Our plan is to ride as much of the Michigan White Pine Trail as we can. Spoiler alert: we rode almost all of it, except for the sectiono between Reed City and the town of LeRoy.
We arrived in Stanwood, Michigan at Brower Park, a county park in Mecosta, Michigan. It is the trailhead for a 43-mile mountain bike trail, the Dragon Trail, although our plan was to ride our road bikes on the paved 92-mile White Pine Trail. I got my tent set up. We took a ride in the car to see where we would start from tomorrow, the actual trail was about 6 miles away from the campgrounds. There was not a good trailhead or parking area in Stanwood, the town along the trail. We later learned that in Michigan the trailheads are referred to as "staging areas". We did find a baseball diamond park south of town with a small area for parking, and tentatively settled on parking there. However, when we returned to the camp entrance, we asked the young man at the gate about parking, and he said that he and his friends always ride the trail from Einstein Cycles in Big Rapids. So we had a plan. I took a ride around the campground and took a couple of pictures of my bike at sunset.
Day 1: Big Rapids to Reed City and return 24 miles
There was a modern, new trailhead with restrooms in Big Rapids next to Einstein Cycles. Einstein Cycles is located in a historic train station. It was closed when we arrived. We headed north towards Reed City.
The trail was very bumpy, with roots, potholes and grass growing up through it. After a mile or so one of my friends called out "When is the newly paved section going to start?"
But soon we arrived in Paris. There is a park with a replica of the Eiffel Tower.
Keith, Jody, Ruthie and I rode this day. There was a historic building with a fish hatchery next to the park. Just north of Paris, the trail was closed, causing us to detour out onto Old 131, a busier highway. There was a wide shoulder and the detour was not long, before we headed back to the trail.
Next up was a series of Burma Shave-style signs along the trail, advising us there was a Western Town ahead.
Sure enough, there was a group of false-fronted buildings. One was the office of Dr. Ben Dover, and there was a graveyard with the tombstone of OU812.
Next up was a group of wooden carvings that were absolutely magnificent, including Sasquatch and some other animals. There were also trail cams and signs warning us to stay on the trail and not to trespass. Guess they don't want our business!
Soon we arrived at Reed City. We asked a couple who was walking along the trail where we should eat lunch, and they told us the best place in town was the Seven Slot Grille. I had a mental image of Las Vegas-style eatery, until we arrived in town.
Seven Slots turns out to represent the front of a Jeep. Food was good and low-priced.
There was a historic reproduction of the old train station where the Chamber of Commerce was located, although it was closed for the weekend. Reed City is the crossroads for multiple trails. This one going north and south, the Pere Marquette going East towards Bay City, and West towards Ludington.
On our return, I proposed going south to Stanwood to see how it was, but the rough trail had been exhausting for a couple on road bikes, so they elected to return to camp by car. Having an ebike with fat tires, I decided to go on to add approximately 18 miles to my day.
One block south of Einstein Cycles, the path was newly paved and smooth as glass.
When I returned to camp I plugged in my bike and locked it up to a tree.
Day 2: LeRoy Michigan to Cadillac and return - 33.5 miles.
Andy and her husband Eric rode with us. They were camping in their camper which Eric had built from a car-hauling trailer. They were travelling with their cats.
Watching the mileposts count up to 92 was an experience, because when we got to 92, expecting the end, we just saw more trail! But half a mile later the trail turned into a network of city streets. To find a place for lunch, we stopped a jogger and he recommended the Clam Lake Brewery, just ahead. We proceeded to the designated spot and didn't find any bike racks. So we chained up to a fence. Turned out we entered the restaurant from the back. After a delicious lunch we found that we had parked in a splash park. Luckily the spray didn't reach our bikes. We returned to camp just as the rain started, which lasted an hour.
Day 3 - Sand Lake to Comstock Park and return - 42 miles
Day 3 turned out to be our longest day.
We started by parking at the bike rental place in Stanwood that Einstein Cycles had recommended, eating breakfast at a nearby restaurant, which turned out to be a mistake. There was one waitress working and probably only one cook. We waited until she was available to take our order, and then we waited again for half an hour as the cook prepared our breakfast. After breakfast, we hopped back in our cars and headed to Sand Lake, a bigger community with probably larger restaurants. We should have just eaten there.
Sand Lake is a rural community, and Comstock Park is a suburb of Grand Rapids.
My neighbor Deb joined us, but her husband Chris stayed in camp with their dog. They were camping in a camper.
There's a beautiful park behind the brewery in Cedar Springs with great restrooms and a nearby mural to take photos.
We rode through the communities of Cedar Springs and Rockford on the way south. Rockford sits on the river with a lovely park with lots of flowers and a dam for interest. The trail continued to be mostly smooth as glass, unlike our first day. Riding was a little bit stressful with many street crossings as we got into Comstock Park and crossed the stadium entrance, but there really wasn't much cross traffic along the nearby highway with through traffic. We ate lunch in Rockford on the return trip at the Toasted pickle. Dinner was at Eaton Family Restaurant on the south edge of Big Rapids.
Camp restrooms and showers were functional, but less than optimal, as they were very dated and the walls and floors showed the accumulated dirt and insects. The fixtures were clean and there was always toilet paper, but the environment was just icky.
Day 4 - Morley to Big Rapids and return
I rode a section of this from Stanwood to Big Rapids in the other direction on the first day, but the others had not yet ridden it.
We rode into Big Rapids on a city street so that Jody could purchase some souvenir cherry jam for her neighbors who were dogsitting for her back home. The town was filled with beautiful floral planters with these bulldogs. Bulldogs are the mascot for Ferris State University, which is located here.
The change in pavement on the trail occured just south of this sign.
We posed for photos near a private sunflower garden adjoining the "staging area" for the trail in Morley.
That night we ate in Big Rapids and took some time to appreciate the "Pocket park" near the restaurant, Schubergs. It was a very noisy place catering to students with great hamburgers. Across the street was an ice cream shop with some non-dairy options.
Day 5: Morley to Sand Lake and return - 29 miles
Our last day of riding had arrived. The four riders who were camping in campers had departed, and only the tent campers remained. We decided to visit the Hardy Pond Dam before we got started.
Unfortunately, because of the fog, it was easier to see the signs that the actual dam. I arrived at the parking area first and managed to snap a photo of the van crossing the dam spillway.
We proceeded to the same parking lot with sunflowers as the day before, but rode the other direction.
We rode to Sand Lake and turned around, decided to eat lunch at Howard City. We had stopped for water at the library along the trail on the way down.
The Forager is an upscale restaurant there. Unfortunately, they do not cater to vegans and the menu was a little big "upscale". We probably would have been better off in Sand Lake at the Mosey Inn, where I stopped for breakfast the next day on my way out of town.
My next stop is Allegan, but my primary purpose there is sock-making demonstrations at the Michigan Fiber Festival. I'm not even sure if there are any bike trails there, but I know there some are in nearby Grand Haven.
