Horse Trails, Beaver Cemetery, and Lots of Sand - A Mid-April Ride

 A few pictures from a recent ride south of Wabasha Minnesota.  With a new set of more trail-worthy tires on my motorcycle, I set out looking for interesting things and places, sometimes off the paved road.

A nicely compacted dirt road in the Zumbro River bottoms leading to an area where people riding horses can ride trails and camp.  I was careful to heed any signage that prohibited motorized vehicles or ATV’s, and I stayed only on roads where it was legal for me to ride.

There has been some logging along the road.

Bridge over the Zumbro River

To the left of this photo, there was mud.  Lots of deep, rutted mud.  I don’t do mud.  Not that deep anyway.  I’d still be there now if I tried.

My lunch stop for the afternoon, at a park where there were ample places to tie off visitor’s horses.  My steel horse, Leon, needed no such tie off.

After leaving the dirt tracks, I rode through Theilman and paused for a photo at the 100 yr old opera house.

This “X-MAS” message probably looks more impressive from the sky.

Beaver Cemetery, located near where the ghost town, Beaver Village, used to be.  Apparently Beaver Village suffered as many as 28 floods in one year, and as a result was abandoned.  

This is the “Ring of Trees” that has been mentioned in various places on the web as being “haunted” or “cursed”.  It has been said that anyone who stands inside the Ring of Trees will hear or see strange things when they leave, and bad luck will follow them for the rest of their days.

There are graves surrounding the Ring of Trees, and one gravestone inside the ring.

Here’s the view looking up from inside the Ring of Trees.  No voices or visions were experienced.  Just the pleasant sound of the breeze blowing through the trees.

An interesting grave marker for a gentleman who died in 1869 at 27 years of age.

Possibly an old school.

This little sugar sand trail is located near the Kellogg-Weaver Dunes where, not surprisingly, there is a lot of sand.  I visited this trail last year when my bike had tires better suited for pavement, and I only made it part way down the trail before turning around.  I could barely keep the bike moving and nearly toppled several times.  I came back in hopes the new tires would allow me to conquer the trail once and for all.

Two sets of my tire tracks, one set going in and, more importantly, one set coming out.  At times, the soft sand was much deeper than pictured.  There is a small pond located where the trees are and, while I was plowing through the sand there, I noticed a person doing their best to remain hidden behind a tree as I went by.  Just my luck, I thought, to possibly tip over in the sand and have to ask a serial killer to help me lift the bike.  Hmmm, Beaver Cemetery Ring of Trees?

Thanks for visiting my photo blog!