For several years in the late 2000s and early 2010s Jean and I had trouble getting away for the longer trips that we craved. Part of this was some job instability on my part, new jobs always meant setting the vacation clock back to two weeks a year. And some was due to the trips needed to research an updated, but ultimately unpublished third edition of my Black Hills trail guide. But much of this was also due to an increase in our family obligations. But we still looked for opportunities to combine family visits with some adventures for us.
Going into 2009 Jean had read about Nebraska’s Cowboy Trail, most likely in the Rails to Trails Conservancy’s magazine. The trail wasn’t that far from Ames, at least by western standards, and so we were hooked. The trail was only partly complete, but 147 miles were open from the east end at Norfolk west to Ainsworth. The trail was newly opened, and information was sparse beyond a single sheet flyer available from Nebraska State Parks. Jean was able to contact NSP, and get more information on the trail, including a contact for a shuttle. With the old railroad grade following US 20 through several small towns, we were able to plan an overnight bikepacking trip. We would append the bikepacking to a driving trip to visit family in Ames, Iowa, and ride a few other trails along the way.
5-16-09
We’d
left Knoxville on Friday afternoon and drove through a storm to Cadiz, KY
before stopping for the night. The next day we drove through another storm to
Rocheport, MO, where we had first discovered the Katy Trail just off I-70, west
of Columbia. Rocheport has lodging, food, and a bike shop, but we just needed
to unload our bikes and stretch our legs.
The MKT Tunnel.
We
first rode west though the old MKT railroad tunnel for pictures and a short
side trip to an overlook. We then headed east on the trail through McBaine to
MP 168. There were a couple of new interpretive panel plus a new store and
campground at Huntsdale. Along the way we saw some huge jack-in-the-pulpits
(how do they get so big in the Midwest?), spiderwort, a blacksnake, and lots of
Canada geese. They trail was busy with a giant group of boy scouts spread
between the trailhead and campground. We went into Columbia after the ride to
spend the night. I’ll have more on the Katy Trail, including its own
bikepacking, in a later trip report. 
Diana Bend Conservation Area.
Katy
Trail, east of Rocheport, 21.8 miles
Columbia, MO
5-17-09
From
Columbia we drove north to Ames via Linneus, MO where we stopped to visit the
gravesites of some of Jean’s mother’s family. We drove through a brief shower
near Des Moines, but reached a trailhead for the Heart of Iowa Trail near
Cambridge (just south of Ames) after the rain stopped. After some discussion on
the weather, we unpacked the bikes and rode 7.8 miles west to a geocache just
short of Slater then back to the car.
Jean at Heart of Iowa Trailhead.
Geocaching
uses GPS coordinates to help find caches of various items hidden by other
users, much like a far flung Easter Egg Hunt. We cached enough to know that
often the search led to an interesting, but out of the way place.
Jean geocaching.
The
Heart of Iowa Trail is another converted railroad line with a new crushed
gravel surface. There is about 24 miles of the trail in place, and the west end
connects to the High Trestle Trail, forming part of an impressive collection of
connected trails. The section we rode was very pretty with a nice balance of
agricultural land and a wooded creek. There was a new pavilion at Huxley, where
we stopped to get sandwiches for lunch. Despite the recent rain we saw 6 people
on the trail.
Riding back to the trailhead.
Heart
of Iowa Trail, Cambridge to Slater, 15.6 miles
Ames, Microtel
5-18-09
While
in Ames we were able to get away each day for a walk or bike ride. McFarlane
Park was a new stop for us, and we got up early to visit. It is a 200 acre area
just north of town with 5.5 miles of trails. We rode 8.7 miles on a variety
gravel roads, mowed grasslands, and dirt mountain bike trails. We took a side
trip to Soper’s Mill and checked out a campsite on the west edge of the park.
The grassy sections were OK to ride, but there was not a lot of mountain bike
trail. The area could have used a few more signs and trail markers. But it was
very pretty with a lot of birds and flowers. 
McFarlane Park.
In
the afternoon we rode our bikes 17.5 miles around the various parks in Ames
including Stephen Smith and Brookside parks, plus the Sports Complex.
Jean at McFarlane.
McFarlane
and Ames 25.3 miles
Ames
Microtel
Near the river bridge.
5-19-09
We
rode on the paved trails at Ada Hayden Park on the north end of Ames. The park
is a restored quarry with ponds and a nice trail system, by now our favorite
place to walk in town. We rode about six miles and found two geocaches before
heading back to the hotel to pack for the Cowboy Trail. 
Branch weaving at Ada Hayden Park.
Ada
Hayden Park, 6 miles
Ames Microtel
5-20-09
Jean
had a meeting in the morning, so we headed out later for the ~300 mile drive to
the Cowboy Trail. From the east end in Norfolk the Cowboy Trail follows US 275
and US 20 west to Ainsworth. We’d heard stories of Goathead thorns and Texas
sandburs on the trail, so we stopped in the local bike shop for slime tubes to
line our tires. Then we headed out to the trailhead to walk out and back on the
first mile and a half. That section was paved, along the Elkhorn River, and in
use by several walkers and bikers. The start was in a city park, with few signs
for the Cowboy Trail.
Cowboy Trail, Norfolk.
On
the advice of our shuttle driver, we planned to ride a section of trail further
west so that we would see more of the scenic sand hills section of the trail.
That meant we still had another 30 miles to drive to Neligh. The Deluxe Motel
had been recently renovated and was looking forward to more trail traffic.
There was a nearby steak house and plenty of room out front for me to install
the liners on our bike tires. We did not have any troubles with the thorns on
the ride. This would be only our second bikepacking trip, but we managed to get
all our gear into two panniers and a pair of saddle bags. 
Jean at the Norfolk Trailhead. 
Bike prep in Neligh.
Cowboy
Trail, 3.0 miles
Neligh Deluxe Motel
5-21-09
Mary
Bott, our shuttle driver arrived on time at 7:30 and took us to Newport. We had
planned to start ten miles further west at Bassett, but she had heard that a
section of trail there was too soft to ride. We started one block off US 20 at
Grandmas Park with an overcast sky and light wind. The few sprinkles we’d seen
in Neligh had stopped. There was no trail sign in the park, and we didn’t see a
Cowboy Trail sign all day.
Jean in Newport.
The
warning of soft trail to the west should have tipped us off, as we struggled
with sections of soft surface all day. The ten mile section to Stewart was soft
and covered with red chips, we would learn to identify the changes in surface
by the color of the chips in the trail bed. As a result, we were only able to
ride at 7-8 mph, a decent running pace for me in those days. But this might
have been the prettiest part of the trail. Mary had made a great move
suggesting to us to add in this section. The trail was well away from the
highway allowing us to see lots of birds including some meadowlarks and red
winged blackbirds.
And away we go.
But
just a few miles down the trail we had had an equipment failure. Luckily not
with a bike, the retraction on the lens of our camera jammed so we would be
without pictures for the rest of the ride.
This will be the last picture!
Most
of the mileposts along the route were up, and we saw quarter mile posts as
well, marked by one, two, or three bands on the post. We saw a few “W” signs
that we assumed were whistle stations at road crossings. We were impressed by
the trail's bridgework spanning creeks and wet spots. Most of our attention was on the trail
surface, we had 40 miles to go, and we were riding far slower than we
anticipated. Starting ten miles earlier than we had planned turned out to be a
very lucky break! Occasionally there would be vehicle tracks in the trail, we
would drop into those and rocket off until the tracks disappeared. I’m usually
irate when motorized vehicles use nonmotorized trails, but now I was eagerly
awaiting the next set of tracks.
At
Stuart the trail changed to a white chip surface that was well compacted near
town and got gradually softer as we rode east. I usually led and Jean riding
behind told me a leaving about an inch deep rut behind me. We later talked to a
few locals who wondered about seeing riders on the highway shoulder and
ignoring the trail next to them, I imagined it was easy for riders to abandon
the trail, and take the much faster highway shoulder, but we were too stubborn
to do this. We didn’t stop in Stuart, but generally took a break, or got a
snack, in the small towns along the trail which seemed to be about ten miles
apart.
From
Stuart to near Emmet the trail was mostly alongside US 20, but 50 yards or so
away, enough to dampen the road noise a bit. US 20 had very light traffic so
the “ride the shoulder strategy” was very tempting. But, I was not long out of
Barkley training and by God, I wasn’t going to stop on a trail with less than a
1% grade, even if just keeping the bike moving forward was about killing me. Jean
was having a bit easier time since she did not have the load of the panniers
and didn’t sink in as far.
We
had a trailside lunch and then pulled into Atkinson for a treat. We went to Goeke’s
and had chocolate malts. The store is straight out of the 1950s with an old
fashioned soda fountain. The malt was delicious, even though the temps were in
the 60s and we were wearing wind and wicker layers to cope with the wind. East
of Atkinson the trail became very soft again. We were working really hard to go
6 mph (sometimes its not great to have a bike odometer right in your face all
the time) and I had to stop every few miles to rest. About five miles out I was
wondering if we would get to O’Neill on time when the surface changed back to
the harder red chip layer. We sped back up to 7-8 mph and had some confidence
in reaching O’Neill.
Of
course, the firmer base held up, but other conditions did not. Soon the wind
changed direction and started coming directly in our faces. Coming into O’Neill,
we had to bypass a short piece of trail that was being used as a spur by an
ethanol plant. We saw our first trail signs in town, we’d see only two others
on the entire bike trip. At the center of town we turned off the trail to go to
the Golden Hotel. This was an old railroad hotel (built in 1913) and had been
recently renovated. Everything was in great shape, and it felt a privilege to
be staying in such a grand hotel. O’Neill is one of the larger towns along the
trail and has a few chain hotels, but those are not the places you want to stay
on a trip like this. The town has an Irish theme, with a huge shamrock painted
in the town center so we celebrated by walking a block to an Irish pub for
dinner.
Cowboy
Trail, Newport to O’Neill, 37 Miles
Golden Hotel, O’Neill, NB
5-22-09
We
woke to a light rain in O’Neill, that turned to heavy rain by the end of
breakfast. But one advantage of our hotel was cable TV, not for the
entertainment, but for the weather radar. We spent 80 minutes watching the
storm clear out, before launching just as the rain left town. Not something you
could do on a backpacking trip, in those days. We had a nice ride to Inman with
just a little rain at the start.
But
the next section to Clearwater was close to the highway, arrow straight, and had
no buffer to the road. The trail was also soft east of O’Neill, but we were
able to ride in some tire tracks to around Ewing and that let us buildup to 7-8
mph. We had another batch of light rain between Inman and Ewing. In the middle
of this section was the split between US 20, heading due east, and US 275
heading southeast to Norfolk along with the Cowboy Trail. Ewing to Clearwater
had no tire tracks so it was very slow going. We stopped in Clearwater for a
snack at the gas station. We later decided we wouldn’t reride Inman to
Clearwater if given the chance because it was too soft, too straight, and too
close to the highway, but you really can’t skip sections of rail trails, they
are linear unlike the hiking trail networks we are used to.
Beyond
Clearwater was a pretty section 4-5 mile section away from the highway and
closer to the Elkhorn River, which we had been following from a distance since
the start of the ride. We really missed having the camera here, we got lots of
good river views. This section had a lot more vehicle tracks (including
snowmobiles), so it was much firmer and faster. We saw a family dog walking
about two miles west of Neligh, the first other trail users we’d seen (no fresh
tracks either) since our walk in Norfolk two days prior. We would see one trail
runner after we started the drive back to Norfolk. We’d also find three
geocaches on the ride, including Cowboy Saturn which was part of a set placed
to illustrate the scale of the solar system by placing caches the same relative
position from the start of the trail that the planets are from our sun.
After
41 miles, we got back to our Subaru at the hotel in Neligh. We drove to
Carroll, Iowa for the night and got another hotel room. The next day we were
back in Ames to wrap up the family visits, and then came the long drive back to
Knoxville.
Cowboy Trail, O’Neill to Neligh, 41 Miles
As
of 2022, 187 miles of the Cowboy Trail are open from Norfolk to Valentine where
the trail crosses the Niobrara River. A section between Gordon and Rushville
(15mi) west of Valentine is also developed and opened in 2019.There are plans
to eventually extend to 321 miles at Chadron.
