The family and I are looking to leave the brutal (and this year I do mean brutal, lots of snow and sub zero stretches) MN winter and do some warm weather cycling and I am looking for a trail recommendation. Looking at the last week in March to first week in April.
The family consists of me and 1 hellion age 4 and 1 like minded hellion age 6. The 6 year old is good for anywhere between 6 miles a day and 15 miles a day. At that point we toss him in the burley, strap his bike on the back of the burley and dad grinds out about another 10 miles. Our typical touring rig consists of one hybrid, one burley, 2 kids bikes harnessed to the back of the burley and lots-o stuff most sane cyclists wouldn't think of bringing. We camp almost exclusively so we need to have lots of camping options along the way as our daily mileage can vary greatly. Also we need to have lots of trail side attractions along the way (playgrounds, snack shops, rivers to get wet and muddy in, bridges to throw sticks off, etc) to keep the trips fun and interesting.
So I have narrowed it down to 2 trails, the Little Miami Scenic trail in SE Ohio and the Chief Laganda/Silver Comet trail in AL/GA. The Little Miami definitely seems to have more of the camping/trail side attractions that we look for but average temps in that region only seem to be in the mid to high 50's. The Chief Laganda/Silver Comet trail definitely has the edge in the weather department (highs in the 70's yeahhhhhhhh) but not much in the camping/roadside attraction area.
So if there is anybody out there that has ridden both of these trails in the last year or so and with kids that need lots of entertaining and distractions please throw me your 2 cents worth.
Also if anybody knows of another trail that would fit the bill and is within a day and a half drive of Minneapolis please let me know that also.
Thank you