Tuesday, June 2, 2009

New Glarus Adventure


Alex and I went northwest this past weekend to ride the trails around New Glarus, WI with her sister and brother-in-law. We rode parts of the Sugar River Trail and the Badger State Park Trail.


We parked the car at the Chalet Landhaus in New Glarus on Friday morning and never moved it again until we left on Sunday. The Sugar River Trail literally runs to the back door of the Chalet. Pretty cool.


The gang thought this picture of me was particularly flattering.

There was a 1200 foot tunnel on the Badger Trail.

The tunnel curves in the middle, so it is not possible to see the other end of the tunnel when you first enter.

The darkness quickly swallowed my meager light. I'm not fond of being underground, so 1200 feet was long enough. I hear there is a 3/4 mile tunnel on the Elroy-Sparta trail north of hear, so this is a good trainer for me. Will need to hit that tunnel on a good day.


North of the tunnel is the village of Belleville, a very neat, small town.
North of Belleville near the end of the trail is the eclectic Paoli. This place had excellent food. I ate my first ostrich burger here. Mrs. Ruegsegger served our food on regular dinner plates and silverware, which required nothing to be thrown away, except for our napkins. Many businesses along our route seemed environmentally conscious, which was a welcome sight.

Back in New Glarus, we had to stop by the New Glarus Brewery. This mash tun was built and installed in a brewery in Germany. The New Glarus Brewery owners bought these tuns from the brewery in Germany which was about to be torn down and shipped them to the US. Talk about recycling!

In New Glarus, we ate supper both Friday and Saturday nights at Tofflers. They serve great food at a great price.

Of course, we had to sample the local beverage. Prost!

6 comments:

jeff said...

Looks like a great weekend, and a nice ride!

Ben said...

What a small world, I have a pint glass from New Glarus brewery featuring their "Spotted Cow". My parents brought it back to me after their last trip up to WI two years go.

It's a small world afteeerraaalll

Big Oak said...

Yes, it is a small world. We used to live just 25 miles north of here 20 years ago. The brewery wasn't there then.

Rat Trap Press said...

I remember watching a show on the Outdoor Life Network (now Versus) many years ago when they had Thursday night cycling programs. One of the programs featured a ride through that same tunnel. Cool!

Oldfool said...

I am so jealous. You have all those nifty places to ride and I have none.

vince said...

The Chalet Landhaus is great, they have a wonderful breakfast buffet on Saturday. If you return, I suggest the Glarner Stube for dinner. There's also a rustic road
nearby that's worth a detour.