After riding this trail I said to myself "What is it doing here?" It is surprising as far away from things the trail is that someone would even think to put it where it is. The trail is an old railroad, so the hills are not very hilly, but when you ride the trail you know why is is called valley... you go down, then up. The 'towns' along the way are puny and I saw only a handful of people, but they all waved and said 'hello'. I passed only a handful of other bikes. If you really want to get away from things and go off by yourself, this is your trail. Make sure you pay attention before you go where the trailhead is, it is not in a logical, easy place to find.

Even though it was early (mid March) the weather was warm & the trail was nearly snow & ice free. The southwestern trailhead was a little hard to find driving east through Bondurant--some signs would have been nice. The Baxter end was the most scenic with the rolling hills & marshland. It was surprising to find this undeveloped area so close to Des Moines. The small towns didn't have much to offer as far as convenience stores or rest rooms, so pack your own food & water. There was a dog bite report from a little east of Mingo although I didn't get chased; so be on the lookout.

" Rode this trail on Sept. 3, 2007. Very typical scenery of midwest, crops, livestock, flowers, and lovely hills. I am one who appreciates the engineering of these railroad corridors, how they go around the steepest hills with a gentle grade..
Hope you like the pictures. Trail surface has potholes, and one large bridge has loose boards. Flowers were gorgeous on Labor Day, 2007. "

" I sent some pictures of this trail over the weekend. One was about the red caboose at the end of the line. If you could add explanation that caboose is in the village of Bailey, the northernmost point & trailhead on the Chichaqua, it would be appreciated. Also, if the pictures are too small, I can reduce image quality and then they will be larger. Let me know. Thanks Rick Wagner"

"This is one of the most scenic and underutilized trails near Des Moines. It is almost exactly 20 miles from one end to the other. There are several picnic areas including benches and porta potties along the way, bridges, and it ends in Baxter at an old red caboose.

The previous review said something about a gravel approach to the trailhead. I don't know what they were talking about. There's a nice paved parking area at the Bondurant trailhead (off Route 65 - look for the signs) as well as in Baxter."

"This is a pretty decent 20 mile trail about 15 miles NE of Des Moines. The SW trailhead is a couple miles outside of the town of Bondurant. It's a little inconvenient to get to if you're on your bike, because it's off the main road and you must ride about 1/3 mile of gravel to reach the trailhead.

Once on the trail (and assuming you're reading SW-NE), it's about 10 miles of paved 4% grade to the town of Mingo and another 10 miles of paved trail to Baxter. In Mingo, there's a friendly little watering hole where the locals are friendly and the beer is cheap and cold. There are two taverns in Baxter, one of which was extensively remodeled in 2000 and is very nice.

The trail used to be crushed limestone, but was paved in 1999 -- so traffic has increased somewhat. The trail offers a nice mix of scenery -- rolling farmland and woods along the Skunk River. There are a few park benches that offer decent opportunities for impromptu picnics.

Out of five stars, I'd probably give this about a three -- primarily because the trail head is not conveniently located."