Lakelands Trail Expands Westward

I have a nearby trail that is expanding it's reach westward.  The Lakelands Trail, as it is known locally, is part of a greater network of trails that is expected to cross the state from west to east and traverse the state from Lake Michigan to Lake St. Clair.  There are large sections of this network already in place and the various connectors are getting paved and in place bit by bit.  The trail system follows an old rail road line so that it's fairly straight "as the crow flies" and also links numerous small towns to one another just as the train did years gone by.  A link to the trail can be found here, but the write up is older because more and more of the unpaved section is getting paved.   When completed this Air Line Trail will be 240 miles long and a link to information about it can be found here.

Yesterday I rode the portion from Hamburg Township to just west of Pinckney for  a round trip just under 20 miles.  I hadn't ridden the trial for quite some time and used to think of it as somewhat boring but wanting explore the newly paved section I was treated to a pleasant surprise, the trail was much lovelier than I had remembered it with a dense canopy tunnel of trees through most of the trail.  Maybe the woods have grown a bit denser or maybe it's the result of all the rain we've had this year but it was lush, cool and very beautiful. Maybe I just have a soft spot for the trail because it's the first non motorized bike trail that I ever road.  A photo from my first ride with my old bike is featured below.