Wabash Trace

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The Wabash Trace is a 63-mile rail trail in Iowa running from the city of Council Bluffs southeast to Blanchard.

It was part of the Wabash Railroad's Omaha to St. Louis route. It passes through the towns of Mineola, Silver City, Malvern, Imogene, Shenandoah, Coin and Blanchard. For most of its course, there is a thin line of trees and bushes paralleling the trail. It follows streams such as Silver Creek, Four Mile Creek, Tarkio Creek, and the Tarkio River. It's grade is a very gentle one, downhill as one pedals northwestward to Council Bluffs. From Silver City northward, one can coast most of the way.

[edit] Highlights

Two miles south of the Council Bluffs trailhead, the Wabash Trace crosses Pony Creek on a long, curving bridge. At the crossing of the West Nishnabotna River there are ruined boxcars lying in the river bed, some of them with wooden sides—remmants of a derailment that occurred in the 1960s. Heading south out of Shenandoah (the largest intermediate town) the path follows the rocky ravine of Four Mile Creek. The trail ends at Blanchard, close by a tiny service station that straddles the state line.

There are no bicycle repair shops along the way, but Shenandoah does have a discount mart that sells new bycycles. The town also has a motel and eateries. Coin and Mineola have very small trailside parks; Shenandoah has a somewhat larger one, Wabonsie Park.