One thing we’ve wanted to check out almost ever since arriving in Iowa City is the Cedar Valley Nature Trail and we finally made that happen over Memorial Day Weekend. And what started out as just an afternoon jaunt quickly turned into two days of biking fun.
We biked about 6 miles of the trail on day one (12 miles round trip), from Tate Cummins Memorial Park, south of Cedar Rapids. It was all paved, and about 7 feet wide at a minimum, so it was very easy to pass bicyclists heading in the other direction. Also, it was mostly flat but with a few gentle ups and downs. And the best part – it was alongside the Cedar River for this entire portion.
The Cedar Valley Nature Trail spans 52 miles from Evansdale to Ely. It is Iowa’s “Gateway Trail” portion of the the Great American Rail Trail, a huge project that will someday connect the east and west coasts of the United States. The Great American Rail Trail will be a safe, off-road 3,800 mile biking/hiking trail, pieced together from existing trails in various participating communities across the county. Many of these trails, including the Cedar Valley Nature Trail are built from abandoned railroad lines. (check out Rails to Trails for more info)
We had a great time and wanted to see more of the trail, so we found a campground in Evansdale and stayed there for more fun the next day.
After riding about 5 miles (10 round trip) we also wanted to check out some dirt single track trails so we pushed on further north for that at Ingawanis Woodlands up by Janesville.
And if you wonder after watching the video – Yes, I do my own stunts!
So it ended up being a great weekend for biking and we can’t wait to explore more trails like these. Check out the video below to see some of the trail for yourself.
3 thoughts on “Biking the Cedar Valley Nature Trail”
Sweet memories! Love the Great American River Trail.
I really enjoyed the video. It was hard to imagine how far you traveled until you showed your map. That was a great idea! That looks like so much fun! So on the first trail was it 12 miles there and 12 miles back? Also on the mountain trail, you’re not concerned about animals? I am always on the lookout for foxes when I used to run. Great video! I would love to go riding again. Maybe one day.
Hi Melody, the first one was 12 miles round trip. And no, we were not too concerned with animals. There were other people on the trails as well and I think any animals would have been scared away. But we do worry about ticks on trails like this and nettles – don’t want to ride too far off the trail with all those nettles!
Thanks for the comment!