This morning we got around early (early for me) to go ride the Prairie Sunset Trail just outside of town before it got to hot. This rail-to-trail is now open for 8 continuous miles. It was a bit overgrown but still a nice ride. Spotted a young deer, a turtle, lots of bugs, bunnies and birds. The temperature was in the mid 80s.
The trail runs East from Garden Plain to 2 miles East of Goddard. If you're riding the entire trail I would suggest starting in Garden Plain as there is vehicle parking at a park near the railroad tracks where the trail begins. Photos here.

This is our 2nd time to ride this trail. (Here) is the first.

The Prairie Travelers is the organization responsible for the trail. You can visit their website here.

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The day after the Tour De Fat in Portland we drove up to Astoria, Oregon where we rode the Astoria Riverwalk which just by coincidence is the Rails-To-Trails conservancy's August trail of the month. The Astoria Riverwalk runs along side the Columbia river for about 5 miles.

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In August phase 3 of the Prairie Spirit Trail project was opened. This makes it a 50 mile trail from Ottawa to Iola.

We've been all over the US and even Canada riding rails-to-trails but had still not ridden the one in our own back yard the Prairie Sunset Trail. The trail is still not finished but we decided to ride what segments we could that were open.
We started in Garden Plain. To get to the trail head we exited hi-way 54 to Garden Plain and parked at the Garden Plain Park which is just North of where the trail begins. We rode East for 1 mile and then back. For the first few hundred feet the trail runs alongside the old railroad tracks that are still in place.
Next we hauled the bikes to Goddard where there is a nice trail head/park in the middle of town. Just drive down Main street and it's easy to find. We rode 1 mile West out of Goddard and back, then 2 miles East and back. So total we rode about 8 miles and this appeared to be all that was open.
The trail surface is a nice fine crushed rock that could probably even be ridden on a skinny tired bike. In Goddard the trail is paved. After the ride we ate at Gerrard's on hiway 54 in Goddard.

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This is a 36 mile crushed-gravel rail-to-trail that runs between Springfield and Bolivar Missouri.
We were riding the trail out and back for a little over 70 miles and had planned on riding it over a two day period. The weather forecast was predicting rain for the second day so we decided to ride it all in one day. I only made it back to within 6 miles of our truck for a total of 65 miles. At about the 50 mile mark my back started bothering me and got so bad that I was stopping every mile or so to lay flat on the trail to get some relief. Nova went the whole 70+ miles to the truck and came back to get me.
This is a nice riding trail with most of it being in the trees. This ride would probably be most enjoyable as the trees are turning.

Photos here.

Trail website here.

We took a short trip to Iowa to ride 2 trails. My parents came along and shuttled our truck so we could ride one way.

04-29-07. The Wabash Trace rail-to-trail in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The trail is crushed limestone and totals 62 miles. We rode about 35 miles from Council Bluffs to Imogene. Our intent was to ride the entire trail but due to the direction I chose to ride being uphill, the wind against us and record hi temperature (90s) we quit early. Oh and me being out of shape probably didn't help. Nova could have finished.
Photos here.

05-01-07. The Cedar Valley Nature Trail is a raill-to-trail between Waterloo and Cedar Rapids. We rode the entire trail for 51 miles. We started at the Evansville trailhead and rode south to Hiawatha. The trail was paved the first 15 miles out of Evansville and then turned to gravel.
Photos here.

This is a rail-to-trail that has both paved and non-paved sections. We parked at the Munson Hill trail head and rode into Ashtabula then back past our vehicle and south towards the other end. We rode the entire paved section and a few miles of the non-paved untill it became too muddy where we turned around and rode back to our vehicle. This was 40 miles and took about 4 1/2 hours. It's an easy, straight, level ride. The fall colors were the highlight of this ride. We stayed the night prior to and after the ride in Ashtabula. Photos here. Trail website.

Rail-To-Trail Discussion group Please join and share information on rail-to-trails.
Rails To Trails Conservancy A non profit organization creating trails from former railways.
Trail Link A great resource for finding trails.
Great Bicycle Trails Another couples rail-to-trail adventures.