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| Gathering under cloudy skies at Prairie Park Fishery |
Bever Park is along what will become the Interurban Trail from Cedar Rapids to Lisbon. Randy Burke, who has been with Linn County Conservation since 1979, said the trail has been in the works almost that long! There remain land acquisition issues, negotiations of the route with the towns of Bertram and Mt. Vernon, decisions about how to get under the north-south highway (US151/SR13), and "a lot of little things [and] design stuff... it's going to end up being a very expensive project." Ron Griffith, a traffic engineer with the city, said the Cedar Rapids section had federal funding through the Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization that will allow completion of that portion in 2029.
Posters at the Fishery showed trail development progress across the metro. I was glad to see updates on the CeMar and Grant Wood Trails, although sorry to see their expected completion has been pushed back about six months in both cases, so it will be 2026 before the CR-to-Marion loop will be all finished.
Ron Griffith said the Morgan Creek Trail on the city's west edge has been completed as far as Covington Road, and they are seeking bids on the next phase, which will be followed by fundraising.
The ride itself was mostly pleasant and occasionally complicated. I counted between 40 and 50 riders. Stephanie Schrader and Doug from the Parks Department got things going--I almost said "rolling"--at the Fishery, a relatively new facility on land donated just a few years ago by the Martin Marietta Corporation which had been the most recent owner of a long-used quarry. It now boasts a 1.7 mile trail loop around the lake, connection to the Sac and Fox Trail, and fishing piers three of which are ADA-accessible.
They introduced City Council member Ashley Vanorny, who also welcomed the group, and gave a shout out to former mayor Brad Hart who was a fellow rider. Then Ron Griffith talked about the route and trail safety.
Nearly all of the four mile ride to the Indian Creek Nature Center was done on Otis Road, because the trail along the river was partly flooded with all the rain we had in May. We met at the Penningroth Barn, the dairy barn that served as the nature center's headquarters from 1973 until 2016, with which I have many fond associations.
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| arriving at the barn |
They still have a few of the old exhibits.
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| Sarah Botkin and a pile of bark |
Sarah Botkin, manager of the new headquarters down the road, explained the center's mission as "nature based education and land restoration." She said many other interesting things, too, but I was distracted by the dense squadron of mosquitoes, which embraced all of us like long lost friends. I guess the nature center is lower, wetter, and more wooded than my house!
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| Penningroth Barn |
Most of the five-plus miles to Bever Park were on the Sac and Fox Trail, mostly okay, but occasionally soupy or sandy. A few of us had trouble maintaining balance, but no one was hurt. The crushed limestone surface held up under our tires, too. Eventually the trail will lead directly into Bever Park, but for now we did the same subdivision-plus-brutal-hill that the MPO Ride took in May. I know a better route, at least for individual riders, and next time I am resolved to take it.
At Bever Park, there were snacks...
...and the aforementioned news. And more snacks. Also water of various types.
I rode home from Bever Park. I live right down the street from the park, so I had started my morning by riding the planned final leg from Bever to the Fishery. I did a modified version of their route, via Memorial Drive, McCarthy Road, and Otis Road. None was difficult on a Saturday morning, but I would be leery of cycling that route on a weekday when there is a lot more traffic.
Most riders drove their bikes to the Fishery...
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| Prairie Park Fishery parking lot is spacious |
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