So Ends Our Summer 2022 Cycling Trail Adventure
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Monterey-Erie Trail – 1.2 miles RT
We drove 20 miles to the little town of Monterey for a .6 segment of trail before another 20-mile gap began… hardly worth the effort, but we agreed that riding the finished parts of the GART required completing even the little sections, so of course, we did. Despite its briefness, it actually held some interesting sights.
There was a honey bee yard with bees a-buzzing and hard at work.
A red-bellied woodpecker pecked away on top of the dilapidated old depot building. It was our first sighting of a red-bellied woodpecker although they’re pretty common in this part of the world.
A big old yellow cat lay on the old depot steps sunning itself.
North Judson-Erie Trail – 22.4 miles RT
Exhausted by our mile-long ride, we piled back into Blanche for another 20-mile drive to the trailhead of the next riding segment. The North Judson trailhead was shaded with benches and picnic tables, bike tools, and plenty of parking. The trail was paved and mostly quite pleasant to ride with remnants of the old tracks very visible on the trailside.
Erected along the path were signs depicting each of the planets in our solar system with their relative size to Earth and unique facts about each. We inadvertently passed by the first one but stopped at the second and all the rest thereafter. We caught the first one on our reverse route. Interesting, educational, as well as entertaining en route.
A rafter of turkeys was on the move across our path and scattered quickly as we approached. I managed a quick photograph just as they disappeared from view.
A little trivia for you… Wild turkey babies are called poults, juvenile males are jakes, and juvenile females are jennies. And yes, the collective noun for turkeys is a rafter or a flock.
A beautiful Gothic arch barn was absolutely stunning and a picture-perfect scene along the trail.
Veteran’s Memorial Trail – 1.8 miles RT
We drove yet another 30 miles to ride the Veteran’s Memorial Trail… less than a mile long. The last flowers of the season struggled to hang on. Petal-challenged cosmos were pretty much all that was left. The trail which ran alongside the Veteran’s Memorial Parkway was paved, level, and otherwise nondescript.
We headed to our hotel in Schererville, Indiana, and called it quits for the day. Tomorrow, we’ll ride the final trail in Indiana… and our final trail for the GART this year.
Erie Lackawanna Trail to Hammond, IN and the Illinois state line – 39 miles RT
We began our morning by realizing we’d gained an hour yesterday and had entered into the Central Time Zone. Though we were raring to go, it was dark until 7:30 am so we hung around awhile waiting for the sun to lighten up and warm the day. This would be our last ride of the season and it was supposed to be a short one… only 34 miles roundtrip. Easy-peasy!
We parked at the trailhead, unloaded the bikes, and David suddenly discovered that he’d plotted the course for the Pennsy Greenway Trail… the wrong trail for the GART. After a few groans, we loaded back up and drove to the correct trailhead, and unloaded again at the halfway point of the trail in Merrillville to ride the Erie Lackawanna Trail towards Munster. Twelve-plus miles later, when we arrived in Hammond, IN, and not Munster as we’d expected, he realized he’d second-guessed himself and the Pennsy Greenway was indeed the correct trail after all. Crap! We were still at the Illinois border, however, so decided we were good.
Looking at the trail map, it appeared that the Monon Trail would be a good bet for riding back and connecting to the Pennsy Greenway Trail. There was, however, a large KEEP OUT/detour sign for the Monon Trail with no other details, so we backtracked along the Erie Lackawanna, expecting to see more detour signs, information, or an end of detour sign somewhere along the line. We didn’t.
After a couple of miles, we found a cross-over through a neighborhood to the Monon Trail. We rode a short distance and it was evident workers were busy on the trail. One worker told us we could continue, but to be careful. At the next intersection, however, the workers began yelling at us… “Get off the trail!! What are you guys doing? Can’t you read the signs?” Yikes. We explained we’d only seen one sign and never another and didn’t realize the trail was completely closed. Well, we were assured, it definitely was. The only way to get back to our destination was through a circuitous route along busy roads and we were warned that several roads along the way were under construction and might also be closed. TrailLinks was absolutely useless. We relied on maps.me, but even that app wasn’t aware of all the road and trail closures.
We finally found a park and decided to take a break and get our bearings. Fortunately for us and through no fault of our own or the trail apps, a connector bike trail led from the park to the Pennsy Greenway Trail. Phew! Back on a bike trail at last. We were then able to find side roads to the Erie Lackawanna. When we finally saw Blanche waiting for us, we breathed a sigh of relief.
After a quick break, we rode the other direction on the Erie Lackawanna to its end point at Crown Point and after returning to Blanche, called it day.
Usually, an extra five miles wouldn’t have phased us. But the extra miles on our last day coupled with the frustration of errors and detours tuckered us out. On the plus side… our bike odometers hit 1500 miles ridden since July.
We had plans for the evening. We were meeting an old friend for dinner and after showers and a rest, we were revived and ready to celebrate and catch up with George.
The next morning we began our ~1800-mile trip back to Las Vegas. There are lots of things to see and explore in those 1800 miles, and you know how we love slow travel, so stay tuned.
In the meantime, David will provide our trail stats and some interesting insights into our summer 2022 cycling adventure in his next Blue View.