July 16, 2023
Dear Fellow Bicycling Enthusiast,
I hope you are enjoying some excellent summer spinning. Here is a summary of some spinning that I enjoyed on the Fourth of July. I met up with my friend Rod who has recently relocated to the thriving hamlet of Springfield, NE. We were excited to get out to the pedestrian bridge (aka the Lied Bridge across the Platte River), and i was curious about the current status of the MOPAC Trail. I asked him to meet me in the trail parking lot just east of Highway 50 (144th St) and Platteview Road. It was an appropriately patriotic place to start a 4th of July bike ride.
We scooted across the bridge over to the outskirts of South Bend where we found some informative signs. I found out that there is a gravel road route that connects the following two parts of the trail:
- (northern part) the part that goes from at least the Springfield Cemetery to South Bend
- (southern part) the part that goes from Wabash, NE to Lincoln, NE and from there you can get on a few other trails that 99 miles meandering with mazy motion through hill and dale runs to Marysville, KS
This connecting road is called 334th St.
This finding leads me to consider the following: Why do people ride gravel multi-use trails for long distances? I suppose the answers are as varied as the people that ride them. So, if this is something you’ve enjoyed, please provide your viewpoint. The reason I ask is because it seems like it might be similar to the reasons for riding gravel in general: it’s a bit less trafficky and you get to experience a more peaceful ride and take the path less travelled. Also, it’s the journey, not the destination. However, I hope you’re not in a hurry and have a penchant for camping and/or some clever lodging planning.
If a person wanted to undertake a gravelly bicycle trip from Omaha to Marysville, here is a list of trails (from N to S) as I understand it:
- MOPAC (OMA to LIN)
- Jamaica North (LIN to SAL [Saltillo], possibly to include Williamsburg Trail in LIN?)
- Homestead Trail (SAL to BEA [Beatrice])
- Chief Standing Bear Trail (BEA to NE/KS line)
- Blue River Trail (NE/KS line to MRY [Marysville])
I discovered the names of these trails on the TrailLink website, which is also apparently a free app. I may give that app a try and see if it satisfies my appetite for devouring trails! Highdy-ho, mofos!
What I am most curious about are good places to stay along the way. I’ll probably do a little digging before potentially planning this trip. My friend Rich has mentioned riding from Omaha to Marysville in a long day, but that doesn’t sound appealing and I am not in that kind of shape right now. Maybe by Fourth of July 2024?
Here is what I found out about overnight options for a trip starting on the MOPAC from Lincoln, NE to Maryville, KS. It seems a person could do a bike packing-type trip with camping at a few places along the way to make a 4 to 6-day trip out of it.
- near Lincoln:
- Wagon Train State Recreation Area, Hickman Rd, Lincoln, NE 68503, (402) 471-0641: this place looks good, but would require a slight departure from the trail
- Victory Quest, 14401 SW 15th St, Roca, NE 68430, (402) 794-2102 (Not sure if this is a real option since it sounds like it could be a church camp and there's not much info other than address and phone I could find. If this doesn't work out you may want to just find a college party somewhere and crash the party and fall asleep on someone's couch, what could go wrong? Or maybe just power through to Beatrice?)
- Beatrice: Chautauqua Park Campground, (402) 228-5200
- Marysville: Marysville City Park Campground, 10th & Spring St Marysville, KS 66508, (785) 562-3101
So there are a few ideas about the possibility of taking the gravel trails (where available, which is probably at least around 95% of the time) from Omaha to Marysville, KS.
Anyway, we made it back to Springfield in warmer weather. I had begun to feel a bit peckish, probably due to the meager breakfast of a single Clif bar I had eaten. I blame those intermittent fasting plans I've heard a bit about these days.
Although that OMA to Marysville trip seems intriguing, for now, I think I’ll just consider signing up for the Middle Loup River Challenge (Sept) and/or the Beer and Bagel Run (late Oct).
Before I got around to finishing up this post, I also had a chance to get out for a nice out and back ride on the West Papio Trail from the downtown Millard area to the Bellevue Berry Farm, with a pleasant stop at the Kros Strain / Pint 9 breweries on my way back.
A couple things I enjoyed seeing along the way:
- Great blue heron flapping lazily along above the trail
- A woman in shorts and rubber rain boots gathering some of those flowers that have gone to seed and look like huge dandelions. At first I thought they were thistles, but now I don't think so because they seemed poofier.
Bikefully yours,BSO
