Pere Marquette Rail-Trail - Evart to Farwell, MI

It was 63 degrees Monday, July 24, 2017, at 11:00 am when we began our ride of the Pere Marquette State Trail out of Evart, MI.  The section we are riding today begins at Evart and goes east through Lake and then to Farwell.  Each of these towns offers staging areas, and Farwell has two staging areas.

The trail is paved with asphalt, is wide, and is well maintained.  The picture on the left is the old train depot which now serves as a community center and holds some city offices.  There is a huge parking area at this trailhead.  We noticed someone had brought their travel trailer and parked it in the lot.  There was plenty of room.

Almost immediately upon leaving town we found this beautiful old bridge taking us across the Muskegon River.  On the right is the Muskegon River viewed from the bridge.




Pictured here are 2 of the 3 tunnels we cycled through.



It is fun to ride the rail trails knowing that there was once a train that passed this way quite frequently, and most likely there were people on the train looking out the windows seeing some of the same beauty we are seeing.  This was a gorgeous trail and we had such a perfect day in which to take in all of nature's best!

We saw farmlands, lakes, marshes, wildflowers, and many trees.

Loved the "sled parts" sign!

Can you imagine being on the trail in the winter and needing "sled parts"!  Oh my!

From Evart it is 13.6 miles to the town of Lake (our Michigan Trails book says Lake Station).  The picture on the left is the old train station along with a section of the old train.
On the right is the Lakeside Bar and Grill where we had lunch.

Before leaving town we went to this old General Store to check it out.  It had a little of everything!
We selected a package of trail mix for an energy boost on our ride.
Rail Trails have a max of 3 - 5 % grades, which is one reason we prefer riding them over other trails.

From Evart we noticed a small change in elevation during most of our ride into Lake.  We had been slowly climbing!


Just outside of Lake is the coal chute or coaling station used to resupply the train.  We have seen refilling stations before and they are usually situated at the top of the grade.  So when we came to this coaling station we knew we would be going down hill on our way to Farwell.

Farwell is about 8 miles from Lake, where we had lunch.  The landscape remains every bit as enchanting.

One of my favorite sites on our rides is the remarkably tall trees. Pictured on the left are some of those trees.  Wow!
On the right is a field of wildflowers and  tree branches.
Picturesque!

This picture is of a marsh where a beaver or perhaps several beavers have made their home.  Their construction site looked massive!

After 21 miles we reached Farwell and turned around at Little Field Park.  We then began our ride back to Evart.  The total miles for this ride were 42.  It was our biggest ride of the year and our longest on our recumbent bikes to date.  We both did very well on the ride and the mild temperatures helped make that possible.  There was a moment on about mile 33 that I was wishing my bike seat could be "fluffed" a bit!  HaHa!  We arrived back at our car in Evart around 5:00 pm.

Clare, MI is on our way to Midland where we are staying a couple of nights while riding nearby trails.  In Clare there is a bakery which has been in constant business since 1896.  In 2009 when the business (Clare City Bakery) was within weeks of closing its doors, the police officers of Clare (all 9 of them) went together and saved the historic business.  Thus the name "Cops and Doughnuts"!  On an interesting side note, a friend in our RV park said that this bakery was in their family at one time, owned by her grandparents!  It is so fun to learn the history of such places!