I actually rode two Chain O’Lakes trails with a friend back in June but just completed the ride report and trail photo pages this weekend (hey what can I say, I’ve been out riding a lot 🙂 ). 

We rode the Chain O’Lakes trail that runs through Grant Woods forest preserve near Fox Lake first then drove up to Chain O’Lakes State Park (a little further northwest of Grant Woods) and rode the trails through the park.

I would liked to have ridden from the first trail to the state park trail but could not find a decent route between the two trails so we did an extra bike packing and drove to the state park trail.

Both of these trails are crushed stone and have some fairly steep hills. The trails were in pretty good shape except for a few ruts and washed out places on the state park trail.

These trails are not very long so you can easily ride one or even both of them, as we did, in a day and still have time left over for side trips or whatever else you would like to do.

We took a little side trip to the northern shore of Long Lake and rode around the residential area there during our first ride in Grant Woods. We also took a side trip through some Neighborhoods near Fox Lake where I used to hang out a lot when I was younger.

I have included the bike trail information, ride report and photos in the ever growing list of bike trail pages on this website now. See the Chain O’Lakes Trails pages for the full story and photos.

I finally had the opportunity to ride the Great River Trail (GRT) in Wisconsin last week and it did turn out to be a pretty “great” ride ~ although it would have been nicer if I had left a little earlier so I did not have to rush so much to try to get back before it got dark.

Lake Onalaska as seen from the Great River Trail

OK, the “great” in the trail name actually refers to the Great River ~ the Mississippi, of course ~ that flows near or next to the trail in some places. The most scenic part of this trail, in my opinion, is where it runs next to Lake Onalaska which forms the widest part of the Mississippi River.

This trail is 24 miles, one way, and runs from the town of Onalaska (on the southeast end) to the town of Trempealeau and through the Trempealeau Wildlife Refuge (at the northwest end).

I actually started my ride on the Lacrosse River Trail (LRT) in West Salem, Wi. which is about 7 miles east of the GRT. I have wanted to ride all 4 of the bike trails that run from Reedsburg, Wi. to the Trempealeau Wildlife Refuge for a long time now and, with this ride, I have ridden all 4 trails. I have ridden the entire distance of all of these trails now ~ approx. 100 miles at different times ~ with the exception of the Lacrosse River Trail where I only rode the 7 miles on this ride to get to the GRT.

You can get the details, maps and first hand ride photos of all 4 of these west central Wisconsin Trails from our Wisconsin bike trail articles on any one of these trails.

For example, see The Great River Trail home page (here) for the latest updates and photos on this trail and/or maps and descriptions of the other 3 connecting trails that make up this 100 mile route through west central Wisconsin.

A cyclist and friend of mine had ridden, photographed and written about the Great River Trail back in the Fall of 2006. You can find his ride story and photos along with the latest photos and updates from my recent ride via the Great River Trail link above.

Lake Onalaska near sunset

I enjoyed my ride on the Great River Trail last week although, as I mentioned above, I did not leave quite enough time to ride the distance that I had planned (64 miles both ways) and I had to rush more than I would have liked and ended up riding the last 5 miles or so in the dark (with no bike light, of course)

Fortunately, the trail itself was in great shape (very flat and well groomed) and was straight and flat so it was not as bad as riding a poorly maintained or more difficult trail in the dark.

I have included photos in this blog post of Lake Onalaska from early afternoon and at sunset from the pictures that I took on this ride. It can be a little difficult getting early evening photos of Lake Onalaska from the trail since you are looking west and right into the sun.

For a more detailed update and/or for the full Photo Tour of this ride see the Great River Trail link above or see The Great River Trail Photo Page 3 (here) to go directly to the photos from this May, 2014 ride.

I have ridden most parts of the Millennium Trail (MT) and the North Shore Bike Path (NSBP) in the past but had never ridden the far eastern part of the MT or the far western part of the NSBP and since both parts of these trails run parallel to Route 176 I was curious if the 2 trails connected to each other. 

First, I researched this on Google Maps, which is a great way to check out trail connections or new trails and new bike routes. You can start out with Map View and zoom in to where you are planning your ride then check out the actual terrain with Satellite View or zoom in further for the Street View if it is available. Google does not have all of the smaller trails listed in their mapped areas but they do have most of the longer trails.

Anyway, I found that the 2 trails do NOT connect directly to each other but you can take the MT east to Midlothian Road then ride alongside Hawley Street on the sidewalks (or on the street if you don’t mind riding in traffic) to get to the NSBP at Carmel Catholic HS.

You can get a good idea about the routes on Google Maps but I wanted to see what it was like first hand so I headed out to the Country Bumpkin Nursery ~ at Gilmer Road and 176, which is where I wanted to start my trip east ~ to check it out this trail connection.

My experience on this ride was that the eastern part of the MT was not all that great but it was paved and straight so you could go fairly fast if you like, the trip through Mundelein on the sidewalks pretty much sucked and the western part of the NSBP was actually pretty nice.

I also did a short ride on the Des Plaines River Trail (DPRT) when I got to it from the NSBP. The DPRT is actually one of my favorite trails in the area.

So in addition to this blog post, I wrote up the details on this ride along with photos and the GPS Maps of the rides on the following pages: Millennium Trail Connection to North Shore Bike Path and the NSBP West End Photo Page.

So many trails… so little time…