What a beautiful morning for a bike ride along the TART trail to Suttons Bay! The TART trail starts in Traverse City, but we chose a trail head closer to Suttons Bay, at Fouch Rd, only 11 miles each way. The trail winds through farm land, hay fields, and orchards. It is paved smooth and is off the busy roads, ideal for families and all riders.
Four of us set out mid-morning on the former railroad line while the day was still cool.
We stopped at the remnants of a historic potato barn. Local farmers grew potatoes and stored them in this barn waiting for boxcars to be loaded headed to Chicago via Suttons Bay or Traverse City. All that remains now is the stone shell and a small root cellar.
The stone shell now overlooks an apple orchard.
A small field of sunflowers stood on the top of a steep bank.
We rolled into Suttons Bay looking for a bit of refreshment before we turned around and rode back to our cars. Suttons Bay has transformed these old telephone booths into information kiosks.
There is a lot more to see, but we didn’t stop to photograph them all. I highly recommend this ride. You can park along most of the cross roads and make the trip as short as you want. The 22 mile round trip was ideal for us today.
Mark
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