Jason, Dominik and I did about 40 miles today. The wind was really strong, strong enough that the Desplaines River had white caps heading up stream! We rode from LGP to the Cenntenial trail head and rode out to 135th and then back, stopping for some coffee at the D&D by the trail head. On the way back, while riding up Willow Springs road, Jason crashed pretty hard. It happened so fast, Dominik could barely avoid crashing into him. Jason got up pretty quickly and walked over to the side of the road while I grabbed his bike. He was OK, but sounds like his wrist is a little banged up. It could have been a lot worse. His bike suffered a little damage on the left shifter and rear quick release lever, but not to bad after all. We rode back and then Dominik and I headed to a CAMBR garage sale that had some pretty good deals.
Once I got home, Junior called me and wanted to do something fun on his birthday, so we decided to paddle Salt Creek. I called Dominik back and he made the return trip back with his kayak and we put in at Dean Farm.
Salt Creek was moving pretty quickly and was more fun than I expected. We encountered only one strainer that forced us to portage around it. It was located just downstream of the new bridge before you reach Wolf Rd. We paddled down to the Jackson st bridge and got out. Katy was waiting for us with the Tundra.
On Friday around 11am, I left on the Pugsley for a quick overnight camping trip. These trips are usually referred to as an "S240" which is a quick way of saying a Sub 24 hour bike tour. Mine lasted a little longer, hence S280. The Pugsley was fully loaded with all my new bikepacking bags, part of my Xmas spoiling this year. Fully loaded with all my gear, water and food the Pugsley was about 60lbs.
I left from my house and headed to the Centennial Trail, where I ran into Ted, my father in law / friend who I always seem to run into when I head out biking on a non standard route for me. Always a pleasure, Ted!
I continued on to the I&M canal trail and discovered that the trail was CLOSED and fenced off with a lock until 3/20. So I took a detour to High St and then to Archer Ave which eventually dumped me right back to the I&M canal trail in Lockport. Once there I enjoyed one of my favorite sections of trail from Lockport to Joliet Iron Works.
The trail "ends" there and you have to take a road route through downtown Joliet for about 5 miles, which really isn't all that bad of a ride. Its a little shady at times, but it goes quickly. There was one moment when 2 guys who looked like trouble pulled up next to me when I was in a residential area and just started smiling and giving me the thumbs up.
Pugsley does that to people.
I just waved and rode on. Once through Joliet the trail returns and I headed to Channohan State Park to meet up with CK. This is another incredible section of trail. CK had gotten our backcountry camping permit ($6) and we took off riding to figure out where we were going to camp. I had spoken with a Park Ranger about a month ago and she sent me a map with hand drawn locations of the class "D" campsites, so we worked off that. The first site we came up on was just fantastic! but we kept riding on. My other friend from college, CL had parked in Morris was was riding the trail to intercept us so we stopped at Aux Sable Lock and hung out there while we waited for him to meet us.
Once CL got there we headed back to that first campsite we found. There were a bunch of great wildlife sightings while we were riding. A lot of beavers who were really busy. We saw 5 of them I think swimming but the amount of trees that had been sharpened into a pencil was pretty incredible. We also saw a few vultures flying over head. The most exciting sighting we had was a BALD EAGLE flying over the trail. It was very cool.
Once we got to the campsite we got all set up and then cooked up dinner, which was some skirt steak with ancho orange sauce, avocado's, beans and tortillas. A pizza roll that CK's mom made. Those pizza rolls have been a special treat for me since college. It was always great when one would show up. This one went fast and it was good! We drank a little bit of whiskey, some of which tasted like kerosene and hung out talking and listening to some music.
CK's set up
CL's set up
my set up
shelter
campground even had pit toilets!
my cook kit
I woke up around 6:30am and it was just starting to get light out. The temp was about 30 degrees? and my bivy sack was completely covered in frost as was my winter hat which I slept in. I got up and wrapped my sleeping bag around my shoulders and made some coffee to help me stop shivering and enjoyed the sunrise on the river. I got packed up by the time CK got up and we had some more coffee together. CL got up right when I was about to leave to head home.
Its about 50 miles to get home and I was pretty tired physically from pedaling a 60lb bike with 4" tires so I knew it was going to be a long day back. Those first 5 miles were pretty tough, my left knee hurt and I was pedaling at about 7 miles per hour. I knew I couldn't ride at that speed all day as I would have gotten home in the late afternoon and for sure would have run out of water. So I stopped and took some advil, ate a cliff bar and drank some more water. Once I got moving and the advil kicked in I was able to get back up to about 13mph. For those of you who aren't used to riding a bike with 4" wide tires that weighs 60lbs, it feels like you are putting out about the same amount of energy as riding at over 20mph on my cross bike.
I got through Joliet pretty easily and then stopped at The Public Landing for lunch which was really good. I look forward to going there again. After lunch I ran into a couple who were biking and they told me that the trail was not closed up ahead so I didn't need to do the detour that I had ridden on the way out. I pretty much just motored towards home at this point.
I checked in with Katy and she wanted to meet me and ride a little with me so with about 5 miles to go on the Centennial trail we were reunited! and we rode back to the truck. It was nice to ride together as it had been a while. This also meant that I didn't have to ride on Willow Springs rd to get home, which is my least favorite part of the trip.
I already want to do it again! but back to the real world I guess...........
