Sunlight veins the leaves. Fallen branches crunch beneath our wheels. Abruptly the trail narrows. Soon saplings are whipping our handlebars. Snaking, curving, and intermittently tumbling, we accelerate downhill.
Trees crowd in.
We scoot farther back on our saddles. Until, with a kind of whoosh, we're funneled out onto an open ledge above a skinny river gorge. A silvery ribbon of water glints 20 feet below. Then, slowly, he turns toward us, eyes gleaming oddly. The trailhead is near the junction of Michigan 37 and County Road 26.