Teen Treks

Today we went to a gorge in Niagara Falls NY that was created by Niagara Falls. We had to take an elevator that was 17 floors tall. At the bottom, there was many signs explaining the history of how the gorge was made. We hiked all the way to the end of the trail to see the level 6 rapids. We went through a little of the trail to get to this huge hill with shale all over the side. We had to slide down and we watched the rapids and explored. We climbed back up and hiked back to a grocery store where we got lunch and groceries for the next meals. We dropped some groceries at the hostel and took this really cool free bus that took us all the way up to Lake Ontario. We went swimming and played some games in the water. After the swimming and lunch, a couple of us went and played spike ball. We went to explore the gift shop at Fort Niagara. When we took the other bus back, there was a huge group and we filled up every seat on the bus. We walked all the way back to the falls and went to the cave of the winds. I think this was the most exciting thing we did so far. We got to go right up to the waterfall and almost got under it. We got ice cream and went back to the hostel and made dinner.  

-Trekker Duncan 

An anxious group of bikers met in Rowe’s Wharf Park this morning and quickly took the morning ferry out of Boston to Provincetown for the start of the New England Shore- NES/ Cape Cod-CC Trek. For the next two days, the group will explore the tip of the Cape by biking the Province Lands Bike Trail, enjoy swimming in scenic beaches, climb the Pilgrim monument and eat at trendy Provincetown restaurants. After two nights of camping at the beautiful Dunes Edge Campground, the group will make their way down the Cape, biking along the National Seashore Bicycle Trail and the Cape Cod Rail Trail, stopping for two nights at Nickerson State Park. Then, a ferry will take the group over to Martha’s Vineyard for two days of exploring the quaint towns and surrounding beaches while enjoying Martha’s Vineyard Family Campground with campfires and live music. From there, the group will ferry back to the Cape and bike east to Providence, RI.  The CC Trekkers will train it to Boston and the  NES Trekkers will bike on to Newport, Block Island, and Mystic Seaport. Stay tuned for daily blog posts about trip highlights and events with a new group picture update to look forward to each day!

…and we’re off! 
Around Lake Ontario Day 1. 
Our team of 5 (Alana, Henry, Duncan, Olivia, and Adam) met for the first time at Front Park in Buffalo, NY. 
We sat in the park, got aquatinted, and discussed the finer points of the Teen Treks lifestyle before packing up our bikes and hitting the road. 
The sun was in full force as we travelled with the flow of the Niagara River. We grabbed lunch and picnicked next to the river while men caught fish. 
To beat the midday heat, some of us played cards while others dove into the water.
We had to endure the heat for another 10 miles before we eventually made it Niagara Falls. We cooled off in the mist while enjoying the views. 
The hostel in Niagara Falls is a handsome building on the edge of the gorge. Two members made a scrumptious dinner of pasta shells and broccoli. Then we cleaned ourselves up before heading back out to view fireworks from the edge of the gorge. 
We wrapped up with a round table discussion about our day.
-Adam

Today was a damp wake up. Otto had slept outside and some how woke up totally dry. The insides of the tents had been dampened by the morning dew. We were woken up by Evie, our leader for the day. The morning was slower than the day before. We had a fast breakfast and a departure at 8:45. The ride started out nice and airy but then quickly became a scorching hot sun ray fiesta. Not so much a fiesta because a lot of us were dripping sweat. We went for 15 miles straight and it felt like a breeze. Our first regrouping was at an art gallery on the side of the road. There we ate trail mix and made an executive decision to get pizza for lunch. Usually we get sandwich making stuff from the store and we wanted to try something new. The pizza was like three miles away so we stopped there for another extended break. The pizza was good and we were very hungry. Good pizza + hungry children = empty pizza boxes. We stayed at the pizzeria for a half an hour more to let us rest. Then the journey to Bar Harbor began. It wasn’t that much farther but today miles flew by like minutes. We did everything remotely fast. We had found a water swimming stop on the side of this restaurant. Most of us went in to wade in the semi cold water. The bottom was nice and sandy. We hung out on the beach and played the word game Contact. Then we biked to the grocery store and decided to get groceries for the entire time we are at Acadia. This involved strapping 2.5 days of food to our bikes to ride the last 7 miles. We got to the campsite and made a delicious dinner! 

A group of excited bikers met early today on the US & Canadian border in Buffalo’s Front Park to embark on a 21 day adventure around the entire Lake Ontario.  Today the group will bike to Niagara Falls, and over the next 3 weeks they will visit Toronto, the Thousand Islands region, enter back into the US along the eastern shore in NYS and view Chimney Bluffs and bike the Erie Canal Bike Trail back to Buffalo for wings and great architecture.  Stay tuned for daily blog updates and wonderful pictures.

Waking up at 6:30 and getting off at 7:30 was a highlight of the day. Breakfast was just fine, basic bagels and cream cheese. Everyone did their jobs great and we had an amazing stretch circle. Maine is very hilly. The day was still young when we got 17 miles in. Ben brought us on these really cool trails in the woods. There was one insane up hill that everyone struggled with but it was worth the forest trails. Because of our amazing pace we had time to do fun stuff today. We got to Hannafords and shopped for a pesto pasta dinner. The goal was to shop fast so we could go to Goodwill to shop. A lot of us got some nice under layers for great prices and even some got stuff for you parents. Many Goodwill shoppers talked to us about our bike trip. We literally have so many fans its amazing. Wyatt led our group down to a quaint town and over a pedestrian bridge. The views were beautiful and then a couple miles later we made it to a state park. Lunch was the regular but the park made it ten times better. There was a beautiful ocean view and we ate under a pavilion. We let the heat pass while we ate and then indulged in a nice swim. I got stung by a bee which was not fun. Napping under the tree rested us all for the rest of the trip. Wyatt and Hannah went ahead to go see the maritime museum and they were shortly followed by Otto, me ( Paulotta) and Evie. The town with the museum was so nice. And then the rest of the group met us at an antique hoarding shop. It was so fun running around the store with tons of random stuff. Sachin came late because he had yet another flat but our saving grace was the next stop, a cute bike store. The man was so kind in the store and taught us all how to change a flat tire with the inner tube.  Ben told us we had to get fudge from the nice lady he met inside the store. We all headed over and she gave us so many fudges for free. It made us so happy!! We had many miles left to the campsite and we just kept  going through. On the way, we saw the Penobscot Narrows Bridge and observatory. Now we are sitting all together having just finished a nice pesto pasta talking.

-Trekker Paulotta

This morning we slept in a little until 7:30 and had warm oatmeal for breakfast around the picnic table. After only a few miles in we stopped at a recycled metal art sculpture garden with so many crazy sculptures and fun things to play with. The garden was built by an old man but people still maintain and cut the trails. The morning roads had so many cute farm houses to look at and everyone seemed to be out doing yard work. We stopped for snacks and grocery shopping and played games outside the store. Then we biked more before stopping to eat at a beautiful park. The park was shaded and had a fun playground and creek. We swam in the creek and got to biking again. Biking today was tiring because everyone was pretty sore from all the miles and hills yesterday. On the road we saw an antique store with a cute dog. Then we stopped at a laundromat and did all of our really stinky laundry before making it to camp in a beautiful state park and cooking dinner and hanging out. The moon tonight was full and orange and so beautiful over the beach!! It was a good day!

On the 6th day of our trek, we rose at 6 am, with Kinan getting up an hour earlier to see the sunrise. We were able to cook oatmeal and roll out by 8, and we were on our way. It was our longest day thus far, upwards of 50 miles, not to mention our hilliest by far. We stopped often, eating raspberries off the bush and crackers out of the box. We go through lots of crackers. Everyone managed wonderfully, despite some frustrating mechanical setbacks. The quiet, well-maintained country roads were a joy to ride on, making the difficult climbs worthwhile. To manage the summer heat and the steep gradients, we took multiple well deserved swimming stops. The lakes were warm and calm, unlike the freezing Maine ocean. We arrived at our campsite in the evening, and those that weren’t cooking immediately jumped into the namesake of our campground, Duck Puddle. We found some boogie boards and jumped off the floating dock, admiring the sunset as we floated. We shared a delicious dinner and had an evening meeting, discussing our roles and giving shoutouts.

From Provincetown, to Martha’s Vineyard to Boston, the 10-day Cape Cod Trek has come to an end. Beyond biking along the scenic Cape Cod shoreline, this group found an abundance of activities to fill each day along the trek. Dune hikes, rope swings, a Spikeball tournament, beach swims, paddle boarding, kayaking and much more, trekkers are sure to go home with happy memories from a fun-filled bike adventure.

Today was so fun. To start off this day the theme is Otto’s birthday. We woke up in our comfy hotel beds around 6:30. Breakfast was waffles and many muffins. Fast forward to being on the road, we spread out a lot meaning we left a lot of drops at every corner. Our goal was to make it to the LLbean giant store. Our hype man Wyatt was psyched about it. The roads were nice and the clouds were out meaning not intense heat. That made it easier to ride. When we made it to the store it was amazing, the first thing we had to do was eat lunch (you would be surprised how much this group eats.) So the special boy Otto got his dream lunch, lobster rolls. The lobster rolls were small but scrumptious. we then explored the stores and some of us bought some amazing things. This went on for maybe an hour of fun, we even got free smores from this nice gentleman who also took pics of us in front of the boot. Shortly after this shopping fiesta, we headed on the four mile ride to our campsite. We are staying at Wolfes Neck State Park and it’s GORGEOUS. Wish you guys were here because these views are amazing. There are also animals and amazing water and mountain biking trails. We made a pasta dinner in pouring thunder storm then celebrated Otto with a blueberry muffin cake and brookies. Somehow we lit candles in the rain and sang and danced around the table. Everyone was so hype for this new 16 year old. We are now are chillin together on a dock after the rain had ended and we watched the sun set with a huge rainbow. Our main game is frisbee and we play it all day everyday. This day was overall an amazing day and I believe everyone is happy and healthy. Its a full moon and a hopefully a dry night. 

-Trekker Paulotta