2008 Year in Review

Grand Illinois Trail and Parks Ride (GITAP) Visits Morrison

The 2008 Grand Illinois Trail and Parks (GITAP) ride will bike through beautiful northern Illinois on its sixth annual weeklong tour. This year’s tour will take place from Sunday, June 15 to Saturday, June 21.

For GITAP-08, the bicycle riders will return to one of their favorite routes, although the start/finish location – near Dixon – is new. The ride on the prairies and undulating hills of northwest Illinois will overnight at three state parks and one college campus.

At dramatic Mississippi Palisades State Park riders will have a loop-day to explore the area’s scenic terrain, including the historic gem of Galena.

After a 65-mile ride down the Great River Trial, participants will take a day off at Rock Island’s Augustana College and be able to bike tour the Quad Cities’ expansive trails and bike-friendly roads. The tour includes tent camping, a motel option, and a unique educational program of nightly discussion hosted by the Illinois Humanities Council.

For their final night of the tour, Friday, June 20th, GITAP has chosen Morrison-Rockwood State Park as its overnight destination.

Chuck Oestreich, chairman of the event, states, “The Grand Illinois Trail and Parks ride has great admiration for both Morrison and the state park, staying overnight at the park for four out of the six-year’s history. We—and that includes people from all over America (17 different states last year) – have enjoyed your community’s hospitality and assistance whenever we have stayed at the park. In particular, the Friends of the Parks has helped to make our stay the most enjoyable of all those on our overnight list.”

by  Editor, theCity1.com
June 12, 2008