Today was a fun ride. Almost all the distance was on two gravel trails: the 400 State Trail for 22 miles and the Elroy Sparta Trail for 33 miles. The Elroy Sparta Trail is one of the first rail trails. It has three long tunnels. I walked my bicycle more than a mile of distance through those tunnels.

The air quality resolved itself with some strong winds to blow smoke elsewhere (Iowa?). I am also glad my trail riding was mostly through trees as the wind would have been tougher in the open.

The first mile and a half was through the back streets of Reedsburg.

Start of the 400 trail.

More of the trail looked like this, cutting through wooded areas and past wetlands.

The driftless region is an area that glaciers missed. As a result, there are more steep valleys and hills than the rest of Wisconsin. So it was nice to have a rail trail with gentle grades.

Most of these towns have rest rooms and water fountains next to the trail.

After 23 miles, I reached Elroy.

A trail shop rented bicycles. They even rented recumbent trikes.

Start of the Elroy Sparta Trail

Since 1967…

The first tunnel. You can barely see a light from the other side. I had my lights and walked the bike. It was wet, but not much dripped directly on the path.

1694 feet long = 0.32 miles.

The tunnels are high points with towns as lower points. Wilton had a caboose. I stopped and had lunch in Wilton.

Tunnel #2

Also 0.32 miles.

Norwalk had bleachers set up overlooking a narrow area…

Aha! Those bleachers were for the tractor pull…

Tunnel #3

3810 feet = 0.72 mile or 1.36 miles for all three tunnels. This was definitely the wettest tunnel with a lot of water dripping down as I walked.

Sparta and end of the trail riding for today. Overall a slightly longer ride but no big hills and sheltered from wind. Had fun with the tunnels today.

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