Western Wisconsin: The 400, Elroy-Sparta & La Crosse River Trails (August 2020)

 

In the summer of COVID my friend Bryan and I were struggling to find something constructive to do.  We decided to spend a couple of days in western Wisconsin around La Crosse to hit the original HOF trail: Elroy-Sparta. This was the first Rail-To-Trail conversion that was done in the 60s and is still considered a model project.   Elroy-Sparta is a part of a network of about 150 miles of trails in the area.

We used La Crosse as a home base and met at the Pettibone Resort and camped there the first night. 

 Day 1 (Reedsburg to Wilton, 40 miles including the detour to Hillsboro):   We started our journey on the 400 state trail in Reedsburgh heading east.   We ended up taking the Hillsboro spur to get some extra miles and came across an excellent brewery aptly named the Hillsboro Brewing Co.  We had lunch at that spot.  

On the Hillsboro spur we ran into some drag racers on an adjacent road.  It appeared to be on the up and up

Our goal for the day was to reach the Tunnel Trail campground which is the midway point on the Elroy-Sparta Trail.   We reached Elroy in the early afternoon and pressed onward.  We did come across warnings that the trail was "closed". We were able to easily navigate the closed sections, some of which were curious (small bridges with minimal wear) and some that were more understandable.

Overall a tough day of riding for me. There was a slight incline but I was also a little out of shape. 

The Tunnel Trail campground was excellent, but we got there too late in the day to really explore/enjoy it.  We ended up having dinner at a restaurant/hostel right off of the trail.  We had a longer conversation with the proprietor who indicated that he was hurt badly by Covid and the trail closure and had to be "saved" by being bought out.  It did not sound promising.

We slept in hammocks, which was the first time for both of us. Unfortunatly for Bryan he ended up pissing on his shoes in the middle of the night.  Par for the course, I've done worse in my travels.  Not the greatest night of sleep for either one of us but good enough given the circumstances. 

Day 2 (Wilton to La Crosse, 40 miles)

Today was a much better day for me, I rode a lot stronger.  The high point of the Elroy-Sparta trail is it's three tunnels.  You climb to each of them and then descend afterward so it's a nice reward. This trail really is first class and I'm glad we completed it.  

We had lunch in a mildly depressed town that had a lot of Trump signs (these were common throughout the entire trip as we were in the middle of the election).  I think it was Nowalk, WI and I believe the bar was called "The Place Cunitz Tavern" but I was not able to verify using Google Maps. 

We stopped in Sparta and had a beer at the "Beer Shop".  It was hot and we needed a break and we finished the day by traversing the La Crosse River State trail.  

We had dinner at La Crosse distilling Co.  It was very good, though most meals at the end of a day of riding are very good. 

Day 3: Madison Loop (20 miles)

We originally were going to hit the Great River State trail but decided against it as bad weather was bearing down on us.  Instead we drove to Madison through the weather and did the 20 mile loop around Lake Mendota.  It was good but upon further research we should have done the loop around Lake Monona as that one is more developed.  I'm sure we'll have another opportunity in the future.

Overall a very successful trip knocking down an HOF trail.  It set us up well for the Katy trail in 2021.