I was concerned about what we would find at our trailhead parking area since someone wrapped one of the gates around the pole and the other gate has been removed, leaving it accessible to the general public. Jan and I were the first ones to arrive with Sadie and Quia so I backed the trailer up to the fence so I would be heading out in case someone unknowingly parked and blocked us in. I had all the other participants park the same way for protection. Paulie, with Image, is my neighbor and followed me to the trailhead as she is new to the area, having moved here from South Carolina. The next to arrive was Lena with Scooter, then Sharon and Herb arrived with Cricket and General and last was Wendy with Arrow. I decided to take everyone on the shady route as I have had folks say it’s too open and hot to ride here. We left the trailhead to the east and the weather was really nice. We took the trail that runs in back of the homes and heads to the lake. As we rode down the regular trail, we ran into some walkers along the lake and experienced some pebbles on this trail, too. We took the trail down to the railroad track and rode it. I explained I was told the track had been sold and trains don’t run on it very much. After the trail turned away from the lake, we saw two girl bikers ahead of us and stopped, but then saw they were trying to move a dead tree that had fallen over the trail. They indicated they thought we could get by it, so Jan and Sadie led the way. Jan caught the tree with her ankle and pulled it with her until it snapped but didn’t break off. One of the bike gals was Super Woman as she pushed on it until it broke off. We thanked them for making the trail passable! After this episode we just enjoyed the trail and each other’s company and came back on the new single-track trail with the bridge on it. When we got off it and headed toward the trailers, a walker and her dog stopped to watch us go by. All in all, this was a good safe 2 hour ride.
Submitted by Sue