Originally Posted by
riverdrifter
Hi everyone! I'm looking for a family friendly, mostly paved trail for a first tour with my wife and kids. Our 8 year old will be riding his own bike, and the 3 year old will be in a trailer. I'm not concerned with it being a loop or not, we can work out those logistics. The main concerns are mostly all paved, no cars, safe, low crime, and nice views of nature. Passing through a small town or two would be nice. I'm thinking maybe 200 miles or so. We are all experienced lightweight campers and hikers, but no cycle touring experience. We've tried some short trips on wide, rural highways, but the vehicle traffic really unsettled my wife. Otherwise she is totally on board with this.
We have about a month we can take to do this, and are open to anywhere in the US. We would prefer the midwest though, as that would make the logistics a lot easier for us.
Does something like this exist here in the US? Thanks!
Head east a few hours, park the car in the Des Moines metro, and start riding.
The paved raccoon river valley trail is 88mi and has camping(and small cabins) along it at multiple spots. That connects to hundreds of more miles of paved trail all thru the metro.
You can then camp around Saylorville lake and ride the paved High Trestle Trail(50mi out and back) where there is camping too.
Connected to the High Trestle is the paved Chichaqua Valley trail(50ish mi out and back) with camping a few miles off the rural trail at a county park.
And if you went South, the paved Great Western trail(50ish mi out and back) has camping a couple miles off trail at a state park.
There are small towns every 5-10mi on all these trails and hotels too, if needed.
I do trips like this with my girls(12 and 8) a couple times a year on all the paved trails in my region. Most are converted rail trail so grades are moderate as worst. They are all well established and safe areas too.
...but its Iowa, so the scenery is only slightly nicer than where you are now!