Bloomington to Lake Evergreen/ Comlara Park

Normally if I'm heading out towards Lake Evergreen and Comlara Park, I bring along my mountain bike so I can hit up the single track. However occasionally I like to enjoy a nice long, relaxing ride out to the lake and back on my road bike. This ride is perfect for a weekend or early morning cruise (personally I'm more of an early-morning person because the wind hasn't picked up by then) but really, you can do it at almost any time of day because you will scarcely see a car on these back country roads. The route that I normally take to Lake Evergreen begins on the Constitution trail and heads north into Hudson by way of numerous rural routes. Here is the route that I enjoy:

- Head north on the Constitution Trail towards Kerrick Road
- Turn right (east) onto Kerrick Road
- Turn left (north) onto N. Linden Street/ County Rd 1500 E
- Turn left (west) onto County Rd 2000 N
- Turn right (north) onto N 1300 East Road
(At this point you will have ridden a little over ten miles and the route will have brought you to the southernmost part of the lake. From here, I normally like to take the following route so I can ride around the lake for a bit):
- Turn left (west) onto E 2300 North Rd
- Turn right (north) onto County Rd 1200 E
- Turn left (west) onto County Rd 300 N (this road will take you west for a bit and then northeast along the lake. I normally stop and turn around once I get to Comlara Park's main entrance on route 8. This is my potty/snack break place and there are lots of picnic tables to sit at and enjoy the lake view.)

Here is a visual map of this route:

This route one-way is 15.78 miles making it just under 32 miles round trip. This is a great route because it takes you through parts of Bloomington and Normal, then past a lot of farm houses, corn fields, wind turbines and other rural scenes and then finally it ends at Lake Evergreen where you can take in views of the water and the surrounding trees and foliage. Here are some pictures from my ride to Lake Evergreen:

Route 8 toward the main park entrance

Over the dam towards the main park entrance

A view of the lake

Rural roads en route to Lake Evergreen

If you're really feeling the need to have an adventure along the way, White Oak Vineyard is located on 2100 North Rd. (take a left about half-way down 1300 East Rd). Stop in and sample their award-winning wines! For more info, visit this website: http://www.whiteoakvineyardsinc.com/index.html