September 17, 2017. Itasca State Park, MN.

Breakfast did not begin until 8:30, which of course felt like 9:30 to us, considering we are now in the Central Time Zone. We were all plenty hungry and craving our coffee by then!  After breakfast we went to the visitors' center to officially check in and get our vehicle passes.

We went back to the lodge and dressed warmly for our first ride--it was 45 degrees out there!

We unloaded the bikes and Bill took our photo in front of the lodge. We started out on the bike trail heading toward the headwaters of the Mississippi River.

We stopped a few times to see the sights along the route. Somewhere along the way we lost Dianne and Diana.

Fred, Tom, Dennis and I arrived at the headwaters of the Mississippi River and took advantage of the photo opportunity. Our bike shoes were not such a good match with the rocks!

I walked over to the gift shop while the guys went back up the trail to where we'd left the bikes. We finally met back up with Dianne and Diana, who had stopped to see a youth hostel along the route.

We all walked back to the headwaters for a group photo. We went back to the gift shop and cafe for a cup of coffee and some light lunch. Then we backtracked on the bike path to see the Pioneers' Cemetery.

We stopped at the Wegmann's Store replica and the ruins of the original store.

By now it was almost 2 PM and we had only ridden 8 miles!  The path dumped onto the Wilderness Road, which was open to automobiles as well as bikes, but there was not much traffic. We stopped to see Itasca's largest white pine tree--here is Tom in front of it for a point of reference.

The cloud cover finally dissipated and the sun came out--what a difference that made!

Most of the Wilderness Road was one way; it was a beautiful ride!

Our final stop was at the Aiton Heights Fire Tower. Fred, Tom, Diana and I started to climb the steps--again it was difficult in bike shoes!

Fred went up as high as the tree tops and headed back down. The tower was swaying in the wind; I never let go of the hand rail all the way up to the top!

We finished the ride, stowed the bikes in the trailer and had a snack. We are all very happy to be here!