The Island

Some time back I learned of a place called Terrell's Island.  It's a cool trail on the west side of Lake Butte des Morts so, of course, it went on the list until I could find a time to take my bike out there and ride it.  The trail is maintained by a non-profit organization that works to preserve and maintain the natural habitat in and around Lake Butte des Morts.  One of the things the group did many years ago was to build a causeway out into the lake on the west side, making a circle that ran for three or four miles and came back around to nearly the same place, enclosing a large body of water within the causeway.  Out in about the  middle of the causeway a small bridge was built so that the causeway doesn't completely isolate the water inside from the rest of the lake.  A trail was made along the causeway that is open to anyone that wants to walk or bike it, allowing the viewing of the flora and fauna living and growing in the area.  Pretty cool, actually.  We were looking for something to do that might interest our oldest grandchild, Blaubeere's oldest, and decided to suggest a bike ride that took in the trail at Terrell's Island.  He was game so that's what we did.

We drove to Omro, the nearest community, and parked at one of the city parks there and then rode our bikes the few miles out to the island. 

That all went well until I missed a turn about half way there.  We went quite a ways beyond that before I realized my error and then we had to go back, so that missed corner added a little over three miles to the trip.  Ah, well - that happens.  But finally we arrived at the entrance to the island.

The original plan had been to ride to the island and then all the way around the trial and back to the park.  But we met the general manager who told us quite a bit about the island and its history.  One of the things he mentioned was that the group had decided a couple of years ago that the causeway was disrupting the natural habitat more than it was helping so they had decided to take the causeway out.  They had actually begun last year so the trail no longer went in a complete circle around like it used to.  They had quit maintaining it and actually removed a section so it was no longer possible to go all the way around, even on foot, much less on bicycle.  That was disappointing to learn but we decided to go out to the bridge anyway.

We had to go in a clock-wise direction, the trail only went about a quarter mile beyond the bridge.  So we started out.  There were all kinds of wild flowers growing up on either side of the trail.

We came to an area where a whole bunch of lily pads were growing. with lotus flowers growing up just above the pads.  I've never seen such a large field of lily pads.

The lotus flowers growing up out of the pads were really pretty.

They really are a pretty flower.  Normally they come in all kinds of colors but these were all white.

I had heard there were pelicans around the lake so I was hoping we'd get to see some.  Boy, did we see some.  Thousands of pelicans and lots and lots of cormorants, as well.

The general manager had told us that when the group first started up there were only a few nesting pair of pelicans.  They decided they wanted to encourage the population, which was one of the reasons the causeway had been built.  

But now, 30 years later, the area can no longer sustain the population at the size it's grown to.  Like many other animals, pelicans return to where they were born to have their own babies, so each year the population has grown until now they're killing many of the other birds and plants because there are just so many of them.  That's one of the reasons the causeway is being taken out. 

Anyway, we finally reached the bridge.

The bridge was our "turn around point", since it's no longer possible to keep going all the way around.

So we stopped for a couple of pictures.

Then we headed back the way we came.

Oh, yeah.  There were plenty of seagulls, too.  This guy was the keeper of the bridge.  He stood there on the piling the whole time we were there, keeping an eye on us.

We made it back in good time, no missed turns this time.  Braumbeere's counter said we did 15 miles.  Yeah, a few of those were unplanned, but it was pretty country and a nice time.  Even in the heat, it was a nice ride.  We got to spend some grandbaby time and I got to cross off another one from my "bucket list".  A good ride, indeed!