High Trestle Trail

Today we checked one more item off my Des Moines area bucket list.  We drove up to Woodward to bike on the High Trestle Trail. 

Since it would be an out-and-back ride, we couldn't do the entire 26-mile length.  We chose to start at the Woodward end because the High Trestle Bridge is just 2.6 miles down the trail from there.

The bridge is quite impressive and it's a thrill to be so high up over the Des Moines River and surrounding valley.  The remainder of the 10 miles that we rode into Slater were not that exciting.  There was a nice city park where we ate lunch in Slater before turning around.  But a rails-to-trails is flat and open to the sun beating down and not an ideal ride on a hot Iowa summer day.

Overlooking the High Trestle Trail Bridge.

Sunday afternoon ride on Gay Lea Wilson Trail, just down the street from our hotel.

Garden in Altoona on Prairie Heritage Trail that adjoined the Gay Lea Wilson Trail.