Isn’t there just a bike trail? These look like they’re all on roads,” my brother asked as he stared at the Door County Bike Trail Map.

“There’s a couple of good ones. The best visual one is in Peninsula State Park.” I answered pointing to dotted lines on the map.

We shoved our bikes on and in the car and drove almost an hour to the park. At the park entrance, we paid $13 for an out of state day pass and parked at the beginning of the Sunset Bike Trail.

False Solomon Seal Flowers greeted us in the parking lot.

We hopped on our bikes and started out. The fresh scent of the white cedar forest engulfed us.

The forest opened into a swampy meadow with dwarf irises.

My eyes continued to be astounded by the vibrant spring greens that surrounded me.

Suddenly tall cliffs appeared to the right. Ancient cedar trees grew gracefully on the rocks:

Later the trail opened up revealing the open vista of the inland sea.

Where many ships were sunk before gps, lighthouses were built. The Eagle Bluff lighthouse is right on the sunset bike trail. A perfect spot for a stop complete with a bike rack and a restroom.

Refreshed we continued on the 9.6-mile sunset trail to Nicolet Bay

After the beach, the trail swung around and headed back. There was one glitch on the trail where you can choose to go two different ways. One sign says “Bikes this way,” the other says “Sunset trail” without a mile marker. We headed down Sunset trail and came across a mile 2 marker. Since we’d already gone past mile 6 we knew we’d taken the wrong trail. A quick turn around got us back on track. The trail retraced its way through the lovely swamp and back to our car. We were famished after this marvelous workout so we stopped at Julie’s Park Cafe for lunch. I topped off an excellent gluten free chicken salad by sharing a flourless chocolate cake while my brother ordered the carrot cake. The carrot cake slice was huge and he took it home for a midnight veggie snack.

After a couple of days rest we tackled part of the Anapee multi-use trail:

This trail is 48 miles long but we just did a small section. We could have ridden our bikes onto the trail in Sturgeon Bay but we cheated and drove a short way to county S and turned right on Tagge road where we met up with the trail and parked the car. During our half day ride through swamps and farmland, we only came across one other person walking two dogs. This ride along a repurposed railway right of way was incredibly peaceful.

 

Instead of going single file we could ride side by side and talk. My eyes rested on the vistas of open farmland while my ears feasted on birdsongs.

We stopped at two benches overlooking a swamp filled with ferns and native sedges.

While my eyes relaxed in the subtle spring greens reflecting in the water my ears reached out into the forest hearing the birds calling.

 

Oh what a beautiful day.