#374: FDL, day2 & Copper Harbor
The second day in Fond du Lac, WI, we headed out on the road not knowing what the trails would be like after the overnight rain. Since I knew it and it is a nice rolling course, we headed down to Greenbush to do the ToAD loop as a start. Along the way, we stopped at the trailhead and found the trails to be in great shape. The overnight rain turned the dusty trails tacky (meaning fast), but we had moist rocks to deal with so it was not a good plan to get up going too fast. We rode most of the those trails and completed the Greenbush RR loop back to the car.
That after my brother came back from a morning fishing out on Lake Winnebago. We decided to go out with him in the mid-day heat. We ended up pulling in quite a bit of Perch, a few bass, and a healthy amount of Sheephead (not keepers).
The next morning, we drove north 5 hours or so to Copper Harbor (hitting the Lena cheese shop and Dobber’s in Iron Mtn for Pasties). It was almost 6 before we got settled in after comparison shopping about every hotel in town (after rejecting camping at the overpriced state and private campgrounds). We headed out on US41 to the end (or the beginning as the sign indicates). Past the end of the pavement, gravel roads beckoned…. We headed out along the GPS track (past many forks) until we thought we need to turn off or turn around (the sun was getting lower and lower). I thought it would be more interesting to make a loop, so we started to follow the loop around… All was cool until the wide and open road in front of us went straight, but the GPS track went hard left into an overgrown double track. Since the wide open road went away from town, we opted to go into the overgrown trail. It was slower going, but in the end, we ended up popping out on a open gravel road (as shown, sort of) and back to the main gravel road back to US41.
After an overpriced dinner (Mariner North), we settled in for the night. It has been relatively hot up in the copper country and most of the hotels (ours included) don’t bother with A/C.
The next morning, it was threatening rain. We went down the street for breakfast and wondered what we should do… ride now or wait it out. Andrea and I decided to head out and bail out on one of the many road crossings if it started to rain. Our ride plan was to ride the IMBA epic ride from start to finish. Andrea only wanted to ride about 2 hours, so she might have had to bail out if it was running long.
First of all, the trails at Copper Harbor are an excellent mix of flowy, rocky, and down right frightening. Most of the trail is fairly moderate, but the red trail is particularly tricky at time and includes two notable bridges (well marked). We opted out from riding them not wanting to get hurt coming into the race weekend (Ore to Shore this weekend). We made one wrong turn and cut off some of it near the end, at ended up back in town under 2 hours.
Wanting a little more riding and with the rain seeming more imminent, I decided to climb Brockway Mountain. I have been up there in the car many times, but I never noticed how steep it was in parts. Most of the climb is 5-8% when going up, but there are a few sections at 15% with an early 21% pitch right out of the first switchback. The climb is broken up by a few reprives where the road heads back down before heading back up again. This meant that on the return trip, it wasn’t a freeride…it requires a bit of pedaling to get back over these reversals.
Since we were done riding for the day, we decided to play tourist some. We toured the nearby Delaware Mine which is quite a bit more interesting as a self guided tour (and longer) than went I went the last time probably over 20 years ago. We drove around, bought some jam at the Jam Pot (monks selling jam and bakery near Eagle River), and looked around the houses they fixed up in the ghost town of Central Mine. After dinner of some lake whitefish and trout, we rode out to a trail head and walked out to the lake front. The overcast sky made it pretty cold and not so scenic, so we headed in before the sun went down.
The plan for tomorrow is get up and head down to Houghton to ride the Tech trails some and then head to Marquette where my mom lives. The Ore to Shore race is on Saturday.


















































































































































