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

incredible trail

June 2026 julieganser

We rode this trail on a beautiful summer day. It’s the best ride I’ve ever experienced. The scenery is gorgeous and the asphalt and concrete is perfectly smooth. We were mostly in the George Wyeth State Park area.

Great ride Laporte to Center Point

June 2026 lindag01bike

While I’d ridden the northern portion from Evansdale to Gilbertville which is a bit bumpy , this was my first ride past Urbana on newly paved trail. We started in LaPorte City and rode 26 miles to Center Point and back. Very nice smooth riding. Loved the coffee / ice cream shop right next to the trail in Urbana. Center Point has a restaurant just a block off the Iowa cross street . It’s a beautiful trail with lots of birds and we saw a couple deer. Plenty of other cyclists , more the further south we went. Great portion of the trail , I’ll look forward to exploring further south .

Indiana Trail Reviews

Accordion

Nice trail

September 2024 xgqrms2jbn

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

Five Star Trail!

April 2026 timmorris

Rode the Heart of Iowa trail east from Slater to the Skunk River bridge area, and back, on Monday, 4-20-26. It was 65F with a SE wind at 17 to 25 (windy!). The trail surface was concrete in excellent condition! The trail is exposed to the wind between Slater and Huxley. The last 1.5 miles into Huxley was on surface streets. We ride rail trails so we are not exposed to the dangers presented by cars, so this was a surprise and a disappointment. The landowners who refused to grant the trail a right-of-way allowed their NIMBYism to prevent themselves from putting something beautiful in the world. The portion of the trail within Huxley could benefit from signage; there is virtually none. The Skunk River bridge was the highlight of this section of the trail; great views! If we had a do-over, we would have started in Huxley, skipping the Slater - Huxley section which is not as scenic and requires time with car traffic.

January 0001 Anonymous

great trail

June 2026 cabin6700

This trail is wider than most with pavement in great shape and park like maintenance.

Super trail!

July 2025 dpate

I rode this trail in Sept 2024 before I knew it existed. I left a review on the HTT. SUPER connector trail between two great 5 star trails. I rode it on a weekday in late July 2025 and never saw a soul but I did see some wildlife.
I rate this 5 stars!

Traveling cyclist
Facebook

Over grown with grass most of the way. The underlying surface is reasonable. All that is needed is to be mowed. Then this section of Trail would be quite serviceable.

June 2026 kenbird07

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.

industrial

May 2026 mlawlor72

Rode 12 miles out and back on this trail. Parked at Credit Island Park - lots of spaces for parking - and rode north. There are active and busy train tracks next to the trail and then on the other side is the Mississippi River. The route is industrial vibe scenic on the section I rode. I really enjoyed the trains. There is a section of the trail that is a detour onto the sidewalk for about 3 blocks around Quinlan Park (hope I remembered that name right). The blacktop/concrete trail surface is typical for this kind of ride next to industry. Some roots heaving up here and there but nothing too crazy. I’d recommend the ride because how Often do you get a chance to ride with trains, barges, and the mighty Mississippi River?!

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.

We Will Be Back!

Rode the Raccoon River Valley trail round trip between Perry and Herndon on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. That turned out to be 27.2 miles. We parked at the Caboose Park in Perry. Interestingly, covered parking was available there. We could not find the bathrooms there, so not sure why Trail Link indicates bathrooms are available. The trail surface was fantastic; wide, smooth concrete with mowed grass on both sides. The grass had been recently mowed and the trail had been blown or swept clean. Wow! Nice! The bathrooms in the old depot in Dawson were available and in perfect condition. The trailhead in Herndon offers parking only; no water, no bathrooms. Overall, this was a great ride, one we will do again in the future.

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

September 2024 dpate

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.

great flat ride - Good Iowa scenery with lots of bumps

June 2026 diboy89

We rode the trail from the trail head on the far South End (Pymosa) to Audubon and back.

Highlights: Very Flat, the old trestle midway where the trail diverted was very cool to see. Nice stretch around Exira.

For awareness: The Asphalt is very cracked in a majority of the trail. You can see efforts to repair and smooth it out but still some 2-3 inch cracks for most of the trail.

We enjoyed the trail, the small towns and drove over to Elk Horn for the Dambo troll after riding as a bonus.

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