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Our Wednesday ride takes us through farm country with multiple cherry orchards, rolling meadows, small forests, and the resort towns of Traverse City and Suttons Bay. The Cherry Festival in Traverse City will take place this coming weekend. Approximately 800,000 tourists are expected. Some have come early as there were many bikers on the trail and traffic in town was slow.
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| Leelanau Trailhead |
We began our ride on the Leelanau Trail at the trailhead off Cherry Bend Road.
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| Shady trail |
The Leelanau trail is a rail-trail built on the former Leelanau Scenic Railroad right-of-way so the inclines and declines are very gradual.
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| Wildflowers |
When we ride, we stop for pictures and take in the scenery. We only average around 8 miles per hour. Serious bikers will sometimes average between 15 and 25 mph but they miss a lot of the beauty. One speed limit sign is posted on the trail for bikers at 10 mph.
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| Tractor Warning |
Even though the train went away years ago, the farms remained. Many times the trail intersects a farmer's road between two of his or her fields. This sign warns bikers of a tractor crossing zone and to be nice to the farmers. They gave permission for the bike path to be built.
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| Corn field |
By this time of the year, the corn should be head high. Because of all the rain this year, planting was very late. I hope and pray that the farmers are able to make a harvest.
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| Hops field |
The hops vines should be well up the poles by now. Hops are used in the production of beer. I suspect the price of beer may go up this fall.
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| Cherry Orchard |
The cherry orchards are in good shape but the cherries were still green on these trees. I guess the vendors at the Cherry Festival will have to pull cherries out of the freezer.
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| Not really the finish line |
In the middle of the trail were these flags as if it was the finish line for a race. Perhaps part of the festival includes a run. "No Debbie, we have 7 more miles to go."
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| Restroom Trail |
Normally, we would not stop for this but when you need to go ....
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| Trail Outhouse |
If she comes out smiling, I'm good, if not, I'm in trouble. Whew! I'm good. I noticed when I went in that they had serviced that outhouse the day before. It was actually very clean.
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| Trail Bridge |
We always enjoy the creeks and bridges along the way.
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| Tree Canopy |
Sometimes the trees just swallow the trail.
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| Small Lake beside the trail |
Where's my fishing pole?
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| 45th Parallel Cafe |
We made it to Suttons Bay. We rode to the top of the world, that is, if you pass the 45th parallel going north, you are on the top half of the northern hemisphere. Very few people ever see both the top and the bottom of the world. Not sure we'll make the bottom of the southern hemisphere.
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| Soup and Sandwich |
This was pretty good grub.
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| Suttons Bay storefronts |
A lot of people come to Suttons Bay just to shop the quaint shops.
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| Ice Cream Shop |
Why do we always find ice cream on these trails? Because it tastes so good!
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| Bus for Bikers and Others |
Sometimes trails have shuttles so that bikers only have to go one way rather than doubling back. Unfortunately, trikes and other peculiar bikes can be a problem. Even so, we decided to ride the bus back to the Cherry Bend trailhead, without our trikes, to catch our car. Then we drove back to Suttons Bay to pick up our trikes. Our total bike ride was 14.3 miles.
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