Blue River / Chief Standing Bear Trail -- Marysville KS to Nebraska

For the 4th of July 2020, we drove up to Marysville to ride the Blue River Trail into Nebraska where the name of the trail changes to the Chief Standing Bear Trail. It was a hot hot day, and we didn't take enough water. We assumed that we would be able to refill our water bottles at the trailhead at Barneston, NE but didn't anticipate that the water fountains would be shut off because of Covid. This is a very remote trail that doesn't pass through many towns, so we were pretty much SOL. We powered on but had to stop a few times to rest. We were clearly getting dehydrated and it was a stupid dangerous position we put ourselves in. Lesson learned: Always take more water than you think you need and never assume you'll be able to refill bottles somewhere.

Keystone Trail -- Omaha, Nebraska

We decided when the first of us hit age 50 this year, we would start a "ride your age" birthday ride every year. We wanted a paved trail where we could get a 50 mile ride, so we chose the Keystone Trail in Omaha and took a day trip. 

We actually ended up riding 52.5 miles. Had to wait for the rain to clear out, but after it did just before noon, it turned out to be a beautiful day!

I'll be honest, though. The only thing this trail has going for it is that it is a smooth paved trail that you can get a lot of miles in on. There's absolutely nothing scenic or interesting about it.

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Blue River Rail Trail - Marysville, Kansas

On a forecast Indian Summer day in November, my Sweetie and I decided to go ride a rail trail in north central Kansas and southern Nebraska that we had heard about, the Blue River Rail Trail (Link). We got up early and drove north to Marysville, KS.  We decided awhile back it's best to eat before we ride so we don't end up Hangry! on the ride. I mapped out several choices. Once we got there we decided upon burgers at Hardee's.  I believe it was a little before noon when we arrived north of town to the nice trailhead.  We unloaded our bikes and headed north!

Looks like we were excited to get started!

A nice description of the trail

Neat covered bridge just a short walk up the trail from the trailhead

Likely a beautiful Tree Tunnel during other parts of the year

Being a rail trail, you pass through some remnants of ghost towns along the trail

Neat stone wall lining the wall of the trail

Artwork?!? along the trail  ('Mater..... dat you?)

A full elevator along the trail.  It was late harvest season!
(Oketo, KS, we think, according to the map. There was no sign near the trail identifying it)

Trail became the Chief Standing Bear Trail (Link) as we crossed into Nebraska!

Dork Alert!

My sweetie making a political statement right before the election!
(Would I do such a thing? ~~H)

Rut Roh, missed it by 4 days!

Our northernmost point where we decided to turn around and head back south

There was quite a breeze from the south on our ride back.  My sweetie struggled with it a bit, hence my unusual position of being so far out front.  Played a part in her decision to get a lighter bike not long after this ride.

(Encouraging me to "just keep pedaling"!  ~~H)

Overall we enjoyed this nice example of a rail trail.  Its gravel surface was much smoother than other gravel trails we have ridden. I would recommend this trail to others, with the understanding that wind can be an issue on its many flat open stretches....S

Here is a Video of our Ride!

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Steamboat Trace Trail -- Brownville to Peru, Nebraska

Reviewing our pictures and videos we discovered that we had never posted about our birthday trip to Nebraska and Iowa back in October of 2014, so we present it now, two years later!

It was birthday celebration weekend for one of the pedalers of this blog so we headed to the next state north to ride the Steamboat Trace Trail from the southernmost trailhead in Brownville, Nebraska.

Neat old building remaining from a golden era in Brownsville!

First thing we encountered when we started off on the trail was a detour! 

They even provided a map of where you needed to ride to follow the detour.  The thing the map does not show is that the detour was an extremely steep climb up from the low ground near the river up into town.  Hmmm, do we follow the detour?!?!?

Nope!  We were rebels and walked the bikes across the construction zone. We do not condone ignoring construction zones! In this case we could tell it was safe to cross.



The trail runs along the Missouri river bluffs, sometimes right along the river and sometimes fertile fields they squeeze between the bluffs and the river.

Nice of them to warn us right after we had out teeth rattle out by washouts! :) 
 

Your bike's pointed the wrong way!



Taking a break on a nice bench they provided........

....... right beside this bridge



Ready to get back at it!  Showing off her special gloves that work on touchscreens without having to take them off!

Back to the tree tunnel!



Neat picnic table right along the river!

Beautiful!



Along the trail there are some carvings in the rock wall that were done by Roland Sherman.  You can read more info about them at this link.

There were some other carving in the same area that I'm pretty sure were done by teenage boys, but we decided not to post those here because this is a G-rated blog. :) ~~H

Eventually we reached our northernmost destination, Peru!

 

One of the cabins provided at the campsite.

On the way back we snapped another picture with the carvings!

Pointing out a remnant from the railroad that once traversed this path!

Actually if I remember correctly, this was for a Bicycle Ride and Seek scavenger hunt item. We were supposed to find something with our age on it?  Haha!!!! In this case it was a divisible factor of my age. ~~H 

 

After a long day of riding we traveled on to Shenandoah, Iowa for the night because we planned to ride the Wabash Trace Trail there tomorrow. We got checked into our hotel and then went and found dinner at a Godfather's Pizza and got some strange items on their buffet!  Nothing beats a nutritious post-ride supper of jello, pudding, pizza and picked beets!

A little video from our ride!

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