Day 18 - 09/02/2006

Wauconda to Richmond

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Stats: 27.8 Miles (18th day, 364.5 miles to date)

Temp 76F, winds NE 10 Mostly Sunny ... another beautiful day

Seen on the Trail

Geese, ducks, finches, hawks, gulls, other unidentified birds, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits

We started in Lake County Museum Preserve, roughly 2 miles off the GIT.

Chatted briefly with a cyclist changing flat and asked about the best route into Waconda.

Had lunch and decided to get to the GIT via Ivanhoe Road and through downtown Wauonda.

We rode into Wauconda on Ivanhoe Road, The whole first 2 miles was down hill and with the wind.

3.2 mi - Rode along the shore of Bangs Lake

7.75 mi -County Hwy 44.

7.75 mi - Country Scene at Neville Road

7.75 Mi - More quite country along Neville Road

7.75 mi - Checking directions

Typical rolling country road

9.7 mi - Riding was fine until we ran into traffic congestion on River Road. We had a mile of narrow road in a long no passing zone. The road had 18 inch shoulders with those deep scooped, 4 inch wide x 10 inch long rumble strips. There was a grassy ditch immediately off the road to the left. One particular half mile section had heavy truck and RV traffic, many with boat trailers. We were getting passed with less than a foot of clearance. At one point, I moved to the sholder, and wandered onto the rumble strips. That was a mistake. To maintain control of the bike I had to bail off of the road and on to the grassy slope of the the ditch.

The River Road section was the most uncomfortable half mile ride we had experienced to date. It was a tremendous relief to get off of it and back onto a bike path at Moraine Hills State Park.

11.1 mi - Moraine Hills State Park

More Moraine Hills State Park

Hill in Moraine Hills State Park

The hills were big enough to be marked

11.2 mi - Wetlands in Moraine Hills State Park

11.2 mi - Wetlands

11.6 mi Asked couple if the trail ran to Bull Valley Road.

12.5 mi - Prairie view in Moraine Hills

12.5 mi - Prairie view in Moraine Hills

12.8 mi - Bull Valley Road Bridge over the Fox River, McHenry IL

12.9 The bike path is on a wide sholder. But from the perspective of a west-bounder, the path is on the wrong side of the road! We opted to abandon the wrong way trail and ride a parallel street until the path became separated from traffic.

14.2 - Path ended abruptly without a clue as to where to go next. We were stopped at a busy intersection looking lost ...studying the maps and pointing off in different directions. A helpful motorist noticed our confusion and shouted to us that the bike trail crossed the main road about 3/4 a mild ahead, by some railroad tracks.

15.0 mi - We picked up the McHenry County Prairie Trail.