Day 7 started with a bike mechanical wellbeing check, including new rear brake pads. I was planning to do a lot of riding, and the downhills here are quite a bit different than those back home. I had forgotten to bring my repair stand, but was able to cobble together this setup without too much trouble.
I won't get into every ride, but this particular trail takes you all the way out to the point of the Keweenaw, and it is well worth it.
It spits you out right near the rocket launch site (yes, you read that right - a rocket launch site in the middle of the wilderness) and if you stay to the right and follow the rocky path along the water, it will take you all the way to the tip of the point lookout.
The red bedrock leaves your bike with a unique patina. I am going to do my level best to not end up with this rock patina imprinted on my face or any other body part if at all possible.
2 words will accurately describe the waters of Lake Superior at this beach. Clear. Cold. You can see Kimberly is out past the sandbar - there is probably a 10 degree drop in the water temp once you get past the sandbar, and you can still see directly to the bottom when you are neck deep. It seems weird to be on a beach that could be on any tropical island, until you turn around and see 25 Polaris Rangers parked along the road and everyone on the beach looks like Larry Enticer.
We had heard quite a few recommendations to hit up the Jampot, a Catholic Monastery producing world famous Thimbleberry Jam along with all sorts of other treats. We picked up a few gifts and souvenirs, and admired the monks' appreciation for capitalism. Thimbleberry is the most popular, and while other jams are $6-8 a jar, Thimbleberry is $18. Profit be with you.
If you are going to be doing a lot of downhill session riding on the trails up here, definitely get a daily or weekly shuttle pass from the Keweenaw Adventure Company. They are great to deal with, very helpful with trail advice & recommendations and run shuttles to the top all day long. Since I was trying to keep our trip balanced among family activities and not a full 3 day biking adventure, I avoided the temptation to shuttle all day long, but was still dying to get in a run or 2. Kimberly was nice enough to run me up to the top of Brockway Mountain Drive to ride the aptly named The Flow.
I can't really describe the next 12 minutes and 24 seconds, so I won't try to. I'll just say that I've ridden a lot of trails and I can't remember being on one that was more exciting, rewarding, and fun. When I got to the bottom I felt like Jason Statham in Crank.
Since I had to ride right past the only brewery in town, I figured I would stop and calm down a bit. I was pleasantly surprised to see a Tripelroot sticker prominently displayed inside.
I tried to come up with some sort of plan for the next day's ride, but there are just so many options.
As is tradition, Jordan needed to find the nearest playground to exhaust whatever energy she still had. We were successful.
Tomorrow - no idea. Probably some biking, definitely not anything associated with the internet or outside world, and certainly something enjoyable.
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