Seg #30 Willard Munger Trail; Hinckley-N of Willow River, MN 10/10/13

Start	S of Hinckely, MN			46.00384,-92.9506		NS miles 21.4
End	N of Willow RiverMN			46.32555,-92.82343		Trl lgth 22.7 Ride 22.5 miles
Ride 1:54 hr		AVS 11.8	MXS 21.5 mph		DST 22.5		Temp 73	Kcal 1744

 The Willard Munger Trail is one of the top ten paved bicycle trails in the country. The trail is named after a Minnesota state legislator who devoted his legislative career of 43 years to trail development and environmental protection.  It came to fruition in the 1980’s when the state of Minnesota was deeded the St. Paul-Duluth Railroad right- of- way. In 1989 the Willard Munger Trail opened as the longest paved recreational trail in America. 

Self portrait with aspen and birch contrasting
beautifully with the ruby red maples and sumac

Straight away I drove  to the Munger trailhead in Hinckley from Rochester in two and a half hours, keeping me on schedule to start riding north by 3 p.m. The fall colors were splendid all over Minnesota but absolutely spectacular on the trail. Hitting the peak of fall foliage is a rare experience for me, so one might guess how trilled I was to have a sunny seventy-three degree, wind at my back ride. I was able to make good time despite several picture stops. In planning this ride, I was able to arrange a cab from Willow River back to Hinckley. 


I rode a mile further north of this trail sign to overlap latitude
with the Paul Bunyon Trail in Brainerd

My Attaboy driver was quite a character.

The cab service was uniquely named Attaboys’ as in “That a Boy”.  The owner Patty Atterbury made certain the driver was on time; meeting me at Willow River at 5:30 p.m. Driver Dan was an interesting fellow, communicating with a Norwegian flare to his enunciation. We both agreed flying is for the birds. Dan said he had been involved in two plane crashes and will never fly again. I don’t blame him for his aerophobia. He drove like a bat out of hell and he got me back to my car before dark. He was adament about the fastest route to Brainerd, my next stop. "Go up I-35 and turn left on MN 210", he confidently told me.  That meant I would be to heading northeast to catch highway 210 to go back southeast. Granted Interstate 35 is the fastest way to travel north and Minnesota 210 has stretches of four lane road similar to an interstate, but goodness Dan, I went sixty miles farther and took another more than an hour longer compared to a southern route GPS Trixie drew up for me. I should have checked the map but I trusted Dan's information. Oh well, another example of Cush’s Theorem: No matter whom you ask, the information gathered will be generally misleading with significant details excluded. How nice it would have been to get another hour of sleep. So I just counted my blessings of having spent most of the day in heaven’s peak color environment, my spirits were lifted. Boom! I was asleep.

Is this heaven? No its Iowa! Just kidding it's Minnesota on the Munger trail at fall's peak!