Prairie Spirit Trail - Princeton to Garnett, KS round trip

Since we both had Good Friday off from work, we decided to go ride another portion of the Prairie Spirit Trail. In 2013, we had ridden from Ottawa to Princeton. We decided to pick up where we left off and do the Princeton to Garnett round-trip leg.

At the Princeton trailhead. 



It wasn't as cold as the first time we rode this trail, but there was still enough nip in the air that we needed jackets and gloves. The bathrooms and water fountains at Princeton and Richmond had not been un-winterized yet; however, the depot at Garnett was open for both of those amenities.

Coming into Richmond from the north.



Closeup of a couple of disused buildings, possibly a garage of some sort back in the day.



The tunnel where the trail passes under Hwy 59 just south of Richmond. Can see the Richmond elevator in the distance.



At several points there were the remnants of the base of the old railroad signposts.  And that's him spitting in the hole. Because that's what guys do, I guess.



The bridge that crosses over Pottawatomie Creek shows this low-water crossing on what appears to be a farm field access road. Hope that's all the road is used for, anyway!



The trail passes right beside Garnett Lake, and Mustang Man gave me my Carroll Shelby/Shelby Cobras history lesson on the significance of this lake and the road that encircles it. He even sent me this link when we got home, so I felt obliged to include it here. According to him, and he knows a lot more about sports cars than I do, it was "a very pivotal race in their history."  Standing there looking at the road in person, I said to him, "They raced cars on this?  Isn't it kind of narrow? And really close to the water?" Seems this link says the exact same thing: "First of all it is very narrow, I think passing would have been very difficult.   Beyond that it all looks very dangerous, it would seem to me you could easily end up in the lake or off the dam (which is a long way down)."

So, for posterity, and because it has meaning to him, here's my guy in front of the road that Carroll Shelby raced Shelby Cobras on.





Welcome to Garnett sign in the same vicinity.

After passing by the swimming pool and crossing Park Road, the trail surface becomes paved all the way to the depot.

This part of the trail is lined with these lampposts that from a distance I thought were some cool Japanese-inspired square design.  As it turned out, upon getting closer, it became apparent they are actually vandalism-inspired round globes with protective metal cages over them.  LOL  Hey, whatever works.

You pass by the town water tower.

With this little nugget of wisdom added to the stop sign.  Sound advice.

Soon you arrive in the downtown area



With the stately courthouse taking center stage in the town square. It's certainly a much more aesthetically pleasing structure than the drab gray cinderblock-looking one in our county.



The trail crosses an active railroad track onto the grounds of the old Santa Fe Depot, which serves as the trailhead, where you are welcomed by a little red caboose.



Celebrating making it to our destination! (Now we just have to turn around and ride the same number of miles back to our car.) LOL

Before we headed back, we did go into the depot to use the facilities, fill up our water bottle, and have some more fun with the camera self-timer.

Total round trip miles:  32

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Prairie Spirit Trail -- Ottawa to Princeton and back

We decided to try the Prairie Spirit Trail today. It was a blustery day with a pretty brisk northwest wind and temperatures in the mid 50s. We questioned the conditions and whether we wanted to commit to such from the get-go.  This trail is actually part of the Kansas State Park system and requires a fee to use outside the city limits of the 3 largest towns on the trail (Ottawa, Garnett, and Iola).  So, our plan was to start at the Old Depot Museum on the north end of Ottawa and ride the 2 or 3 miles of free paved trail within the city limits of Ottawa and then make our determination if we wanted to pay our $3.50 per person daily use fee and continue out into the open prairie.  Once on the south edge of Ottawa, we decided we would like to continue on and see what it was all about.  Not knowing how the pay stations worked exactly, we were prepared with our $7.00 correct cash in the bike bag, and we figured we would just drop our money in a locked box.  But here's a tip:  You're also going to need a pen.  Which we did not have.  In our bike bag.  You're going to need a pen because the envelope that you put your money into, which has a permit on the envelop flap that you tear off and keep with you as proof of payment, has all kinds of information on it that you have to fill out, with things such as name, address, car model, license plate number, mother's maiden name, blood type, name of your first pet, and if you have ever been convicted of a felony  Ok, maybe I exaggerate on a few items on that list, but you get the idea.  We had our cash ready but we didn't have a pen.  Our writing utensils were in our car at the depot, 3 miles back. So, we stuffed a couple of the blank envelopes into our bike bag alongside the awaiting $7.00 cash and absent pen, and continued out into the wild, hoping that if we were pulled over by the trail police, they would take mercy on our pen-less plight, especially with the incontrovertible proof of intent to pay, evidenced by said exact change accompanying the unfilled-out-envelopes riding in our bags.  There's our rebel nature once again rearing it's head. :)  But it was Sunday. And trail police must not work on Sundays, as we were not pulled over once.  LOL

~~ H

The squirrels heckled us for not paying and probably tattled on us on Monday!  S~~

The trail between Ottawa and Princeton was fairly well tree lined so we were fairly sheltered from the strong wind out of the West Northwest that was blowing steadily.  It turned out to be a beautiful day for a ride.  We rode all the from the old depot on the North end of Ottawa to the southern end of Princeton and then back to the Depot. The ride was 20.10 miles in total.  We had planned to reward ourselves with dinner at Ponchos Mexican restaurant, but it was closed, so instead we went to Applebees.  

S~~

Our starting point

Rocking that balaclava!

Very nicely maintained trail.

Well ...... except for that.  LOL

Onward past the obstruction.

There's your rules and regs, folks......

He looks like a grumpy Gus here, but he really wasn't.

Looking north toward I-35

Day use fee:  $3.50 per person per day.   For 2014 and beyond, we will be buying the $12.50 per person annual pass.

Applebee's spinach and artichoke dip.  Nom, nom, nom.

    

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