High Trestle Trail, outside Des Moines

Drove into Madrid where they had a large parking area for this ride. It is a 25 mile ride, point to point, but we are doing about the middle 6 (out and back) that includes the bridge. This is a "rails to trails" ride, in other words converted railroad to trails for walking, jogging, biking, etc. Oddly enough Iowa prides itself on the over 700 miles of trail they have for biking. This particular ride was completed in 2011 and had to include replacing the old Trestle bridge with this new pedestrian bridge that is actually half a mile long!
We really enjoyed the ride! Perfect weather. For those who don't know, railroad grades are typically 5% or less, so are very easy rides. Only drawback, they can be straight as an arrow! Regardless, this was a well maintained, 6' wide concrete trail, with a beautiful tree canopy over most of the stretch we were on. We ended up in Woodward, just in time for an early lunch! (How does that happen?) At at this very cute little restaurant, split a burger and some of the best onion rings we had ever had. The thin ones that are actually dipped and cooked in the kitchen!Read more