riders can catch glimpses of this meandering stream from several old train trestles that now carry bikers.

 

Like many rivers running through a wide valley, the Baraboo has frequently changed course, resulting in the creation of multiple oxbow lakes, remnants of the earlier river course.  Eventually the oxbows fill with sediment and biological debris which convert the lake to a slough, then a marsh, and finally a meadow.  

Here are some of the oxbow lakes and sloughs found along the 400 Trail, one of the bike paths that connect to the Elroy-Sparta Trail.

 

 

 

 

 

Not all of my ride was through a flat river valley.  Southwest Wisconsin lies in what is called the "Driftless Area".  This region, which also includes adjacent parts of Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois, was bypassed by glaciers during the last ice age.  The region is characterized by steep hills and interesting rock formations that were sculpted by melting glacial ice.  Some of the hills are so steep that the railroads chose to tunnel through them.  Today, the tunnels are highlights of the bike paths, and offer cool relief on a hot summer day.  They range in length from about 300 feet to over 3800 feet. 

Note the fog at the entrance to the tunnel below.  It was very warm and humid during my ride.  The contrast between the cool air inside the tunnel and the warm humid air outside caused a thick fog to form in a few of the tunnels.  The fog was so thick in the longest tunnel that I could not see the far end opening for the first thousand feet or so.  Pictured here is the foggy entrance to the shortest of the tunnels.

 

 

Where there are tunnels, there must be hills...

 

 

 

   Ferns and birch trees on a steep hillside

 

 

As lovely as the rural countryside is, I enjoy the friendly small towns just as much:

 

  Wisconsin gothic,Wonewoc

 

  Elroy-Sparta Trail headquarters, Kendall Train Depot

 

  Sparta Wisconsin's emblem, "Ben Bikin'"

One town in particular made me chuckle:  Hustler, Wisconsin, population about 200.  Would you want to live among a bunch of hustlers?

 

 

 

 Look at the sign:  A bank of hustlers!

I noticed this Lutheran church in Hustler:

 

 

  Here is a closeup of the steeple.  Note the sign is in German:

 

Directly across the street from this church is another Lutheran church.  Why do you suppose this town of 200 felt the need to start a rival church?  Do I smell a small town scandal?

 

 

While in Sparta, I took a detour to the Deke Slayton Museum of Transportation.  Deke Slayton was one of America's original seven Mercury astronauts, and he was born and raised near Sparta.  The museum named in his honor features a nice collection of vintage bicycles, old airplane reproductions, and mementos from Slayton's career as an astronaut.  

I loved this old tricycle from the 19th century that was displayed in the museum:

 

 

 Also on display is Deke Slayton's actual Mercury astronaut uniform:

 

I enjoy visiting small town museums, and this was no exception.  If you ever find yourself in Sparta, Wisconsin, take a few minutes to visit the Deke Slayton Transportation museum.

 

The state of Wisconsin maintains a public campground for cyclists just outside the village of Sparta right next to the bike trail.  I spent the night there.

 

 Even when roughing it in the woods, I really need my morning coffee fix.

From Sparta, I began to loop back toward my parked car on small country highways.  One of the roads took me along the edge of Fort McCoy.  This post is the only large military installation in the North-Central states, and it dates back to the early years of the 20th century.  During World War II it not only served as a training facility for men about to be deployed into battle; it also housed a large POW camp for both German and Japanese prisoners.  More ominously, a large number of Japanese-Americans from the West Coast were also interred here.

 

 

 

I rode by this sign near Fort McCoy.  If I were a soldier about to be deployed into battle, I'm not sure this is what I would want to see.

 

I ended my second day in a unique part of the state characterized by tall rocky bluffs that rise incongruously from an otherwise mostly flat plain.  It rather reminds me of a Midwestern version of Monument Valley.  This part of Wisconsin was a huge lake during the last ice age, formed when glacial ice blocked the flow of the Wisconsin River.  Most of the bluffs rose out of this prehistoric lake to form small islands.  The waves from the lake beat against the bluffs forming these fascinating geological anomalies.  I purposefully made the second day of my ride a fairly short one so I would be able to hike and explore this unique landscape.

 Camp Douglas, Wisconsin, nestled among the bulffs

 

 

 

 

 Thanks for the warning!

 

 

After an afternoon of hiking and enjoying the bucolic countryside, I camped out once again in a state park among the bluffs.  The next morning I rode about 45 miles back to my car.  I retraced part of my route from two days before, and I stopped to read this plaque near the end of the 400 Trail:

 

I never knew Mike Beuthling, but I am glad he chose to share his beautiful corner of the nation with cyclists like me.  Thanks, Mike, and RIP.