Other Wisconsin Rides

[gopherhockey]

Other than Levis, are there any other trails one might consider riding when taking the trip between MPLS and Chicago? Anything down near Madison etc?

I hear Chicago pretty much stinks for biking locations.. but I'm thinking there could be some other great rides along the way. ?

[Trevize1138]

You know, in Chicago there's this great, big huge lake you can bike around. I'm sure there's a nice, paved path you can take there.

:)

[socrates]

Originally posted by Trevize1138
You know, in Chicago there's this great, big huge lake you can bike around. I'm sure there's a nice, paved path you can take there.

:) See...now that's a lake...not one of these MN swamp lakes...err oh wait...wrong forum...never mind :cool:

[martini]

Yes, there are other good rides to be had tween the two locations. Of course, it all depends on which direction you're heading as well. If you go down through La Crosse and take Hwy 14 to Madison, you'll be able to hit up Blue Mound State Park. WORBA has done some recent trail building there. I haven't had the chance to ride there, but it should be pretty good, similar to Lebabon, but rockier.

If you take 94 to Madison and continue like you're going to Milwaukee, you can stop at the Kettle Morain, and the John Muir trail system. Much more open, kinda like Mt Kato and Afton in terms of trail width(or so I've heard). What ever you do, if you go there, you MUST stop at the La Grange General store(actually very close to the the trail head, and I have stopped there). Tasty beer and wine is sold there, along with snacks, and bike rentals, as well as sales. They also do co-opish food items and even icecream I think.

Chicago itself has the Palos reserve. I don't know much about it, but check it out on MTBR. The riding is supposed to be pretty good from what I hear.

[jeffgude]

Kettle Moraine is worth a stop. It's where I learned to ride a MTB. You can ride a 20+ mile loop, mostly wide singletrack. Lots of rocks, ruts roots, etc. A good place to appreciate what erosion can do to a fall-line trail & see the rather bizarre solutions that were attempted several years ago. Also a place to appreciate the fact that we are far away from Chicago. On a weekend the trail is overrun by people from Illinois with nowhere else to ride.

[TML]

Yup, Kettle Moraine is a good time. I haven't ridden it in a few years but I do remember that it was a hoot. Pretty fast, fun, rolling trail. Multiple color coded loops with interesting erosion control as Jeff stated.

I do believe there is an honor system pay box in the parking lot. If all you have are big bills, do as Marty suggested, swing into the LaGrange store to buy some goodies and get smaller bills.

--TML
HaveFun