Appleton - De Pere Loop

I took advantage of the almost summer weather today to get a 50+ mile ride in. A number of times since I had been here I have rode east to Wrightstown, but just about every time I turned around there and headed back. Not really sure why I hadn't went further, but today I decided too.

I've mapped my route out at Bikely (http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Appleton-De-Pere-Loop)

Just east of Appleton, there is a bike lane on Wisconsin avenue for 3 miles into Little Chute. It would be nice if more roads had bike lanes like this, but that is a different post for a different time. I just follow the main drag through Little Chute until I get to Kaukauna and cross the Fox River there. One of the bridges is a metal structure, which doesn't seem to bother you as long as you don't slow down. Swing left past a baseball field and then at the Y intersection of County Z and County ZZ, continue on County ZZ so you hug the river.

This is where the good part of the ride starts. The road hugs the river so you get a lot of nice views. Also, to the left of County ZZ is not really farmed, so on an October day like today, you have quite a few trees in fall colors. County ZZ passes through Wrightstown at about the 15 mile mark, and then its more of the same as you go towards De Pere.

I meant to take a left onto Old Military Road, but missed the turn and wound up taking Highway 32 North into De Pere. It wasn't bad. There was not too much traffic and there was a sufficiently wide shoulder to ride in. Once into De Pere, the should disappears, but its two lanes each direction, so traffic was not a problem.

Getting to downtown De Pere, I decided to look around a bit instead of just crossing the bridge and coming back. The downtown area seemed very clean and pedestrian friendly. There is also a paved bike/walking path along the river I rode a couple miles on. Overall, it looks like they have done a nice job with the area. Lots of people out walking and biking.

I crossed the bridge back to the North side of the Fox River (and I should metion there is both a pedestrian and bike line on the bridge) to start to head back. Lost Dauphin Road becomes County Road D. Fo a while you have more good views of the river and of some very impressive homes built along the river, but around Little Rapids, the views start to disappear. This same road eventually takes you back into Wrightstown.

From here, I stay on Wisconsin 96 until I can pick up County JJ. There doesn't seem to be much traffic on WI 96 in this area, and its easier just to get to JJ because then you can get directly to Appleton without winding around (I've would around these roads before, but today I wanted a more direct route). Once on County JJ, its just riding past farms until you get to where you want to turn off--French Road, Ballard, Meade. And then its back into Appleton.

There are stores to refuel in De Pere and both times you go through Wrightstown (stores North and South of the river). Terrain is pretty flat, which is typical for Appleton. Today winds were out of the southeast, so headwind out, tailwind back. Traffic is very low on the rural roads, but of course there is traffic going through Little Chute, Kaukauna, Wrightstown and De Pere. No where is really dangerous, but there is a roundabout by the bridge in De Pere, so that is a good place to be careful. Bikely shows the ride as 50 miles even. I ended up with 52.9 due to my little bike trail foray.

Overall, this is a great ride. Very scenic, low traffic and some good miles.