Madison Fall Tour - Oconto to Calumet Harbor

Sunday, 12 Sep 2021
88.8 miles
518 ft of climbing

Daylight revealed that I'd managed to pitch my tent in a reasonable spot, and that my covertly charging battery pack was in still in its hiding place and now fully charged. The campground was bare of twigs and sticks (and there was a heavy dew) so I opted to skip making breakfast over my wood stove. Instead I stopped at a gas station on the way out of Oconto for an athlete's meal of coffee and an egg and cheese burrito.

My intention was to make it to Green Bay early enough to have a shop swap my bottom bracket (or at least I could buy/borrow some tools), so I didn't waste too much time stopping for breaks. On the way to Little Suamico I met two ladies riding in the other direction, on a tour around Lake Michigan. We stood in the middle of the road and chatted for a while, watching the sandhill cranes, and then wished each other well.

Rolling into Green Bay, I hit some token bike infrastructure, but bailed when the intersections got goofy (the typical "okay now pretend to be a pedestrian and use the crosswalk" thing). After navigating some road construction, I made it downtown to the Broken Spoke Bike Studio, which Google said would be open on a Sunday. Google lied. Fortunately, just across the river was Pete's Garage, and the (stereotypically grouchy but very capable) mechanic was able to squeeze me in and swapped in the new bottom bracket in a matter of minutes. It felt very good to have that sorted out, like I could finally relax. Now it was time for lunch.

I didn't want to stray too far from my course, which meant stopping at one of the grottiest grocery stores I'd seen. As I was locking up, I looked across the parking lot and saw a bagel shop we'd stopped at in the past, Lox Stock'n Bagel. A bagel sandwich hit the spot, and I headed out to again attempt to use the confusingly disconnected bike infrastructure.

Some light trespassing later and I was on my way to the Fox River State Trail, a rail trail that starts out as asphalt but switches to packed crushed limestone. It was in good shape, owing to it being restricted to non-motorized traffic in the summer. Cutting through the agricultural landscape is something I enjoy, and it was nice to rejoin the rolling county roads at the end of the trail.

I caught a bit of light rain as I rolled in to Hilbert, home of the world's saddest gas station. In Wisconsin, a convenience store boasting "fresh produce" means that it will have an entire cooler section of cheese and meat sticks, but nothing resembling fruit or vegetable. Not the greatest thing for feeling well on a bike. At any rate, I stocked up with what I could for the evening and headed toward the campground.

On the way I was lucky enough to pass a nice little farm stand with actual fresh produce, as well as baked goods. I limited myself to one loaf of pumpkin bread, which was delicious.

A bit more rain on the final stretch had me worried of a swamped campsite, but I arrived at Calumet Harbor to find a pretty (and dry) campground with giant oaks and a few WPA-era buildings. I landed in my spot, chatted with some other campers, cooked dinner over my woodstove, and settled in for the night.