RecumBum

I recently had a chance to revisit the Prairie Spirit Trail and spend a day riding most of its length.

My first visit to Prairie Spirit Trail was in August of 2005, when I rode from Ottawa to Richmond and back, which is about half the trail’s length. This time I was able to see more of the trail, but frustratingly, still not all of it.

The Prairie Spirit Trail State Park is the longest existing rail-to-trail project in Kansas. It covers 33 miles from Ottawa to Welda, also passing through Princeton, Richmond, and Garnett. It was selected as the Rail-to-Trails Conservancy’s Trail of the Month in January 2004.

The trail is soon to be extended southward to Iola, to make a total of 50 miles. Sadly, although construction of the last section of the trail is apparently complete, it’s not open yet. So it’ll have to be another trip to see the new part of the trail. Oh well, an excuse for another visit!

In addition to the unopened section of trail, June floods caused extensive damage to an existing segment, taking out a bridge and washing away some of the trail. About 2.5 miles of the trail is closed, and probably will be for some time.

We (a friend and I) started at the Old Depot Museum in Ottawa. I’d never visited this museum before, and was quite impressed. The two-story limestone building was constructed in 1888 as a depot for the Kansas City, Lawrence, and Southern Kansas Railway, and was converted to a museum in 1963. It houses a great collection of information about the history of the railroad, the civil war in Kansas, and the history of the town and surrounding communities. They have some great displays, including recreations of a one-room schoolhouse, a general store, a dentists office, and a Victorian parlor.

My favorite part of the exhibit was a very large model railroad, complete with a very detailed scale reproduction of the town, including the depot itself. There were so many things to look at that we could have spent hours examining them all, but we’d gotten a late start and the day wasn’t getting any longer, so we eventually exited the museum and hit the trail.

We cycled across the Marais Des Cygnes River on the old railroad bridge, then onto Ottawa city streets for a few blocks until hitting the trail itself. After stopping to pay the daily permit fee at the trailhead, we slipped out of town and were onto the hard-packed limestone surface.

Even though it was late morning, it was quite cool, with a strong headwind from the south, and we were wearing several layers of clothing. But as we cycled along the trail, the exercise and bright sun warmed us, and we stopped after a few miles to remove some clothes.

The surface of the trail was in good shape for the most part, though there were a number of places where we encountered small holes or longitudinal washouts in the trail. The biggest problem we found was at the road crossings – it looked like the gravel roads had been recently plowed, and the graders had pushed material to the edges of the crossings, perpendicular to the trail. This made the crossings slow, rough, and a little treacherous, but we made it through them all without incident.

We stopped at the trailhead in Princeton for a short break, and then again at the Richmond trailhead, where we admired the large and imposing Beachner Grain Elevator before continuing south into the relentless wind.

After a few miles, we found the trail blocked, and (very small) signs marking the detour around the washed-out bridge over the Pottawatomie River. The modified route took us east on a paved road through the village of Scipio, then north on gravel roads to Garnett. The gravel was slow going, and we were a bit unsure of the route, as it wasn’t marked, but we eventually passed by the historic Garnett Cemetery and on into town.

Once in Garnett, we found the paved trail and took it a few blocks into the town center, then once around the town square before we found Denise’s Country Cafe, and decided to stop there for lunch. It was quite good!

Afterwards, we returned to the trail and headed home, going off-route a bit for a visit to the nice little Garnett City Lake, then back onto gravel.

Ah, but this time we had the wind at our backs, and that made all the difference!

The gravel roads and then the trail itself didn’t even feel like the same path. We positively flew. Well, it felt like it, anyway. Riding at 15 MPH may not sound like much, but on a flat gravel trail, with fat tires, it’s more impressive than it sounds, and that’s about what we averaged on the return trip, compared to about 12.3 on the first half.

By the end, we were tired, and happy to finish, but we both agreed that it had been a fun and memorable ride.

Perhaps, once the remainder of the trail is opened, and the bridge is repaired, I’ll be able to ride the whole thing end-to-end. It’s something to look forward to, anyway!