Having completed the Badger Trail from Madison south to Freeport, and the Military Ridge Trail from Dodgeville to Madison in recent years, I had a plan for the Glacial Drumlin Trail. But it involved the Milwaukee Brewers and completing the link between Madison and Cottage Grove. That final link may not happen for awhile yet.
So when some friends invited me to go with them on, maybe, the last big bike ride of the year, I said YES. We ventured out from Cottage Grove on a gorgeous Friday morning.
There’s a lot of wetlands along this trail. Can you spot the Great Blue Heron perched on the tree limb?
The trail crosses Koshkonong Creek at several locations. At one place the trail preserves the bridge from the days when it was a railroad.
Lake Mills was our second stop of the morning. And that was where we discovered that Mike had left his backpack at our first stop, in Deerfield. Jim volunteered to go back and get it.
The massive feed mill at Lake Mills reminded me that when I was a young farm boy, my greatest aspiration in life was to be a feed man.
Just before we crossed the Crawfish River we passed Aztalan, which was the farthest distance I had traveled on the GDT up to that point.
Just a mile further, the Rock River is the next landmark on the trail.
Just beyond the Rock River, the GDT is diverted onto local roads for about a mile. For a short distance we had a paved surface and a tail wind. Sweet.
Johnson Creek, the waterway, is not as impressive as Johnson Creek the village.
There were a few scenic farmsteads along the trail.
The trail parallels highway 18 for a ways, and crosses it at one point. There we noticed a fellow traveler had safely made it across.
Wisconsin bike trails have good official signage. However, at this location, a local salvage yard owner rounded up a car hood to carry his own important message.
The Badger Kart Club track is right next to the trail, and you could hear it from almost a mile away. Fun to watch for a few minutes, but they were just going around in circles. We had a goal to reach. By this time Jim had rejoined us with the recovered backpack.
The last 8 miles of the GDT is paved and it gets a little boring. I decided to try a mobile selfie.
Final stop before the final downhill run, LeDuc’s Frozen Custard. Delicious!
The bridge meant we were finally at Waukesha.
The end of the trail; 54 miles, we made it!
RADIOSCRIBE 