Biking the Stower Seven Lakes Trail in Wisconsin

Today I decided to check out this 13-mile crushed linestone state trail between Dresser and Amery, Wisconsin.  It was recently featured in Midwest Weekends.  Click here for trail information from the Wisconsin DNR.

The Stower Seven Lakes Trail and North Twin Lake in Amery  

Glacier National Park - Car Tour and Rafting

After 3 great days at Many Glacier (see blog entry), we hit the road.

Many Glacier, Glacier National Park -- a Hiker's Paradise



Redrock Falls

Cristin and I spent three days at the Many Glacier campground, day hiking the numerous trails that can be assessed right from the campground.  The National Park Service brochure says about Many Glacier, "Many people consider this area the heart of the park. Massive mountains, active glaciers, sparkling lakes, hiking trails, and abundant wildlife make this a favorite of visitors and locals alike".   We really enjoyed our stay.  We had a great campsite, the weather was perfect -- warm, sunny days, cool evenings, and the long days provided lots of opportunity to enjoy it.  The Swiftcurrent Motor Inn is adjacent to the campground and its great restaurant, camp store, ranger programs, gift shop, public showers and laundry are in reality integrated right into campground life. It helped make the Many Glacier experience even better.  One of my guidebooks accurately summarizes, "The Swiftcurrent Motor Inn  is a hip hub of activity".    

North Dakota Highlights

Our trip to Glacier included 3 nights spent in North Dakota - 1 night each in the South and North units of Theodore Roosevelt National Park on the way to Glacier NP and 1 night camping on the drive home at Schnell Recreation Area west of Bismarck, a convenient and very pleasant campground that cost just $5!
 

Glacier Trip update

We had 3 great days hiking in the Many Glacier area. Perfect weather. Today we packed up camp and headed to west Glacier and now Whitefish. Staying in Condo tonite. Rafting tomorrow. Only bummer is Going To The Sun Road is still closed, so had to adjust plans.





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Location:U.S. 93,Whitefish,United States

The Missouri Ozarks

Our Memorial Day weekend trip was a 6-day road trip to the Missouri Ozarks, crammed with adventure at every turn.  We saw a world-famous landmark in St. Loius, kayaked on a gin clear river, hiked on the scenic Ozark Trail, saw the largest spring in the world,  toured a cave, visited a presidential museum, saw Indian mounds, and learned about  mysterious prehistoric earthworks along the Missouri R.  And that's just a partial list!

Finally a Nice Saturday and a Great Bike Ride

On the first Saturday of May, we relished in a 70 degree, sunny day.  Cristin and I biked an outstanding 32-mile loop route in Mpls and St. Paul., starting right from Cristin's place near the Midtwon Greenway in the Uptown area near Lake Calhoun.  I had never biked on the Greenway -- it is an important piece of the Twin Cities bike trail system.

Click here to check out a google map of our route. We biked east on the Greenway to West River Rd and then proceeded on a route that crossed the Mississippi R. at Ford Parkway, took River Blvd in St. Paul to the I-35E bridge, across and then onto the Big Rivers Regional Trail  - with great views of Pike Island;  thru Mendota and over the Minnesota R. on the Mendota bridge, thru Fort Snelling SP, up to Minnehaha Falls and then onto Minnehaha Pkwy to Lake Harriet and onto  Lake Calhoun.

It was great to get some good exercise in the sun!  This was the longest bike ride ever for Cristin!


Confluence of Mississippi R and Minnesota R at Pike Island in background



Sunny day along Minnehaha Creek

Minnehaha Falls