Day 1 (6/22) -

 6/22

So evidently, we started our bike trip on the same day last year (checking last year’s journal), but a much later start for Greg and I for this one. He had just gotten back from France the day before and I wanted to bring Dash to the soccer field one last time before heading out. We probably got off at a leisurely 10 am, west bound for Lake Maria State Park in rural-ish Wright county. To change up the route from our trip to Lupilin a few years back, we instead took the Luce Line west to Long Lake before cutting north on the Lake Rebecca Regional trail, which connects Baker park with Crow-Hassan.

The Luce Line was a nice pick. Great to be riding on the gravel, familiar shady trails as we worked our way out of the suburbs. Leaving the city on bike never gets old. It’s so cool to watch how the landscape changes from urban, to suburban, to exurb.

Stopped in Long Lake to pick up some sunglasses at GearWest, then grabbed some lunch at the Long Lake grocery story at their salad bar. Split north from there through baker park, and while it’s along a highway the entire time, the lake Rebecca trail was actually a pretty nice ride that shoots you quite a ways north. Turned west at Hanover and we were forced into a pause for a bit as Greg got a flat. Rolled some back roads between Hanover and Monticello that were actually really nice, save for a 2 mile stretch along a busy-ish county highway. 

Monticello had a ton of traffic and the downtown looked okay, if not amazing. It seemed like a hub, that hadn’t fully realized how nice their downtown could be with a little effort.

That said, their brewery, Rustect was actually surprisingly awesome. We both got a flight and a beer and all of the beers were great. Greg unfortunately had another flat (3 total on the day as he tried to fix one with a patch and it only held for 5 miles or so), but realized as much at the brewery and fixed it pretty quick. 

Swung by the cub foods just down the road to pick up some dinner supplies before biking the last 8 to Lake Maria.

Lake Maria is pretty rustic but nice enough. No showers and limited water: all of their camping is hike in.

Out site was close to the main road (by choice), so it was only a 3 min walk with the bikes. No shortage of bugs (deer flies and mosquitoes), but otherwise a cool view over a pond and quite secluded. It doesn’t seem like a heavily used park, which is also interesting considering there really aren’t a lot of state parks in this part of the state.

Brats, beans, and some veggies for dinner to wrap up a fine first day of biking.