In Which We Bike the ’Boji Trails

Bicycle ride Monday afternoon on trail near Okoboji.

My wife and I had some interesting bicycle rides recently. Earlier this month, we rode the Grant Wood Trail in Jones County—and discovered how short it is there. And last week, we took a longer ride in the Okoboji area, where we were staying for a few days babysitting a grandson while our daughter attended a county attorney conference.

June 7 was the last day of school for Strawberry Hill Elementary in Anamosa. We watched grandchildren complete a racing club that morning, cheering them on as they ran the final mile of a 26-mile (Marathon) running club.

We then took our bikes to the small town of Martelle, intending to get a few miles in on the Grant Wood Trail. As it turned out, it was very few miles indeed.

Like many tiny Iowa rural towns, Martelle seems to be more about what was than what is. It has a school, which appears long closed, and quiet streets in the middle of the day. We used Google maps to get to the trail head, and go on our bikes. And rode away from town first, for maybe 5 minutes or so. The trail suddenly ends. So we headed the other way, through town.

Tiny as the town is, I think we got as many “miles,” as in maybe 1, riding in town as we did on the trail.

In Martelle (above), Grant Wood Trail stub near town (below).

Well, no matter. After our short ride, we drove to Anamosa and strolled downtown for a while until school was out.

Our second recent new trail ride was a bit more satisfactory. On June 10, we were in Okoboji. One of our daughters works as an assistant attorney for the local county prosecutor, and she was attending a four-day statewide conference, an update put on by the County Attorney Association and the Iowa Attorney General’s office.

We were with her partly to enjoy Iowa’s vacation hotspot, but mostly to care for a 3-year-old grandson. On Monday afternoon, they (mother and son) were going to meet another attorney’s family at a water park, so my wife and I went on a bicycle ride. I had brought bikes for all of us on the trip, including a seat on my hybrid bike for the grandson, but on this ride, it was just the two of us.

My wife tracked the ride on her GPS, and I think it ended up being a bit more than 10 miles. We rode north from Okoboji to the town of Spirit Lake, and then turned back. We crossed Highway 71 to head west on a side trail, and ended up riding on a loop by the Dickinson County Nature Center and an art museum.

It was a pleasant, surprisingly cool summer day. We enjoyed the outdoor art by the museum, and the clear sky.

I was able to keep up with my wife, but I noticed after we got home that my wife’s front brake is sticky. Usually, when I ride the hybrid with her I have to work pretty hard to keep up, but it wasn’t so bad this day.

Ussie on our Monday ride.

Okoboji has a trail system that is both very nice and a bit dicey at the same time. As a well-used vacation location, traffic is pretty heavy, even on a weekday (I can’t imagine riding there on a warm Saturday). And the trail isn’t always well marked—we unintentionally paralleled it for a while on the wrong sidewalk because it had taken a jog across a street that no sign indicated—we again encountered the trail in Spirit Lake and discovered where we went wrong on the way south.

Dickinson County, thank you for such nice trails. It may be time, however, to paint some additional markers on the route and check out where signs may be needed. Follow some old biker sometime, and he’ll clue you in.

Critters seen on Monday ride-toad (above) and turtle (below, pulled into his or her shell).

Anyway, Tuesday was the rain day, but we thoroughly enjoyed the Dickenson County Nature Center, which I may write about on one of my other blogs.

Wednesday was a family ride—I put the toddler seat on Clarence (the hybrid bike), and unlocked all three bicycles. Our motel was not far from the trail, but it was on Highway 71, so we put the bikes on the van and drove to a nearby trailhead.

We headed south this time, going through Okoboji. It was a bit busy from a pedestrian-traffic point of view, but after a while we got to some pretty scenery, riding for a while through trees and beside some bodies of water.

The grandson enjoyed the first half of the ride, but nodded off. The day was a bit windy, so to save some distance, we rode sidewalks along Highway 71 to get back rather than taking the trail all the way.

After we arrived at the van, I put my daughter’s and my wife’s bicycles back on the van as my daughter loaded the sleepy grandson. After taking the toddler seat off, I took off on a solo ride north.

I don’t know exactly where I went—I didn’t have a map with me—but I rode through Spirit Lake until I encountered lakes. On the smaller one, I enjoyed watching some pretty white pelicans. The larger one was pretty, but rather choppy on this breezy afternoon, so I saw little boat traffic.

The trail had a sign that indicated the bike route continued along a county highway to the right, but there was no paved shoulder. Not wanting to ride in such proximity to cars, I turned back at that point. All in all, I think I rode about 25 miles that afternoon—it’s not a wild guess, I was using Map My Ride, so I know it was in that neighborhood.

More new biking adventures may be coming soon! CR Biker will be visiting the UK before RAGBRAI, and I packed a new biking helmet for the trip!

Seen on my solo Wednesday journey. My crane images did not work out, too distant, but a cute family of ducks (above) was on the same lake. Below, sign at my turnaround point, I had been heading up a "wind hill" going north, my speed changed from 8 mph or so to 12 mph when I turned around. Bottom, nice to see Alliant Energy flying pride flag, even in Steve King territory.