Hi people and sorry to have been away so long. Anyhow, here's one of our recent daytrips to a nearby place which is practically one of Central Wisconsin's best-kept secrets. Enjoy!

                                    Bicycling Eau Claire County’s Dells-or Not 

            More the bicycler than me, Ruthie keeps me sweating to catch up whenever we ride together. Anyhow, this last 4^th of July she wanted to go someplace new.

“Dear, let’s see what they’ve got up at Wausau!”

She also likes taking on hills. I thought-And go pedaling up Granite Peak? “It’ll be crowded, sweetie. Let’s just go fishing here on the lake!”

            But once fired up for biking there’s no stopping her. Two hours later and bikes mounted on our car, we pulled into the Dells of Eau Claire County Park. Tall red bark pines towered overhead and directly below, the Eau Claire River was churning through gigantic rock palisades and cascading over waterfalls. Much more than we’d bargained for, this was nature at its cleanest and uncluttered best. And nearby was a trail.

                                                Rock formations and waterfalls, let's go!

            Ruthie exclaimed, “It’s gorgeous! Let’s grab our bikes!”

            Now pretty excited myself, I’d have pedaled anywhere she wanted at this place, hills and all. Then I spotted the sign.

“Oops-Foot Traffic Only! Let’s try the other entrance!” 

            She spotted a ranger. “Wait, let’s ask him!”

            A young personable guy, Jordan handed over his last trail map. “There’s no biking on these gravel trails. But this two-miler is a good hike up the river and back on the other side.”

            A trail this short would show us only a little of the park’s 190 acres of hilly woodlands. Still, some was better than nothing, so we belted up fanny packs and water bottles and set off. Photography Ruthie’s other passion (besides me), her disappointment at not biking vanished the instant she broke out her camera.

Shooting a bridge spanning a waterfall, she grinned, “This’ll show our kids whose boss with Face Book!”

            Winding our way beneath tall pines and hardwoods, we reached a spit of rock jutting into the river. We plunked down out there and while munching our trail bars, Ruthie cupped an ear at the rushing water. “Hear that? Talk about washing away any cares and woes!”

           Farther down three young girls were hopping across large boulders to the other side. Their watching mother yelled, “Be careful out there!”

            One hollered back, “Woo-hoo! See you on the other side, mom!”

 Showing itself off beneath blue skies, the park had everyone out here pumped up. Coming toward us, a couple and their daughter met Ruthie walking ahead of me.

            Jerking his thumb at her, the guy fed me a laugh. “She says you should walk faster!” He added, “We have no idea where we are! But what a great day to get lost, right?”

            As we crossed a bridge for the return leg, Ruthie stopped to aim her camera at a huge turtle sunning itself on a rock in mid-stream. She gasped, “That’s the biggest I’ve ever seen! A snapper you think?” Whatever it was owned this part of the river.

            Five teenaged girls stopped to our right and the tallest-probably the oldest-yelled to a younger one dashing ahead. “Stacy, come back here and look!”

            The young one pouted. “I’ve seen it!”

            The older girl motioned at the blue water twisting through the huge rock formations and plunging over the falls, then pointed straight up. “Someday the world will be covered with smoke and stuff and you won’t see this! So get your butt back here!”

            We smiled at the same thought-from the youngest comes the wisest.

Once back at our car, we met Jordan again. He said, “I make two rounds a day to make sure everything’s picked up. We work at seeing it stays that way.”

This place even had a beach and across from it, a pre-teens girl was coaching a small boy how to swing out on a tree rope and when to let go. The woman watching them told us, “This place is perfect for my two grandkids. Swimming, bird watching, looking at pretty rocks, and you name it, they do it all here! And me too!”

Incoming rain ended our day but we’d come back first chance. Later over coffee in Wausau I kidded her. “Too bad our poor bikes…ha-ha…never got to ride your lovely hills!”

            She laughed right back. “Oh? Well, dear, once we’re home they’ll have clocked-in a two-hundred miler! Ha-ha…without even smudging their tires!”