A New Trail

 

      Today is my day off. It is the only day off I have this week. Between the system conversion and our upcoming trip to Door County, my schedule is pretty crowded. 

      There are lots of things that I could have done today. I could have cleaned the house, done laundry, updated the checkbook and other tasks that have been put off. I wanted to go for a bike ride. I wanted to get out into the fresh air and get some heavy duty exercise.

   C found a two trails near Stillwater that looked interesting. We decided to explore one of them. After breakfast, C loaded the bikes onto the car. I got our water bottles ready. We drove to Stillwater. 

   While driving through town we found a house with a lot of Halloween decorations out front. The entire front yard was covered. If it weren't for the fact that we wanted to get going, we would have stopped to take a picture.

   We got to the downtown area and found a place to park. We had a couple of directions we could go. If we went one way, we would bike past the old train station and eventually come to a trail that does into St. Paul. If we went the other way we would be on a trail leading to the new bridge over the St. Croix. We decided to go toward St. Paul.

   The trail follows the St. Croix for a little bit and then follows a creek that feeds the St. Croix. Although it didn't really look like it, it was clear that we were riding on an incline. It wasn't steep, but we definitely had to work. We rode along the bluff with the creek to one side. Leaves were starting to fall off the trees. Most of the trees were oak judging by the leaves. I was grateful for that. On the Cannon Valley trail, there are a lot of black walnut trees and the walnuts are all over the trail.

   The trail ran through wooded areas. It was very scenic and the temperature was just right. I imagine on a sunny day the shaded trail would be a nice place to ride. We met several walkers, bike riders and groups of bike riders on the trail. Most of them were older adults. One of the groups were all women. All of them looked like they were having a good time. Some of the older people were riding electric bikes. Part of me wonders why those bikes are allowed on public trails. The trails are clearly marked no motorized vehicles. I understand that an electric bike can be pedaled, but it must also have a motor as well. If electric bikes are allowed on trails then why not mopeds.

   We got to the end of the trail. We could go to St. Paul which was 14 miles away. We could go to a park four miles away. We could also go back down the trail which is what we did. We got too late a start to take a long ride. The way back was a lot faster was we were heading downhill. 

   Once we got back into Stillwater, we decided to find a place to eat. The café that was our first choice was closing soon. We decided to go to Brian's. We had been there before. It's a bar with good food and it wasn't too crowded. 

   I had a rueben and C had a BLT. I got tater tots with my sandwich. C opted for onion rings. The tots were nice and crisp as were the rings. I think the rings might have been the best I've had in  along time.

   We had locked our bikes to a nearby bike rack. We walked the bikes back to the car and put them on the rack. Then we got in and drove home. 

   We will definitely explore that trail again, maybe even go further toward St. Paul or over the new bridge. It will be fun discovering some new places.