Day 9: Lake City to Morley

One of the reasons we had left the coast in Charlevoix was to ride on the Fred Meijer White Pine Trail (FMWPT, a "linear state park"!), which stretches 91 miles from Cadillac to Grand Rapids. A converted rail bed, the trail is mostly crushed rock, with a few paved stretches. We thought it would be interesting to ride most of the trail on Day 9.

It was interesting, but not always pleasant.

We hit the FMWPT in downtown Cadillac near its northern terminus. There had been recent storms, so there were trees down across the trail for the first 15 miles or so. We actually had to lift our bikes (fully loaded, remember) over several of them.

The first stretch of trail is pleasant. It winds through the northern woods, and it has a nice firm crushed rock surface. The advantage of a rail-trail is that trains don't like hills, so the trail is almost completely flat. Also, the trees and bushes on either side of the trail provide cover from the wind.

But about 20 miles from Cadillac, the trail deteriorates significantly, becoming a two-track with weeds growing between the tracks. Now, I'm a big supporter of rail corridor acquisition by states, and rail-to-trail initiatives, but I have to say that much of this trail seems to be almost never used. Around cities like Cadillac, Reed City, Big Rapids, yes. But in the stretches more than ten miles from cities we felt like trail blazers. Perhaps when Fred Meijer's big bucks are used to pave the whole trail it will be used more in the remote stretches, but I doubt it. I just don't think there are many bikers interested in riding from, say, Tustin to LeRoy, or Big Rapids to Stanwood. I think we're kidding ourselves if we think those stretches of the trail will ever be used. (At least in summer: I suspect the trail gets heavy use by snowmobiles along its entire length.)

Obviously, some stretches get moderate to heavy use. From Cadillac to Tustin seemed to be used quite a lot. The 12-mile paved stretch leading in to Big Rapids was heavily used, as was the paved stretch between Sand Lake and Grand Rapids.

But the bit south of Big Rapids? It may as well have been the old Santa Fe trail. The weeds were waist high. Clearly, no one uses this stretch of trail. We finally gave up on it and took to the roads. But we had been spoiled by the flat trail, so the hills on the roads were not welcome. We returned to the trail as soon as we could.

The final stretch of the day, leading in to Morley, was odd: There were horse hoofprints in the center of the trail (despite the posted prohibition against horses), and the edges were perfectly smooth. We learned that this stretch of trail is used (illegally) as a road by Amish buggies. Funny. It made for nice riding.

All told, we rode about 60 miles of the FMWPT this day. I'll bet not many people have done that.

In Morley, we found the Mecosta Pines Campground, a tidy little private campground that gave us the "bikers' rate" of $5 each. Good deal. Dinner at a funny little cafe in "town".

We were poised for our final push to the ferry. About 60 miles, which we needed to accomplish by 4:00 PM.