04 July 2014

I departed Westhaven, Freeport at the crack of 9:00. I said my good-byes to Jilly earlier as she was heading out for a hilly, 44 mile bike ride. Kenbob came over as I was packing up my last few things and we chatted for a bit and then I was on my way.
Jilly and Kenbob had introduced me into the world of CouchSurfing in a way which would be tough to match! I hope someday Betsy and I are able to reciprocate.

Now it is time to continue on north. At the last minute I decided to head up to Richland Center which was about 100 miles north of Freeport IL.

Freeport to Richland Center with Bike Trails Marked

The drive up was lovely - just the way I remembered this part of Wisconsin. A pastoral landscape of dairy farms with wooded bluffs, small towns and lightly travelled roads.

When I arrived in Richland City I started scoping out places to stay. The Riverview Hotel on the southern edge was closed and falling into ruin. Next came the Startlight Motel. It was right on busy Rt 14 and next to the fast food, big box strip. No too appealing. I rolled on through town following Rt 14. By the time I got through town 14 was quieter and seemed a little less trafficky. I then spotted the Park View Motel. It looked a bit rough but it had something going for it - behind it was the beginning of the Pine River Trail.

I stopped at the office, inquired as to pricing, WiFi etc and then looked at a room. It was the one on the very end. I was small with one bed - all I needed. And the WiFi? Smokin' fast! The guy said he had 3 routers set up. And they must have been fast one at that. So, I paid my $52.00, unloaded, got my bike and gear and I was off down the trail.

Click on the photos below for a larger image.

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The urban section of the trail was paved and lighted. I took no pictures then, but I did the next day. The packed surface shown here was a bit rough and loose in places. But, overall it was fine.

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This trail, like others I had been on did double duty as a utility corridor.

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The Pine River trail has 15 bridges the longest of which is 240 feet.

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Each bridge has a cast iron marker like this one. They were made by the Richland Center Foundry.

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I saw a few other riders on the trail. Most seemed local. Others like this couple had come over from Madison to ride.

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There were occasional glimpses of the river including a jug and wetlands.

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Lots of big dairy farms in the area. This one was off in the distance as this choppy long shot attests.

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The trail got to the point where it was so close to the busy highway it had lost it's charm.

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When the snow flies, so do the snow mobiles!

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There was still two miles of trail left but I could see no compelling reason to peddle on so I headed back from whence I came.

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The narrow strip of ground between the trail and highway had been planted in native plants.

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There were miles of the Prickly Pear cactus in bloom.

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Here is a plant I had not expected to see: Low Spike-moss (Selaginella selaginoides). It, along with the Prickly Pear cactus were the main ground cover.

Selaginella species are creeping or ascendant plants with simple, scale-like leaves (microphylls) on branching stems from which roots also arise. The plants are heterosporous (megaspores and microspores), and have structures called ligules, scale-like outgrowths near the base of the upper surface of each microphyll and sporophyll. Under dry conditions, some species of Selaginella roll into brown balls (a phenomenon known as poikilohydry). In this state, they may be uprooted. Under moist conditions the brown balls become green, because of which these are also known as resurrection plants (as in Selaginella bryopteris).

Source: WikiPedia

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"Holy thirst quenchers! Get me a cold one!" -CP

Little did I know I would end up in Gotham City drinking a cold one. I had seen this place on the way through and decided a beer and basket of peanuts would be just the fuel I needed to finish the ride.

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I have seen more Elderberry on this drip than anywhere else I have ever been. And all of it was in glorious bloom.

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Another turtle! Unlike the one I saw on the Jane Addams trail this one was alive.
This one had a weird tail like thing on the back of it's shell. See it?

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At first I thought this one had also been hit and it's innards were oozing out through the shell. But on closer examination it looked to be some slug like critter which had attached itself to the shell. I did some Googleing and could find nothing about this type of thing. If you do, please let me know.

That was the last shot of the ride. I got back to the hotel and had a supper of salad, sausage and beer. All was quiet. The park across the street was obviously being readied for some festivities. But right now there was not a sole to be found. I was glad of that.

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The next morning I awoke at 5:15. I stepped outside. It was cool and refreshing. I grabbed my coffee and still in my night clothes - headed down the trail.

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A look at the Park View hotel from the trail.

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This it the flood plain which is adjacent to the Pine River. At this point the trail is actually on top of a flood wall.

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I had noticed this old suspension bridge earlier and was intrigued by it.

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Here's the story.

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This is the longest foot bridge I have ever seen. And a suspension bridge to boot! It really did a dance as I walked across it to the other side. Fun.

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From the bridge I could see a network of mowed paths. These were used as walking paths and also part of the disk golf course.

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Pretty cool. It must be impressive when all the summer wild flowers are in bloom.

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Photo by innocent bystander.

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One last shot of the bridge as the early morning sun started to light up the hillside.

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I then walked back to the end of the trail and crossed US 14 to have a look at the river from the highway bridge. Past the bridge I spotted this at the entrance road to Veterans Memorial Park. I have no idea what it's significance is.

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These next few shots are from the Veterans Memorial Park.

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I crossed over to the park for a stroll and noticed all of this "cotton" fluff from the Cottonwood trees.

Now it is bye-bye Richland Center and hello Kendall.

 

'Till next time...

 

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