By carvendive in September, 2011
I ride a tadpole recumbent trike and found the trail to be mostly two ruts. That said, I also had no problems with the wheel spacing riding on either side of the rut or two wheels in the run and one in the center. The elevation between ruts and center were the same and the entire surface was smooth given that it is gravel. Several sections are covered with soil or a light cover of moss making them very smooth and quiet. Distances between stop signs is nice and lengthy (I like that). When going thru Shawano it's paved and has plenty of stop signs.
The trail is incomplete thru Shawano and there are no signs (that I could find) routing you to where you can pick the trail back up. My advice (when riding East to West) is to turn right onto S. Washington st then Left on W.Green Bay St. then Right on Locust Rd. then Left on Oak Ave. The trail will pick back up on the right a ways past Maple Ave. (my guess would be about 2+ miles of roads)
The shade was good along the trail and it has some nice sunny sections. Bring bug spray for the deer flies (not many but I still don't like to get bit). Also, (maybe it's the lower position of the trike) be prepared to get covered with the small non biting nats. I had sunscreen on so they stuck. My legs were covered after 30 miles.
Traffic on the trail is next to non-existent so make sure you have what you need for hydration, food and any flats or fixes. Watch for nail heads on the bridges as I've been told that they can puncture a tire. There is a bike shop in Shawano that is on the trail if you need some adjustments or repairs.
The trail will bring you past a lot of scenery and great wild flowers.
By ggwbikemt in August, 2011
There are gates at most road crossings in Marathon and Brown Counties. There are no gates on the trail in Shawano County which extends from Eland to WI 32 crossing north of Pulaski.
By Lyle Bosacker in May, 2011
It was a warm day when we rode the trail in August 2010. Our bike is a dual (side-by-side) recumbent that is 44" wide. Since the metal gates have a 42" gap, we had to stop twice at each road crossing, get off the bike, have my wife hold the gates while I wiggled the bike through. At the 9th gate, I had to carry the bike through the ditch and around the gate as the opening was too narrow to wiggle through. At this point, we had enough, and took the residential streets back to the parking lot. An okay trail for standard bikes.
Lyle & Nancy B.
Forest Lake, MN