wabash trace cycling in Iowa
Posted: October 6, 2014 Filed under: cycling, Iowa | Tags: birds, cycling, iowa, wabash trail 27 CommentsIf the Wabash Cannonball still runs, it runs in Iowa along the Wabash Trace, sixty miles of delightful trail in Iowa. The original Cannonball, as legend goes was the death caboose that took the hobos of the depression to a better place. I suppose I’ll defer my ticket till a later date and trust my bicycle along the converted trails.
Iowa is prettier than I imagined with it’s rolling hills and miles of grain. Some of the hills are terraced to conserve the soil, and I could feel the farmer’s love for the land as we rolled along the converted trail, with 73 bridges along the 63 miles and the gentle long inclines that the old steam engines so favored.
The Wabash Trace near Shenandoah Iowa
The many bridges span ravines, little streams or the Nishnabotna River…
Across the river and onward….
Pictures don’t do Iowa justice. On the cold blustery day the sky is so blue and brilliant the vistas so large I liken it to the ocean. We a red-headed woodpecker, a black vulture flew overhead and a state where the goldfinch is the state bird has to be just fine.
Every hill has a new vista
You can hop on the trail at Council Bluffs, and ride the length in a day, the hills are gentle but long and the people of Iowa seem to be friendly. This trail and all the bridges are all volunteer build, so there is a small fee at the trailhead. It’s very worth it to see a piece of history in a great state.
bwthoughts 
It looks like you have been having loads of fun! YIPPEE! Does Janet get back soon?
back Sunday night 🙂
I am so happy to hear that! Smiles
always nice to get a couple bottles of wine that are not sold outside France 🙂
That’s wonderful too! I cannot have alcohol at all, so please have a glass of wine for me. Huge smiles and hugs. You are both very precious people, hearts of gold. I’m blessed to have met you here.
we’ll do so 🙂
check this out – you may like it 🙂
do you have lots of color in the trees around you ?
But boy, was it cold!!
🙂
That was a great ride!
I live in the northwest corner of Iowa and was unaware of this trail until now…thanks for posting! “Iowa” means “beautiful land” in the language of the native people who lived here.
It’s a friendly place too!
I did not know about the caboose! So much to learn – its a good thing that we help each other along the way.
In the Great Depression, there was not much hope for those displaced men. I like the thought of this – for those men in a diaspora of sorts – from camp to camp along the railways.
And yes, it is a good thing indeed.
Obviously a bike will take us for a better look than a car or tour bus!
The “Wabash Cannonball’ should be a book or a movie. Where you going biking next?
Well, in November I will be in Philly, so it will be cold and windy but that should be the next trip. My art-school daughter wants me to ride around downtown Philly with her – yikes 🙂
YAY!!!! I see murals in your future.
TIP – Take a pair of gloves w/the fingers cut off to wear with or w/o full gloves on top.
These are fab for shooting in temps near 0. (But 0 or above 0) 😀
I have a few pics to send your way 🙂
OMG!!! I’m so excited! 🙂 🙂
Sounds awesome! Any covered bridges? I love covered bridges.
Diana xo
Diana – I grew up in Ashtabula where we had many many covered bridges. http://www.coveredbridgefestival.org/
How lovely Bill. We have them in the east too but I’ve never seen any here in the west. ;(
I think by the time the settlers moved West, they were tired…..
haha
Well, of course when you asked the question it set me thinking, and the main issue with covered bridges was that the beam length was limited to the span of the tree length. Later in the 1800’s, iron became readily available and cheaper so they began to make bridges out of iron.
Used to sing the song in the folk clubs, interesting to have become a bike trail. Maybe we’ll have to write new words?
Yes – those old railway easements make fine bike trails.
I always like trails which have a bit of pioneer history and flavor to them.