Nickel Plate Trail and The Seven Pillars - Riding in Circles - CycleBlaze

October 4, 2020

Nickel Plate Trail and The Seven Pillars

Day 4: Somewhere in Northern Indiana to Peru, IN
Miles: 52 miles including a round trip 9 miles to Seven Pillars and back...

Weather: 56 degrees, heavy rain all night till 10 am then intermittent light rain till 6 PM

I slept in this morning till 9 am and cooked breakfast and coffee under my vestibule.  

Water heated for oatmeal and coffee under vestibule using homemade alcohol stove.
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The rain finally let up after raining heavy from 8pm till around 1030 am this morning.  I needed the good nights sleep and was still somewhat recovering from my 80+ mile day.   Despite the heavy rain I stayed completely dry in my tent.  Additionally mostly a testament to ortlieb, topeak, and ziplock bags after 3 out of 4 days of rain all my gear has stayed dry except for the vestibule and painters plastic makeshift bike covers which are supposed to get wet.  I finally got on the road at 11:45 am.  

I spent over 20 miles riding on the nickel plate trail which is an amazing bike path through northern Indiana.  It is a perfectly paved bike path that is nearly perfectly flat going through farmland and woods.  It has bridges and fencing built specifically for the bike path.  It even has benches to sit at and a bike stand for doing maintenance.  

Nickel Plate Trail in Northern IN
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I specifically rode to Peru, IN because I wanted to see the Seven Pillars which are seven incredible natural pillars made out of limestone and granite overlooking the north shore of the Mississinewa River. The Miami nation of Indians (Peru is in Miami county) still  consider the Seven Pillars as sacred and worship there.  

The Seven Pillars
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Marylynn WebsterSo many cool places to see in the US! I never heard of this. Thanks for pointing it out. Your trip sounds amazing already!
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3 years ago


After spending an hour checking out the Seven Pillars Nature Preserve I rode back to Peru and cooked and ate  mac n cheese dinner roadside.  I then started asking around about a place to camp and a customer at a gas station began describing where I could camp when her train of thinking was interrupted by another idea. "Hell, you can camp in my backyard."  She gave me directions to her house and when I met her there she said if I stay in the garage she'll get the kerosene portable heater going. I remembered seeing online that it was supposed to get down to 34 tonight so I happily and graciously accepted her offer.   I'm sitting in the garage now writing this while answering questions from her boyfriend and his two buddies.  

Today's ride: 50 miles (80 km)
Total: 208 miles (335 km)

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