Touring - Question, Touring Suggestions ...

Greetings,

We're in the early stages of planning this summer's vacation.

Our daughter is getting married soon - so we're planning to econmize on the vacation this year (no air-fare in the mix).

We've made two on-road tours so far (neither with a touring company) both on a tandem.

* 10 day tour in southwestern Ireland - staying at B&B's and eating at pubs mostly.

* 5 day tour in the UP of Michigan camping, cooking, etc. (too many black flies and mosquitos for camping when we were there in early June).

We tend to alternate years of camping and B&B accomodations and since we hiked a portion of the Appalachain Trail for last year's vacation - we're planning on using B&B accomodations for this summer's bike tour.

We've never ridden on any of the trails; C&O, Allegheny Passage, Katy Trail, etc. We have driven the entire Natchez Trace and we've considered riding some of that for a week. We've also considered touring in the Texas Hill Country. What are your suggestions and/or experience regarding these or other trails in (basically) the Eastern U.S.? We'll have to do this sometime in June or July. We generally prefer low traffic volume (an occasional short stint on State Routes is OK), and not too hilly (hence the old railroad beds converted to trails [we're actually trying to avoid steep grades more than hills]).

Thanks All!

Steve & Linda

I've ridden both the Katy and C&O Canal with my early-teen aged daughter, & Natchez Trace w/ my brother. Obviously they're different types of trails:

- NT: I think would be easiest / most enjoyable for a tandem, obviously due to pavement. We half-camped, half-moteled. I bet it gets hot down there by late June-July! We found the Trace ... well, kinda boring after a few days, & ended up buying a state roadmap & riding the back roads down to Natchez for the last few days.

- Katy: We B&B'd + moteled with no difficulties. Personally, I didn't like the limestone surface (dusty!) but pretty scenery.

- C&O: My fave of the 3 - we B&B'd exclusively; frequent opportunities for half-day side trips to historical sites (Harper's Ferry, Antietam, etc) for diversion, + you get to end in Wash DC. One of my favorite customer service motivational stories I still use with my office staff: The day we arrived in DC it rained HARD. The last 10 miles or so of the trail had been recently re-covered w/ red clay; we pushed/carried our bikes through the muck for the last hour or so. Our bikes, our gear, & ourselves were an unholy mess, with thick red crap plastered everywhere. So we changed clothes behind bushes in F.S.Key Park on arrival in DC, & went in search of out hotel. I had made reservations in advance, & didn't know what the hotel was like. When we got there, we were aghast: it was by far the ritziest place I'd ever seen, let alone stayed at - & here we were w/ bikes, panniers, shoes, everything covered w/ dripping red clay. So I asked the doorman (!!!) if there was a rear loading dock or someplace where we could leave our bikes. He insisted we bring them in the front & leave them in a storage room just off the main lobby, where we could lock them if we wished while they dried, & they could stay until we left. I protested about messing things up too much - he smiled & shrugged & said, "You are our guests!" Even 15 y.o. daughter was impressed.

There's lots of ride reporrts on CGOAB for these routes - you should be able to get lots of info there.

Summertime? Mississippi? Even Missouri or the Potomac?
You know you can ride almost all the way from Milwaukee to LaCrosse.
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/parks/maps/#trails
The rail trails in Wisconsin are some of the best in the U.S.
Plus you can load your bike onto Amtrak and take the train back.

This link points to a site with rail/trail listings for every US State (http://www.biketouringtips.com/showTipComments.php?tipID=281).

There are lots more links at www.biketouringtips.com about bike touring in the US.

Ray

My wife looked like a boxer after a fight and I had a dozen welts on my calf for a month after our tour in the Michigan UP. Wisconsin (especially upper) conjours up images of reliving our UP experience. What is the black-fly situation in different parts of the state.

Those trails are in southern Wis.
Wisconsin is one of the most bike friendly of all states.
Lots of small county parks with camping - B&Bs.
Old towns with cozy main streets.
A mixture of woods and fields along the trails.
And country roads with very light traffic.

OK, we're interested. Can you suggest any specific routes/trails in southern Wisconsin? Links, etc. would be great. Thanks for your help!

Adventure Cycling Undergound Railroad Route, along Ohio river.

Has anyone done this portion of the adventure cycling route? Thoughts, opinions, experiences, etc?

You're in Dayton, Ohio - right?
It isn't that far to drive to southern Wisconsin.

Here is a map of rail trails in Wisconsin:
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/parks/specific/findatrail.html

And a more detailed list:
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/parks/maps/#trails

Here's a PDF file on biking in Wisconsin (Big, glossy file):
http://www.travelwisconsin.com/PDF/2006_BIKING_GUIDE.pdf

And the bike maps Wisconsin produces are top notch and inexpensive:
http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/bike-foot/statemap.htm

Also, there a great trail across the Mississippi in Minnesota:
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/state_trails/trail_brochure06.pdf

Not to mention northwest Iowa:
http://www.iowadotmaps.com/msp/pdf/multi.pdf

You could either ride from Milwaukee or Madison (better) up towards the Twin Cities and come back on Amtrak. Or you could do a loop of central Wisconsin, southeast Minnesota, and northwest Iowa using rail trails and parts of the the Adventure Cycling "Northern Tier/Great River" route. http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/northerntier.cfm?pg=detail&s=7

Both would start out using the 400 Trail, the Elroy-Sparta Trail, and the LaCrosse River Trail. These are some of the best interconnected trails in the country. Then cross the river into Minnesota. The on-way option would continue on the Adventure Cycling route. The loop would include the fantabulous Root River Trail. Then take the Prairie Farmer Trail from Cresco to Calmer and down the Yellow River valley winding among limestone cliffs to Effigy Mounds National Monument. From there you can cross the Mississippi to Prairie du Chien and follow the Wisconsin River valley until you reach Lone Rock - taking either county roads or the Military RIdge Trail back into Madison.

You would be riding on macadam country roads, fair surfaced, paved trails, crushed limestone trails, and a few sections of unpaved country roads.

(Personally, I just love Dubuque. The Victorian houses on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi are stunning. Dubuque is a perfect, small river city. It would be a little far to reach on the loop And, of course, you may think otherwise. But if you have time, I think Dubuque is worth it.)

It's been ten years since I ridden there - And there are far more miles of trails. Even so, the country roads are extremely nice - esp. if you get the maps which indicate the best routes.

Have a great summer - J

You've provided a lot of information and we appreciate it! I'll take a look at this in details - in the next week or so.

Before thinking about Ireland again take a look at the current rate of exchange :eek: . I really do not like mosquito or black fly bites so I keep my touring west of the 120th meridian. NM, AZ, UT, CO, NV, CA, etc. My next big tour will be from the San Francisco area to Boulder, CO. If the Euro and the Dollar were to swap places I'd go for Lands End to John O'Groats.

Try the Trans Canada Trail, which you can get onto from detroit. http://maps.tctrail.ca/