Most people think bicyclists ride for
exercise. But really, it’s for the ice-cream stop.
Wisconsin’s newest touring trail, the
Stower Seven Lakes between Dresser and Amery, has everything you’d
want on a bicycle trail. It’s got scenery. It’s got beaches and
picnic spots.
And in Amery, it has the soda fountain
of your dreams. Just look for the place with all the people.
We started on the west end of the
trail, just a mile from Trollhaugen ski area in Dresser. Two other
couples who pulled into Lotus Lake County Park about the same time
told us that they’d planned to ride the Gandy Dancer State Trail
from St. Croix Falls, but the folks at the Polk County visitor center
recommended they try this one instead.
It’s all countryside, all the way.
Between Lotus Lake and Horse Lake, we were swiveling our heads to
take in views of meadows and bogs lined with cattails.
At Dwight Lake, we stopped to watch
little kids play from a small sand beach and run off a low dock into
the waiting arms of a dad.
The raised former railroad bed is
surfaced with finely crushed limestone, which will spray your legs
with white grit. These trails are messier and slower than paved
trails, but they’re better for social rides.
For miles, I’d been riding
double-wide with my husband but reflexively looking over my shoulder
for racers, who zoom up fast on paved trails. Then, I realized there
weren’t any – only folks out for a leisurely ride in the country,
like us.
So I relaxed and started taking in the
scenery. Sunflowers, Joe Pye weed, thistle and bee balm grew tall
along the trail, and closer to the ground, I spotted wild cucumber
and white bindweed, part of the morning glory family.
We passed Big Lake, tiny Wanderoos and
then Deronda, where we stopped hopefully at a bakery that turned out
to have closed in 2008. Kinney Lake shimmered in the distance, and we
caught just a glimpse of Bear Trap Lake through trees.
Then we were riding between North and
South Twin Lake in Amery. At trail’s end, we rode an extra block to
the Apple River, then doubled back to buy sweet corn from the bed of
a pickup.
Then it was time for our treat. We
could see a Dairy Queen and A&W, but we went downtown to see what
was there.
It was easy to find Ellie’s, because
it was the busiest place in town on a Sunday. Named for Ellie
Johnson, who helped her husband run Chet Johnson Drugs from 1932 to
1970, it’s a tribute to a 1930s soda fountain.
With the drug store next door, it’s
owned by her grandson, Matt, who displays old photos and memorabilia
of the small-town meeting spot.
We had a Brown Cow and
strawberry-watermelon cone on the wrought-iron bench outside,
watching people stream in and out. We returned for a second root-beer
float and were thinking of trying an orange-cream float, until we
came to our senses.
Afternoon was waning and the horse
flies came out, so we rode faster on the way back. We’d like to see
this trail in early fall, when the sumac turns scarlet, and in late
fall, when the many oak trees will provide a pop of color.
But we’re guessing the Stower Seven
Lakes is beautiful any time. For bicyclists in Minnesota as well as
western Wisconsin, it’s bound to become a favorite.
***Sourcehttp://www.midwestweekends.com/plan_a_trip/outdoors_recreations/bicycling/seven_lakes_trail_wisconsin_.html***
