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Published: June 10th 2007
Sparta’s “Been Biking”
Is this the largest bike
Maureen Kelly/Robert Tait The Elroy-Sparta Wisconsin State Trail was the first “rails to trails” established in the country. The trail is 32 miles in length on the abandoned Chicago-Northwestern Railroad bed, it passes through three rock tunnels. In Wisconsin trail passes are required for bikers 16 years of age or older. The cost is $4.00 per day or $15.00 for the season. We camped at the Tunnel Trail Campground right on the trail. Since it is Sunday, we took advantage of the Wilton Lions Club Sunday morning pancake breakfast. We biked north to Wilton (app. 5 miles) had breakfast with the riders and campers. Then returned south to Elroy (app. 12 miles). Our total for today was 33 miles because of the return ride. We returned to the campground packed up and drove to Sparta.
Monday, we started at the other end of the trail- Sparta and biked southeast toward Wilton. After leaving the Depot we began an uphill climb (not a Pittsburgh hill) it seemed to go on and on and on 4-5 miles or so. Finally we got to tunnel #3, the longest tunnel. Equipped with headlights, we began the long walk (biking is prohibited in the tunnel) in the
dark. Over ¾ of a mile, it is the longest tunnel we have ever gone through on a bike trail. It was eerie, dark and wet; water came dripping off the ceiling and the light from our headlights just got lost. The tunnel surface is curved to allow for drainage on each side, so walking is tricky. It was an experience. The one good thing was it provided a cool break from the hot sun. We biked on to tunnel #2 only ¼ mile across the Kickapoo River and started back. Our total today is 32 miles, time to drive on to Minnesota
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Tot: 0.623s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 37; qc: 193; dbt: 0.2647s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.4mb
