Instead of going to work today I loaded the bike in the truck, the latest Brian Setzer on the Iphone and headed out to the local rail-to-trail (speaking of Brian Setzer Wow!). The temperature was in the low 40s and a cross wind of 15mph. I rode the length of the trail out and back. My intent has been to ride this trail at least once every season but somehow I missed Fall or at least what feels like Fall to me. New along the trail are the benches that were built and installed by a young man as part of his Eagle Scout project. They are spaced a mile apart and placed on the half mile points. Also the bridge that was damaged has been repaired and looks good. New but not good news is one of the trails landmarks is no longer there. The old Chevrolet farm truck is gone.
More on the Prairie Sunset trail here.

From PrairieTravelers.org...

"Now that the west side has an established trail with wonderful volunteers we are establishing an Andover-Augusta Trail Group to insure the continuation of the Red Bud Trail out of east Wichita completing a 20 mile linear parkway. Aprox eleven of those miles are in Butler County and it has come to our attention that if we as a community want this then we need to do some grassroot campaigning. The potential this trail offers is irreplaceable. We cannot let this slip out from under us. So if you are an east sider that would ride, walk or jog to Andover or Augusta, or if you are a Butler County resident, we need your help!!"

Read more here.

I received the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy e-mail newsletter today and it contained a photo from our recent trip to Michigan. They've also put together a slideshow on their website of fall foliage trail photos (seen below) which includes 2 more of our photos.

This ride was part of our 2011 Fall vacation.
The Fred Meijer Heartland Trail in Michigan is a paved 41 mile rail-to-trail that runs from (near) Greenville to Alma. Since 41 miles is more than we can do out and back in one day we decided to ride 25 miles of it out and back starting at the Lake Road trail-head near Greenville. This was a great trail that ran through farms and forest, a couple stream crossings with small towns along the way.

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Other notes: We stayed at the AmericInn in Geenville which was nice and ate at El Rancho which was really good.
It looked as if they were working on completing the trail from the Lake Road trailhead on in to Greenville. A short section would bypass the rail bed and take a road.

This ride was part of our 2011 Fall vacation.
The Betsie Valley Trailway in Michigan runs from Frankfort to Thompsonville and is a 23 mile rail-to-trail with the first 8 (or so) miles of the trail paved and the rest gravel. We rode it out and back from Frankfort for a total of 47 miles. This was a great trail with a lot of variety. Water, forest, open grassy areas and hills. The trail runs along Crystal lake and then in to secluded forest. The town of Beulah is in-between and has restaurants and shopping and the old depot is a visitors center with bathrooms.

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Other notes: We stayed the night before and after the ride at the Super 8 hotel in the town of Manistee and drove to and from the trail-head in Frankfort.
We ate dinner at the River Street Station in Manistee

Today the youngest Grandson Blake (9 years old) and I rode our local rail-to-trail the Prairie Sunset. This was his first time riding a rail-to-trail. We rode from Garden Plain to Goddard and back for a total of 13 miles. He did great and seemed to enjoy it.

Video...

Kansas's own Prairie Spirit Trail was named the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy's August 2011 Trail of the Month and also added to their Rail-To-Trail Hall Of Fame.
Read about it here.

We rode the trail in 2002. I think it's time we ride it again. Maybe this fall.

In an effort to beat the heat (at least the predicted high of 103) we headed out around 5:00 this morning to ride our local rail-to-trail the Prairie Sunset. The temperature was around 80 and it was a pleasant ride. Along the way we spotted 8 deer, more than a dozen rabbits and a skunk. Deer and skunk in the video below...