Traverse Weekend

We made a trip up to the Traverse City Area over Labor Day Weekend. It was really the only traveling we did this summer, despite having nice visits from both Grandpa and Grandma Nick and Bonnie and Grandma Sharon.

We camped at the Traverse City KOA in our big tent, and spent a good deal of time wishing the rain would end. Michigan is a very sandy place and wet sand sticks to everything. The rain was nice in that it kept the temperature down, and it packed the sand on the trails, making for nice riding conditions.

First we rode the Dry Hill Trail in the Arcadia Dunes west of Traverse City along the shore of Lake Michigan. The Dry Hill Trail is a loop of about 10 miles. It was built as a mountain bike trail and consequently was really fun. Really, really fun! It swooped around trees through a dense forest, occasionally popping out into open meadows like the one in the first picture below. It was among the best trails I've ridden. This was the first single-track riding Cindy and Abbey had done on the MT800 since we added a suspension fork and new brakes. Because the trail started out with a bunch of really tight switch backs, they had some trouble initially and took a few spills, but after the first mile or so, Cindy got pretty good at steering the 8-foot long beast through the switchbacks and around the trees. She wore her Garmin watch; here's a link to the Garmin Connect log where you can see the map and our ride statistics.

We also rode the VASA pathway, which is a 25 km loop near Traverse City, and is best known as a ski trail. A portion of the Iceman Cometh mountain bike race uses part of the VASA pathway. We'll be doing the Iceman later this fall, so this was a preview. The VASA pathway is wide, and except for the sand and some really steep hills, it is a pretty easy path. Cindy wore her Garmin -- here's a link to the Garmin log.

Back at the camp ground, Quinn had a blast tearing around on this three-wheeled pedal thing. Sorry, no Garmin log for this.