Paul Bunyan State Trail-Minnesota-Day 2-Jenkins to Walker

We woke to cloudy skies today and knew the forecast called for rain later in the day. When our shuttle driver dropped us off at the beginning of the trail, she told us to let her know if we wanted to change our plans in case of rain. We checked the radar and the local forecast and decided to ride. Our strategy was to get an early start and try to beat the rain. We left our bags at the front desk for the shuttle service (Soulshine Cyclery) to retrieve and set off. Though the clouds were with us all day, it was still a beautiful trail.

We had decided our first stop would be the little town of Hackensack for two reasons. Soulshine Cyclery, our shuttle service had a bike/coffee shop there, and we’d heard really good things about the coffee. Secondly, I wanted to see the statue of Lucette, Paul Bunyan’s girlfriend. It was about a 25 mile ride and I stopped to take many pictures on the way!

A few miles out of Hackensack, it began to rain. It was just a light sprinkle at first but soon I pulled off the trail and put on my raingear. Jimmy however thought it felt very refreshing so he skipped the rain gear and enjoyed the cool down. Once we arrived in Hackensack, the coffee at Soulshine was just what we needed. Rhonda, the lady that had shuttled us out to the start of the trail was working behind the counter alongside her son Jesse, the owner of the shop.

Rhonda recommended we try a local favorite, a hot coffee drink with cinnamon and honey that Jesse, a beekeeper, harvests from his hives. It was delicious. We said our goodbyes to Rhonda and told her we’d see her tomorrow. She will be shuttling us back to our hotel after tomorrow’s ride.

The rain had really set in at this point, but it wasn’t a cold rain and there was no thunder or lightning. We had about 13 miles to go before we made it to Walker, where we’d spend the night. But first we wanted to find something to eat for lunch. There weren’t too many options in town, so we decided to look around a bit. We checked out the little visitor center, the cute little lakeside log library, and the dock beside the lake. Though the rain was really coming down now, it did not put a damper on the 4th of July festivities in that little town. They were grilling hotdogs and the children were fishing off the dock in some type of town contest, all in the rain that no one seemed to mind. We grabbed a couple of hotdogs from the dock and ate them in the rain under the big statue of Lucette.

There are statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe, his blue ox in almost every little Minnesota town we’ve been in so far. In 1950 the little village of Hackensack was feeling left out and decided they needed a tourist attraction in their town too, but didn’t want just another Paul statue. So one of the store owners in town, Mr. Schroeder, came up with the idea that Paul Bunyan needed a sweetheart. He took the task upon himself to build the statue using a wooden frame. He completed his project with the addition of metal lath, insulation, sand and cement. When he was finished, Lucette reached a height of 17 feet and her head contained genuine moose eyes! With the completion of the statue in 1950, the little town of Hackensack had a colorful tourist attraction that could match the size of any Paul Bunyan in Minnesota. But she didn’t have a name… So in 1951, a nationwide contest was launched to name Paul Bunyan’s sweetheart. A woman in Iowa came up with the name of Lucette Dianna Kensack (there’s a trivia question for you!). The runner up name was Landa Happy Waters, also fitting because of the number of lakes in Minnesota! But Lucette it was, and though her head blew off in a storm in 1999, the little town rallied together and built a new head for her. Her new head is much fuller and rounder than the previous one, but I suppose that happens as we get older!

After the break in Hackensack, we continued on toward Walker in the rain. I took these photos along the way. It really is a beautiful part of the country, even in the rain.

We had a delay of several minutes to change a flat tire on Jimmy’s bike, in the rain, but we were soon on our way again. We were very happy to cross the highway into Walker, and easily found our hotel right alongside the trail overlooking the lake. The hot showers felt so good after a day of biking in the rain!

Once we were in dry clothes, it was time to find dinner! That one hotdog did not last us through our ride. By this time, the rain had ended and we had a beautiful ride into the town of Walker for dinner. We were able to ride our bikes on a trail all the way to a restaurant on the other end of town, and the blue skies were a welcome sight after the day of rain.

We were the first to enter the restaurant (The Boulders) when they opened at 5:00 pm. We had about 45 miles of biking behind us and we were starving! We enjoyed our meal very much, and it was a great way to spend the 4th of July, seeing this beautiful country by bike!