The Great River Trail Photos 7
Onalaska and LaCrosse River Trail

I considered waiting until the sun set completely to get some good photos of the sunset on Lake Onalaska but I still had something like 10 miles to ride and really didn't want to ride that distance in the dark.

The photo above almost captures the sun setting over Lake Onalaska ~ at least as it is seen through the trees.

 

OK, getting back to reality after the scenic views above, I took this photo of where the GRT passes behind the buildings in Onalaska. After you pass behind these buildings the trail crosses into town where you need to cross some streets with traffic signals.

The part of the trail that goes through town is not very long and you get back into the wooded parts of the trail fairly quickly.

 

When I rode the trail ~ May of 2014 ~ there was a detour towards the southern part of the trail in Onalaska. The detour took you out on some highways but fortunately there were nice wide bike lanes on both sides of the road , as in the photo above, so this was a pretty safe and easy detour.

 

Right at the southern end of the GRT just before it connects to the LaCrosse River Trail you cross this bridge over the train tracks below.

 

The photo above shows the intersection of the Great River Train and the LaCrosse RIver Trail. There is a parking lot and  washroom located here.

It seems a little odd at first because you do a U-Turn to switch from one trail to the other which feels like you are going the wrong direction. This is just because you need to double back to cross the bridge (in the previous photo).

 

I took the photo above with the Panoramic option in my phone camera in order to show how the trail goes through the woods but has open farmland off on either or both sides in many parts.

 

And finally, this is where the LaCrosse RIver Trail passes by a golf course on the right (you always have to have a golf course whenever there is a bike trail, right?)

This photos was a little after the sun had set and I still had some miles to go. The light lasted a little after sunset but it got completely dark for about the last 5 miles of my ride!

Fortunately the trail is in good shape and straight so it was not a big problem even though I did not even have a bike light with me. I was pretty exhausted and glad to be back by the time I reached my car!