Iowa | TrailLink

The " Great American" Route Through Iowa

The first state in the nation to put the Railbanking Act of 1983 to use, Iowa has a long history of leadership in trail development. Its rich network of trails includes well-established pathways such as the picturesque Cedar Valley Nature Trail—one of the state’s first rail-trail conversions and the state’s Great American gateway trail—and the nationally renowned High Trestle Trail with its famous mine-shaft-themed art installation. These trails will join with dozens of other trails to create a 465-miles-plus route from Davenport to Council Bluffs.

Iowa is rich in railroad and western trail history, with Council Bluffs having served as the eastern terminus for the first transcontinental railroad and a stop along the 1804–1806 Corps of Discovery Expedition—now the headquarters for the 3,700-mile Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.

A Great Way to Spend a Sunday Morning!

October 2021 thejake91739

The wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our trip bicycling from the Nebraska side to Iowa and eventually back over on this awesome suspension bridge in October. Plenty of photo ops, pedestrians, and joggers!
Bicyclists: Plan on riding Omaha's Riverfront Trail and Iowa's Riverfront Trail on either side of the bridge to make a day of it! Council Bluff's Tom Hanafan River's Edge Park is especially cool with its large grassy areas, trees, and sculptures!

Paw Park

October 2015 noel.keler

Found parking at Paw Park with facilities. Trail surface is in good condition. North from Paw Park is through Commercial area. South some shade & scenic to Prairie Lakes Park. Many unmarked side trails that can confuse. Great Mayor Bridge across SR58. Noel Keller 8 Sep 15

Trail closed

September 2024 dpate

I wanted to ride the Cedar Valley Lakes Trail while I was in the area. I started from Deerwood Road near Deerwood Park. I rode about 4 miles until 11th street where the trail was closed. I crossed the river north of there and rode a trail on the other side of the river which was also closed at 11th street. Doing research I am not sure if it is all closed or not. I will return in the future and hope this will be open. Traveling cyclist Facebook

Kind of rough

September 2024 xgqrms2jbn

In early September 2024 I started this Cedar Valley Trail in Evansdale and headed south. The trail was paved but it has a lot of big perpendicular cracks and little sink spots that detract from the enjoyment. Too bad they haven't paint marked the bad spots that you cannot see when they're in shadow. It is one of the rougher trails I have ridden and I was begging for it to turn into crushed stone. At Miller Creek Road the trail was closed. I believe it's where the much wanted gravel section would have started. I think they are paving the gravel parts so the new parts should be good when completed. I was anxious to ride this trail but I was a little let down by the condition and the closing. 4 stars for surface condition.
Traveling cyclist
Facebook

Indiana Trail Reviews

Accordion

Nice trail

I discovered this trail after connecting from the Gilbert Drive Trail. It is a great little trail.
Traveling cyclist
Facebook

Good connector

I started this trail at Deerwood Park and rode it to the connection to the Evansdale Trail and back. I noticed going east on the south side it has a sign bike trail ONE WAY and vice versa in the north side heading west. 5 stars for this shorty. Traveling cyclist Facebook

Great way to bike across the Mississippi

June 2022 hilbertdr

We did a ride combining short sections of the Great River Trail (IL) and Mississippi River Trail (IA) and used the Arsenal Bridge for one of our two river crossings. It has a separated bike/walk trail and it was easy to ride and fun to get a close up view of the Lock and Dam

Spring 2025 update

May 2025 patrickhconnor

Heart of Iowa trail is now paved concrete from Huxley to Collins. It’s a great 33 miles RT ride with great views of Iowa farmland. Sidetrip in Maxwell to see Story County Freedom Rock (all 99 Iowa counties have a mural painted rock) and refuel in Collins at Sweet Oaks Bakery + Bistro.

January 0001 Anonymous

Beautiful

May 2025 sjf0809

Since I was traveling through the area on my way back to Ohio, I made a point of seeing the bridge with its fancy artwork. It was worth it. Weather didn't allow me to do much more than Madrid to Woodward and back. The cement trail was wide and clean. The bridge was great. There are informational signs before and on the bridge. After dark (and a rainstorm) I went from the trail parking lot in Madrid to across the bridge, to the viewing area and back. The 30 mph winds made it very breezy while on the bridge, but the lights made it so cool. I would encourage others to see it in daylight and again when the lights are on.

Spectacular New Connector Trail from Woodward to Perry

October 2024 sringlee

The Woodward-to-Perry Connector in the High Trestle Trail was long planned, requiring new bridges, land acquisition/donation and careful design. The result is spectacular. I rode this today on a cool Autumn day through harvested farm fields and along streams. The views are superb. The trail surface (paved concrete) is top notch. It crosses a few well-marked country roads but otherwise is a dedicated nature trail for hiking and biking. The entire route from Woodward to Perry is separated path except for two blocks of residential side street in Bouton. Although brand new, this trail is seeing use: groups of cyclists went by; numerous hikers and runners were out; and small kids on bikes near Perry were using it. It exits into residential streets in Perry that are well signposted to guide one to downtown or to the other trails beginning in Perry. Hats off to the County board of supervisors and the numerous volunteers and donors who made this happen.

The first part was fully overgrown. Maybe the sections in the north get better...

August 2022 wriesnik.elias

well-maintained

September 2020 dbahrenfuss

Nice trail!

Trail Access

September 2022 jgator

The Historic Trails Center at the southern end of the trail was not open when I did the trail in mid Sept. No parking available. However, lots of parking available at the Council Bluffs Recreational complex about 1/2 east on the same road and there is a nice bike trail that connects to the Riner Front Trail.

Really Fun..

May 2022 frank.figueroa7044

Very enjoyable bike trail.. great workout awesome scenery. Definitely recommend

jmac

June 2021 mcguire2001

This is a nice shaded trail and attaches to the Wabash on the east side. If you go west it’s a 5 mile ride to the Bob Kerry pedestrian bridge. The pavement on Manawa Trail is rippled and pretty bumpy on the southside.

pretty nice

December 2023 cthibalt

Rode this trail in December seems really nice to me. I almost didn’t go because of the negative reviews, I guess these items have been repaired because I had no complaints.

Mississippi River Trail - Davenport

June 2024 kevin.gruneisen

June 18, 2024 (12:30PM)
We rode the river trail on the 18th of June. It was hot and windy (winds out of the East/South East @15 MPH gusting to 25MPH). We parked south of Davenport at the trail head on Credit Island and rode to the Pat and Jack Bush Scenic Overlook, which provides a nice view of the river. The total round trip was 16.6 miles, with a lunch stop at Front Street Pub in Davenport. The ride had very little elevation, about 25 feet. The wind was a big factor for us as was the heat. There is little to no protection on this ride from the sun. It is all out in the open. The path was very nice, clean and paved. Will do it again, maybe starting at Riverdale and go south.
KG

Nice Trail

October 2012 dctrail

The Pioneer Trail provides a nice way to enjoy the countryside across the central part of Grundy County. With the exception of a couple of gaps in the trail in and around Grundy Center, cycling the trail is a very enjoyable experience.

Great trail except for one section

July 2024 ltbike

This trail is mostly concrete and very smooth and pretty. Our favorite section is Yale to Redfield. The very worst section is Yale to Jefferson--I advise not even going on that section--multiple wide cracks, potholes, limbs hanging over the trail--we finally turned around and rode a different direction--we were at the Herndon TH/junction. Boo to Guthrie County for not maintaining their part of the trail. We camped at Springbrook State Park.

Jim

September 2021 jimpospisil

Nice trail all cement hopefully they extend it before long support your local trails

Great trail, but..........

August 2023 rkc1954

Great trail, but doubt if a lot of us will live long enough to see it finished. Started in 2017 in Marshall county, been working on it for 7 years but only 3 miles done. At this rate, it will take about 25 years to get to the Hardin County line, (about 12 miles) where they will take over for their share. I believe Hardin county has maybe 5 miles paved. There's a large bridge over the Iowa River north of Marshalltown which needs replaced to carry the ambulances. The trail is concrete and 10 feet wide.

enjoyable

Not that much shaded areas but it was a good time.. very windy at times cause it’s next to the river.

Good trail

This is another great trail in the Cedar Valley Trail system. It’s a smooth trail and though it runs near a road the noise is not deafening. I enjoyed this trail and I rate it 5 stars. Traveling cyclist Facebook

Great for bike riding

October 2020 ckoher

This is a beautiful section of trail for walking, running, biking. It is one of my favorite trails to ride when in Iowa. Rather flat paved path that runs along the river, and tree covered for a shady ride on warmer days.

rough asphalt

March 2024 lyonsjustin1958

It is too bad the asphalt has cracked. A great effort was made to have a nice trail but the cracks were enough to make it rough riding. That is the reason such a low rating. I also question why most of the trees have been cut down.

Get tired legs rideing all the trails that comes off the vererans memorial trail and the numberass of veiws from 17 miles north of Omaha Neb. to the Iowa and Mo. state line south you won't forget these trails from one to the other

June 2013 shirart

I say this becaus i have made all of these trails one at time sometimes two or three and there is water as you go Have nice trip there is some grades but not bad ones as im 76 235lb so if i can make it you can also