Rail-Trail
State: IA Length: 4.7 miles Surface: Gravel
The Ed Winkel Memorial Trail runs for nearly 5 miles from the small town of Sibley in Osceola County, Iowa to just west of the unincorporated community of Allendorf. Offering a hint at much of Iowa's landscape, the trail travels exclusively ...
State: IA Length: 0.5 miles Surface: Ballast, Dirt, Grass
The Galloping Goose Trail is so called for the nickname of the old railroad that once ran through the area and upon which the trail sits. As of 2012, about 0.5 mile of trail have been built northeast of the little community of Rippey. One day ...
State: IA Length: 25.8 miles Surface: Crushed Stone, Dirt, Grass
The Heart of Iowa Nature Trail currently consists of two disjointed sections. The first stretches from the small city of Slater in the west to the tiny town of Collins in the east. This segment includes a brief on-road detour between 535th Avenue ...
State: IA Length: 25 miles Surface: Asphalt, Concrete
The High Trestle Trail (f.k.a. the Ankeny to Woodward Trail) is named for the original railroad bridge that spans the Des Moines River between Madrid and Woodward, on the trail's northern end. This dramatic trestle is a work of art itself: a ...
State: IA Length: 1.5 miles Surface: Grass, Gravel
The Mapleleaf Pathway is located in the small community of Diagonal, Iowa. The trail occupies an abandoned Chicago and North Western Railway corridor, which once formed part of a larger system that looked like a maple leaf when viewed on a map—hence ...
State: IA Length: 2.5 miles Surface: Dirt
Iowa's Yellow River State Forest contains a sprawling network of hiking, equestrian and bicycle trails. The Paint Creek Trail, which occupies a segment of an abandoned railroad corridor, is the only rail-trail in the 8,500 acre forest. The trail ...
State: IA Length: 11.5 miles Surface: Crushed Stone
The Pioneer Trail is named to give a nod to the people who settled in Grundy County in the 1850s. Eventually, the railroad came to serve the farm communities of Holland, Grundy Center, Morrison and Reinbeck. The trail now replaces the rails, ...
State: IA Length: 3.6 miles Surface: Crushed Stone, Dirt, Grass
The Pony Hollow Trail in the northeastern Iowa city of Elkader offers a scenic route through woodlands and wetlands along the former Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad bed. The western half of the trail begins just south of Elkader City ...
State: IA Length: 10.5 miles Surface: Crushed Stone, Dirt, Grass
The Praeri Rail Trail runs on an old section of railroad right-of-way between Zearing and Roland in central Iowa. Sections of the trail near Roland and McCallsburg have a crushed limestone surface, but the rest of the trail is mowed grass and ...
State: IA Length: 2 miles Surface: Crushed Stone
The Puddle Jumper Trail is a 2 mile long rail-trail that connects the western Iowa communities of Orange City and Alton. The trail is surfaced with crushed quartzite and also features a bridle path for equestrian use along the main trail. In ...
State: IA Length: 2 miles Surface: Asphalt
The Ringgold Trailway connects the eastern edge of the small city of Mount Ayr with Poe Hollow County Park, a little less than 2 miles away. The trail was built on a former railroad right-of-way, and a caboose rests at the western end of the ...
State: IA Length: 4 miles Surface: Asphalt
The Rock Island Old Stone Arch Trail travel 4 miles along an asphalt path atop an abandoned rail bed once owned by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad. As the name suggests, the trail's main feature is a stone arch bridge, which is listed ...
State: IA Length: 3.8 miles Surface: Ballast, Grass
The Russell White Nature Trail runs for nearly 4 miles through a landscape of forest, pasture and prairie and links the tiny community of Lanesboro with open space to the southwest of the town. The trail occupies part of a railroad corridor ...
State: IA Length: 63 miles Surface: Crushed Stone
The Wabash Trace Nature Trail is a 63 mile route, converted from a railroad right-of-way, coursing across the scenic southwest Iowa countryside from Council Bluffs to Blanchard at the Iowa–Missouri border. Don't let the "nature trail" part ...