High Trestle Trail

I'd consider today the first time I've actually gone out to explore my new state.  There's an old train route than ran between Woodward and Madrid that was used to move coal and later grain.  The railroad went under in 2004, and so the government did the whole "rail to trail" thing, converting the old train trestle into a pedestrian bridge with some neat structural components.

All I knew about the trail was that it went from Woodward to Madrid, and so I figured I had to park in either of those locations.  I pulled up google maps and it looked like the bridge was closer to Woodward, so that's where I went.  It was a nice 30 minute drive through the Iowa countryside and Woodward is exactly what I thought it would be -- a nice, quaint, quiet little town.

I started on the 2.6 miles towards the bridge.  About a mile from the bridge, I ran into Bob, a trail volunteer.  He was a nice old guy and he was pretty excited to tell me about the bridge and all the history of the area.  He walked with me all the way to the bridge.  After a while, I politely let myself out and headed back to the car.  Walking 2.6 miles takes a little bit of time and the sun was headed down.  It was hovering right around the freezing point, and my face could tell.  My heated leather seats were nice.  Anyway, no jogging today, but the 6 miles walk did the job.