McLean's Park, Cup & SaucerTrail, Manitoulin Island

 The verdant 100-acre park is located on New England Road, a well marked sideroad that meets Hwy 6 mid-way between Manitowaning and South Baymouth. The park, about 3km along the New England Rd. features hiking & biking trails based on ancient logging paths used in the days when a farmer would carefully cut down a tree and use a single horse to pull it out of the bush, doing a minimum of damage. The paths, cushioned by layers of leaves, moss and bark, punctuated by numerous rocks,  lead past huge trees as the 7+km singletrack meanders. The hike takes about 1.5 hours. by bike, considerably less.  The park is named for its donors, the McLean family, who left the land to the local municipality for the enjoymrnt of all.

Although not a huge track, it is visually spectacular, fun to ride, and adequately challenging for an hour. I was totaled after finishing this ride, ith its frequent switchbacks, rolling climbs and descents, and a few tight hairpins, not to mention a few choice limestone slab placements. I thoroughly enjoyed the fresh air that i had to cut through to finish this trail. 

At McLeans I ended up losing a cleat from my shoes. I had never realised how tightly a set of egg beaters could nab on to a cleat. It would seem that I lost  one of the cleat screws earlier in the day on a more casual trip. It's very disconcerting not to beable to clip out thanks to a loose screw. Regardless, I am back home now, and all is repaired.

If you're gonna be on manitoulin in the summer, Definitely ride mcleans park. If you're into hiking, try the cup and saucer trail too while you're in the area. It's situate about halfway between Kagawong and Little Current  on the highway 540, which traverses the island in an east-west orientation.

Some gorgeous views from the escarpment. You would have to be a far better rider than I to get up and down the entire trail with a bike, although the lower portians are rather pedestrian., and speaking of which, there are plenty of themin the summer months, so be ready for traffic.

As far as Mountain biking goes, I am sure i have only scratched the surface. For those of you who like to ride your bike on pavement, the roads are fairly low traffic, with the exception of a few surges corresponding to the fery arrivals and departures. The 1:45 ferry ride  is the only way to access the island from southwest Ontario without driving around georgian bay. 

If you do end up cottaging on Manitoulin, say hi to Freddie the chipmunk and his friends. They will be sorely missed.