As the trails dwindle, the road goes ever on ...

Iowa is all about corn.  It's everywhere.  Bumper crop, so to speak.

Colorado or Bust, days 65 through 69:

Among the last trails that I'll hike in Iowa are the Raccoon River Valley Trail, about a dozen miles worth, and three miles of Riverside Trail and Whiterock Conservancy trail in Coon Rapids  The rest of this report is about what I saw along the roads between and beyond.

Here's the Raccoon River itself, as seen from said trail:

The Riverside Trail actually follows said river much more closely:

But otherwise I was on my own, entertaining myself with paint cracks and puff balls, country churches, rutted 'class B' (limited maintenance) roads, and just plain old litter:

Sometimes Iowa vistas can be boring.  But not always.  Grass can be fascinating, as can corn (as shown up top), and soybeans and sunflowers:

Beyond Coon Rapids I've chosen to diverge from the American Discovery Trail and the Great American Rail Trail, both of which make a big sweeping, arc SW to Omaha and Lincoln and then back north.  I'm choosing the more direct route.  I'm not much of a fan of cities.

Here are the GPS Tracks for the five days covered in this report:

Iowa's best Day Hike - The High Trestle Bridge

Colorado or Bust, Day 64:

I had been anticipating this for days.  I had a perfect day.  My first view of the High Trestle Bridge came from the highway as I headed for the Madrid Trailhead.

The bridge has no real name.  That seems odd.  Many famous bridges are named to honor somebody; others are named for the location, the town or body of water they cross.  This one is just named for its structure.  Interesting.

The bridge is not only a day hike destination, but one for night hiking as well.  Every evening you can walk the bridge in the eerie blue light of its iconic art work:

So now, without further yapping on my part,  let me present a photo tour:

I just learned from Butch Niebuhr, American Discovery Trail's Iowa Coordinator, Board member, (Former Perry City manager and Viet Nam Vet), that the High Trestle Trail is officially an alternate route for the ADT.  There's even a sign at the Woodward Trailhead:

Everybody's in.  And that's as it should be.  A hike across Iowa would just not be complete without including this crown jewel of the Rails-to-Trails movement.

Here's the GPS track of today's hike.  Not one I'll soon forget.

Historic Hoy Bridge and the Heart of Iowa Trail

Colorado or Bust, Days 60 through 63:

Hoy Bridge, near Rhodes, Iowa, was built in 1912.

It is one of the highlights of my Iowa rail trail hiking.  There's a side trail to an observation deck.  Here's that view.

The bike trail conversion was done in 2003.  Doesn't look like the same bridge, does it?

Rail trail highlights are few and far between, but the five mile section of the Heart of Iowa Trail from Rhodes over the Hoy Bridge is one of my favorites.  The reason:  It's surface is grassy.  My feet loved it, and it feels like a continuous linear park.

Bikers, of course, prefer the hard surface.  And Iowa does a fantastic job building paved rail trail.  It's not cheap asphalt slapped over a little gravel, it's good solid thick concrete slabs.  For hiker feet that makes little difference.  Paved rail trail is just road walking without the traffic noise.  The benefits come with the narrowness of the corridor and the width of the right-of-way, such that a wooded buffer has grown up to shade the walk in many places.

This report actually includes the hike on the "330 Trail", which is a rail trail that parallels busy highway 330 and has little wooded corridor.

It does pass a couple of nice wetland preserves.  Just ignore the roaring eighteen-wheelers and enjoy the nature.

That's not always easy to do.  This poor Right-of-Way sign has turned rather despondent being planted there, unmoving, year after year, facing the traffic, and with its back to the nice pastoral scenery.

There is a five mile gap of road walking between the 330 Trail and the Heart of Iowa trail.

I had fun with signs in this area.  I imagine that this one lists all the generous patrons who contributed to the construction of the spacious Maxwell City Park.

Along the road into Rhodes, it appears that some local has rather gone off the deep end:

After the Heart of Iowa Trail, there's a seamless connection in the town of Slater to the next trail on my westward route:  The High Trestle Trail.  That one provides an even better highlight, but for that, you'll have to wait for the next report.

Here are the GPS Tracks for this four-day collection of hikes:

High Trestle Bridge:  Most popular trail destination in all of Iowa.  Worth a visit.  Stay tuned.