Happy Trails

Our biking get away this year took us to Iowa and the High Trestle Trail.

We were pleasantly surprised by this well-kept, smooth and wide bike trail lined with native plants and trees that led us to, and over, the High Trestle Bridge. The high and funky bridge across the Des Moines River was a sight to see, especially at night. The bridge is a half-mile long and 130 ft. above the Des Moines River.

We rode our bikes on the trail to the bridge in the afternoon. After dinner we walked the trail to see the bridge lit up with a beautiful shade of bright blue. There were other folks out there on this beautiful summer solstice evening, both biking and walking. It is a biking/pedestrian bridge, in place where an old railroad bridge used stand. The original trestle train bridge was built in 1912 and reconstructed in 1971. It became a pedestrian bridge in 2003.

The trail the next day was a nice surprise too. We drove to Big Creek State Park and started pedaling on the smooth, but hilly trail along Big Creek, then along Saylorville Lake. Up and down we went and in some places it was like a roller coaster…pedal up and then coast down a hill and half way up the next hill, then pedal a bit more to the top and then coast down again…whee…

Again we were surprised when we saw how big the dam was. We rode the mile across the length of the dam and back again, for the fun of it.

On our last day our ride took us through what we expected from the beginning when we headed to Iowa, and that was the beautiful, but flat cornfields of Iowa.

We discovered there are hundreds of miles of bike trials in this area so we’ll go back. The B&B we stayed at was delightful…a log house with many wonderful features, and at night…a view of the beautiful, blue bridge.