Pedaling Wolf Creek Valley

GLADBROOK, IOWA - This weekend while visiting family I had the opportunity to bike the Comet Trail and the adjoining Wolf Creek Trail, two of my favorite places to cycle whenever I am visiting the area.  Combined, these two trails stretch nine miles between the towns of Gladbrook in Tama County, and Conrad in Grundy County.  The trails follow the abandoned line of the Chicago Northwestern Railroad that once ran between Toledo, Jewell and points west.  Growing up in the area, I was witness to the demise of this railroad line in the early 1980's and the development of the Comet Trail which is where I was first exposed to the rails-to-trails phenomenon.  The Wolf Creek Trail was more recently developed as a number of trail supporters in the Gladbrook community worked with the Tama County Conservation Board, among other groups, to acquire the former railroad right-of-way along with some land where a short detour from the former railroad bed is required due to reclamation back to row cropping.

Sunset over the Comet Trail in southern Grundy County.

     The trail has a crushed limestone surface, and lends itself to a bicycle with slightly wider tires than what a road bike offers (although I have ridden this many times on a road bike).  This weekend, I had brought along the Sun EZ-1 which is perfect for a leisurely ride through the Wolf Creek Valley.  The weather this weekend was quite hot and muggy (a return to some of the conditions we saw several weeks ago), and on Friday there was threat of severe weather in the area which developed just to our north.  Fortunately the southern flank of the storm missed us so conditions were great on Friday evening for a quick ride between Beaman and Conrad just before the sun went down.

West bound toward Conrad.  Lightning could be seen in the north as storms just missed us in Northern Grundy County.

This little guy was guarding the trail when I jumped on the trail.  Fortunately he was the only snake I encountered this evening.

     On Saturday I headed east toward Gladbrook.  The morning was quite muggy, and with all of the moisture in the air it was rather overcast.  However, conditions were still great for an early morning ride.  Lots of wildlife seen this morning, including an encounter with a skunk who was foraging right in the middle of the trail and fortunately didn't bother me after making some noise to shoe him back into the adjoining woods.

Headed east on the south edge of Beaman through a tunnel of trees.

Wolf Creek has its headwaters in Southern Grundy County and meanders its way eastward across Tama County toward the LaPorte City area, where it eventually spills into the Cedar River.  It's not quite wide enough for decent paddling in this area, although some areas may be navigable further east.

Entering Gladbrook on the northwest side of town.  Parts of the trail have an asphalt surface (further ahead) due to some flood damage that occurred back in 2008 to help stabilize the trail.

At the eastern terminus of the Wolf Creek trail is the spot where the Chicago Great Western Railroad once intersected the CNW.  The CGW depot sat in this lot straight ahead.  The CGW was eventually absorbed by the CNW, who also abandoned this line (which ran between Marshalltown and Cedar Falls, among many other cities) in the early 1980's.

Here is the trail head in Gladbrook.  Note the new sign that Tama County Conservation must have just put up within the last several months.

Downtown Gladbrook.  A number of places to stop and grab a bite to eat...I was too early though...Casey's was the only place open at 6:30 AM.

Headed back west.  This prairie area is located just northwest of Gladbrook.

Just about back to Beaman.

Total mileage for Saturday was about fifteen miles on the Sun 'bent.  Quite a nice way to start off the weekend enjoying some fresh air and the picturesque Wolf Creek Valley.