We went back to Battle Creek today to bike west on the Linear Park path. We had looked at the route last night, but we still missed our turn to cross the river and ended up going to the end of the spur path on Jackson Street. We turned around and this time crossed the bridge to the south side of the river. We followed the path along the river through some nice shady woods for a bit and then turned south to meet the Springfield to Custer path along M 96, which we rode to the Fort Custer National Cemetery.
At that point the path ends, and we took the bike lane over to the Fort Custer Recreation Area. We passed this elaborate mural on the way.
It's a long ride into the recreation area. We stopped to check the map.
We were looking for a restroom and a picnic table. We stopped a couple of people to ask directions and ended up riding through the campground and taking a trail at site #85 that meets a trail around one of the small lakes. We finally found a boat ramp and used the vault toilet, but no picnic table.
We ended up riding out to Eagle Lake. Just as we got to a picnic shelter area, it started to rain. We asked a family if we could stay under their shelter while it rained and they said sure. We sat at a picnic table away from the group and ate our sandwiches, chips, and apple slices.
We were lucky to be under shelter. The rain got a bit heavier, but it soon passed. It was chilly for a couple of minutes until the sun came out.
The ride back to the truck was shorter and quicker than the ride out. We saw three woodchucks darting across the path. One disappeared into a culvert. The entire ride was about 29 miles. That's good practice for our 31.5 mile ride on the Katy Trail for the eclipse.
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