Hank Aaron State Trail Run

I had a great run on Saturday morning, even though I got a little lost (more on that later).  I decided to do my long run on Saturday and a friend of mine recommended I check out the Hank Aaron State Trail.  Now, this is one of those cases where you discover something awesome in your neighborhood that you never knew was there.  It turns out the trail runs straight through West Allis and there are two entrances to the trail within a mile of my house.

I set out before 6:00 AM for my run, to beat the heat, and headed straight for the trail.  Turns out this is a great place to run.  Most of the trail is paved, where it isn't paved it is hard packed gravel, so it is a smoother run than going along streets.  There weren't many other people on the trail, probably because it was so early, and the people I did see were friendly.  When I got about half-way through my run, I saw this cool mural.

After I kept going, the trail switched gravel, and then to a dirt path.  Before I knew it, the dirt path disappeared and I was just running next to some railroad tracks.  I had enough distance for the first half of my run, so I decided to turn around and back-track.  As I was running back, I saw a biker heading into the area I just came out of, which makes me feel a little better about the next part.  As I got back to the mural, I paid a little more attention to the bridge on my right and found this:

Yep, I was just in my own world, looking at the mural, completely ignoring the bridge and sign clearly telling me to turn and follow it.  Well, now I know for next time, and there is a whole new part of the trail for me to explore!