MADISON WI TO LAKE MILLS, WI

June 3, Wednesday
44 miles.....

It was a bit tricky getting out of Madison because we had to figure out the connecting bike paths. We rode on city commuter paths for about 11 miles past the University and through downtown and needed to find the Glacial Drummond Trail. Thirteen miles later we found it after riding through a construction detour and doing some of our own detouring. We made some "new friends" (aka Hills) along the way. I was getting cranky by lunch when we found out the trail was two miles up ahead over the hill. When on the trail I had thoughts about how great the trails are in Wisconsin: fairly level following railroad grade, quiet, unobstructed with beautiful trees, lots of shade, riding mostly by ourselves with hardly any other bike traffic. But the riding is slower going because the surface is packed gravel. The local scenery i.e. farms, houses, lakes, etc or hidden from view. Sometimes there is a window that opens up to the off trail world. These trails used to be railroad tracks and now are known as "Rails to Trails". We could picture the train chugging along through the gorgeous country side blowing it's whistle occasionally. I couldn't help but do a little "chug chug toot toot" to get the full effect. Rusty and I have contributed to the "Rails to Trails" but have not had the opportunity to ride them until now. We are truly converted to the cause!.
We had a detour along the quiet trail to avoid a bridge in need of repair. The trail goes through what is called Muck Farms which is an actual name for farming in the swampy muck in that area. The one mile detour took us off the packed gravel on to what I would describe as a trail that mountain bikers would love but it was better than falling through a rotten bridge into the muck.
When we arrived at Lake Mills we had ridden 1,489 miles.
We found the Sandhill Stake Park campground about two miles off the path. It was very secluded and quiet with tall grass about three feet high around each nicely mowed camp site giving it a very secluded feel. Earlier in Mississippi we had heard there were panthers in the area so Rusty checked that out on the computer one day. No panthers but cougars and jaguars. Ever since then he keeps warning me about panthers....so that night it was beware of the panthers in the tall grass.
It had been a beautiful day and was a clear night and we decided not to put our panniers in the tent with us. The first time we've done this. This was the last campsite before we reached our final destination so we were feeling a little nostalgic...well, one of us was. The moon was bright and all was well.