Category: outdoors

Much of the water has been let out of Stony Creek Lake at Stony Creek Metropark so repairs can be made to the dams, and this means that the shore is far wider than normal. Stony Creek Lake is a man-made lake, so once the dams are opened the level goes down dramatically, exposing the typical clay soil of the area. As much of this has dried out it’s possible to ride much of it on a fatbike with the tires aired down.

This isn’t quite the same (or as exciting) as proper beach riding but it’s still something different and fun.

Yesterday I was in a poor mood and headed out to Stony Creek for a nice, slow, exploratory ride before Danielle and I met friends for dinner out in Ann Arbor. This ride helped clear my head and let me enjoy the nice autumn evening. The weather has been perfect this time of the year, and I really didn’t want to miss out on it.

Data from the ride can be seen here in Strava.

Google Map Maker allows most anyone to edit Google Maps. Someone has been using it to add all of the trails at Stony Creek, including the very small paths and foot-only trails. In general I’d think this is a good thing, but for some reason they are ending up being listed as bicycle routes. Some of these (such as the MTB single track) are inappropriate for general bicycle route designation due to their rugged character, while others (such as the Nature Center Trails) are simply closed to bikes.

While putting together some route ideas for a ride tomorrow I ran into my first actual issue with this; Bicycle routing directing me to the Nature Center hiking-only trails while making my way through the park. (See the image above or here.) While I know to avoid them, I suspect this is going to be a growing problem for some with finding bicycle routes in the area, particularly for those who aren’t willing (or prepared) to ride off road. I could also see it leading to conflicts with some users insisting it’s open to bikes “…because Google said so”.

Time to file some bug reports and get the bicycling designation removed…

As Nick said, driving out to Potawatomi (the mountain bike trails at Pinckney State Recreation Area) for the 8-hour ride I was supposed to do on Memorial Day Weekend was probably the best drive time to ride time ratio ride I could have for that trail. Leaving the house at just after 7am put me on the trail at around 9am, and this weekend was some amazing riding. The trail conditions were perfect, I was able to make every climb cleanly on the first try, and I didn’t have any “oh crap!” almost-falls. It was all I could ask for.

I ended up getting in four laps of the full trail, which gave me 73.12 miles completed in a moving time of 07:42:04. My total time for the ride was 08:37:27, with the gap time eaten up by stopping to urinate, a visit to the toilet between laps two and three, filling water at the pumps, and eating a tasty Danielle-made protein bar while stopping to talk with some folks. This was a bit short of the 8-hour prescription, but I imagine it’s close enough. (Strava data for the ride can be found here.)

I had brought supplies for and somewhat considered a fifth lap, but I was feeling a bit tired and wanting to get home. This would have put me out on unfamiliar (and rapidly emptying) trails until ~8pm without emergency lighting, which would not have been a good idea. Especially not when creeping up 10 hours of challenging trail…

The photo above was taken on one of the boardwalks along the route. I believe this one to be near the end of the Gosling Lake Loop in the north end of the system, but I may be mistaken. This one stood out to me more than many of the others because of how the grass is grown up along side and through it, giving a feeling of riding on a plank sidewalk through an unmowed field.

With the dusk coming so early, doing trail work hanging signs at River Bends practically requires a bike. I can’t reach the outer portions of the park on foot before the sun sets, so I have to ride out there. Since I normally carry a milk crate to use as a step stool I tried clipping it to my old (now only used for trail work) CamelBak and stuffed the bag with the other requisite tools.

This setup worked great and I had no problems riding my Mukluk out to all the places needing signage work and getting it all done before dark. It was even comfortable enough that I was able to take a slow ride through the single track back to the trailhead, watching the sun set through the leafless trees.

Now, if only I had an easy way to carry a Pulaski, Rogue Hoe, rake, and saw with me on the bike as well…

This afternoon while hiking at Addison Oaks to collect some map data I saw that the new non-motorized park entrance from Lake George road is complete. This is a gap in the fence with both a triangular gate to allow equestrians but help keep motorized vehicles out, and a swinging gate allowing it to be locked shut. The swinging gate is latched shut with a chain that slips through a latch.

The latching mechanism is a bit awkward because of how the installers positioned the wooden posts in relation to the chain link fence. When I first got to the gate the chain was looped around the wood post, as seen above. This can be done by someone standing inside the park, but once outside it’s very difficult to get the chain wrapped around the wood post. Looping the chain around a metal post, as seen here works better from the outside of the park, but clearly isn’t the intended design. Regardless, it still holds the gate securely shut.

Having to close a gate behind one’s self is a bit abnormal for cycling in this area. From what I’ve read it seems common out west and in Europe, but I’m not aware of any legal trails in Michigan that have gates which one needs to open and close in order to traverse.

I’m really happy about this entrance, as it’ll allow one to enter Addison Oaks from the west. The other (and larger) part of the project that installed this entrance is a path connecting through Addison Oaks, along some boardwalks, to Addison Oaks East, leading to Oakland Township’s Cranberry Lake Park. This adds a nice, safe, easy option for dirt road riding in this area.

Here’s two more photos of the gate: gate open and the latching mechanism, with the chain looped around a metal post.