High Cliff State Park in Fall

I hate to say, but I’ve lost some fitness over the last month. After doing 54 miles yesterday, my legs were not up for doing another 50 miles Sunday. I must also say though, neither was my schedule, because it seems that weekends are so busy now. Still, with 80 degrees in October, I wasn’t going to pass up a ride entirely. With the wind blowing out of the south, I decided to do an out and back from my house in Appleton to High Cliff State Park. Total distance turned out to be 29 miles.

My route took me over the Lawe Street bridge since the College Avenue bridge is closed pending reconstruction. The Lawe Street Bridge is not my favorite with its metal surface, but you can ride over it, just don’t stop. Of course, with the sharp down and then sharp up, you get a little bit of a work out. I worked my way over to John Street, down to Calumet Avenue and then south on Lake Park drive. John Street is sufficiently wide that traffic is not an issue. You are only on Calumet for about 0.1 miles, and Lake Park quickly becomes rural. I tend to take a left on Manitowoc road and then a right on State Park Road to get down to High Cliff.

One of the things which has always attracted me to cycling is that you may see something you haven’t seen before. On a bike, you are going slowly enough to really have a view of the terrain as you go by so that you actually see what you are going past. Today was one of those days. The foliage in High Cliff was terrific as you can see below.


One of the other things I found today in the Park that I never knew existed was an observation tower. I’m guessing it was about 5 or 6 stories in height. From the top, you had terrific views of the fall colors and Lake Winnebago. Walking to the top in cycling shoes wasn’t the greatest, but the views were outstanding.

So there you have it. A 29 mile ride, that I have done before, but colors and scenery like I haven’t seen on the ride before. That’s what for me keeps cycling interesting and why I keep riding year after year.