Raccoon River Valley Trail
 

Recently took a short tour on the Raccoon River Valley Trail in Iowa. Did a little blog post write up with video.

blog post https://captainbobadventures.wordpre...ey-trail-tour/

If you just like the video side of things, here's the link for it:
- Cpt. Bob

Nice video, glad you had fun. By all means, hopefully you'll be able to return and try out some of the other trails. They are all wonderful. I bet you met a bunch of great Iowa people. Big things in the works right now as I am told; additional trail will provide some huge loops in the future.

Happy 4th, I can here the fireworks outside now.

I did hear a bit from different folks about the plans for upcoming additional trail connections, etc. Would love to go back sometime and see more. Iowa people were great and the towns were amazing. As you probably saw, ran into a small town car show going on and it was fantastic. Bunch of friendly folks there. Happy 4th to you as well.

- Cpt. Bob

Very cool- we have done overnight rides to the hotel, and ive done a few overnight campouts to sportsmans park with my oldest kid.

Once the High Trestle trail connects to the Raccoon trail, itll exponentially increase as a travel destjnation since those trails then connect to a handful of other trails going to all points.

Is the new trail Woodward to Perry? I talked to a couple Iowans and was told the right of way has already been purchased.

Also, Sportsmans Park...I looked at a satellite view and it looks like they have a few concrete pads. Do they have an area for bikes? Lot of the campgrounds are full during the season (which is short usually from APR-OCT).

The woodward to perry section is what i was referring to.
It isnt complete, far from it...as in not at all. Just saying that after the 3 to however many years it takes to complete, itll be a sweet addition. You could have 2 different all trail routes to ride from jefferson to baxter which is 100mi 1 way. Thats wild...how there would be 2 different trail routes to get you from one small iowa town to an even smaller iowa town spanning 100mi.

As for sportsmans, there are spots for tent camping, it isnt exclusively rv use. That park is, in my limited experience, a relatively quiet camp spot compared to most. I think its location is why.

I agree with Sportsman's park. It has both tent and gravel spots for campers. Very quiet location overall when we were there. I was super impressed with the bathrooms/showers there. Basically a combo unit where you walk in, lock the door to the bathroom behind you, and have access to toilet, sink, and a separate shower. Nice space, with clean concrete floor and everything was immaculate when i was there. Better than most of the facilities we see here in Missouri by far. I'm unsure if all the campgrounds in Iowa are like that but man this one was top notch for camping in my opinion.

- Cpt. Bob

Is it self pay and also are the tent sites numbered or do they just have an area you can set up in if all the numbered sites are full?

it's self pay, camping gravel sites are numbered, tent area is more open without numbering.

- Cpt. Bob

Thanks.