I continue to be surprised at how many trails there are in the more densely populated eastern states. Today was a day where almost all my riding was on one of several trails linked together. Fifteen miles was unpaved and the rest was paved. Trail riding is pretty easy though you sometimes need to plan out where you might stop for lunch or other services.

Yesterday it rained from 1:30 pm until early evening. The National Weather Service reported 1.58 inches for the day. There were still puddles and other signs of rain but at least today stayed dry. This was the first trail for the day, close to the baseball stadium. From here to the Hank Aaron Bicycle Trail, the first longer trail for the day.

Plenty of flowers in bloom along the trail.

Trail closures are a common occurrence and the choice is whether to try going through or follow the detour signs. This time I could see the closure signs on the other end so decided to go through. There was a short area of construction on the side but I was able to get past easily.

At the end of the trail, a few miles of city streets in western parts of Milwaukee. These were also lightly traveled roads.

New Berlin trail. I had a bumper crop of podcasts today and these work well with trails where I can still watch for people from behind but otherwise get into a steady rhythm of riding. The skies were overcast and cool and otherwise a good day for riding.

Calhoun. By now these hamlets have all grown into being suburbs of greater Milwaukee. I was starting to see more open space with some corn and also some wetlands.

Waukesha was the next larger town.

Start of the Glacier Drumlin state trail. The trail goes for 52 miles from Waukesha to Cottage Grove – close to Madison. I was on the trail for most of the day and have some more to ride tomorrow. This first section was paved and the last parts I rode were unpaved.

Trail user passes for sale. Most every entrance/exit to the trail has signs indicating a pass is required. I expect to spend more than one day of trail riding in Wisconsin though not sure if it will completely be five days. In the end, I decided to get an annual pass anyways so will be covered. I didn’t see any signs today of people checking passes but I am set as needed.

There was a gradual climb up to Wales which was the high point for the day. I saw many other trail users. I stopped here for a quick break and talked with another cyclist for a while. One nice thing about these Wisconsin trails is stopover points like Wales have a picnic table, restroom and trash can so are good places to stop.

An early lunch at the gas station. This was just before I expected to be on the trail for ~16 miles where the last 15 were unpaved.

The trail wasn’t completely isolated and went along some very small places of Dousman and Sullivan. Sullivan even had a bicycle shop.

Picture of the Glacier Drumlin Trail. This area also had more than an inch of rail yesterday and so the trail was occasionally just slightly soft and slower than pavement. However not too bad overall.

One of those stopover points with water fountain, picnic table. There is also a restroom here.

Last few miles, I left the trail and went north to Johnson City to my hotel for the evening. Overall, a reasonable ride today. Not too hot and cloudy until afternoon. Trail riding also made it pretty easy.