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Des Moines bills itself as the “World
Capital of Trails,” and the city certainly
has a claim to the title. It’s the hub of
the 670-plus-mile Central Iowa Trail
System, made up of dozens of pathways
that fan across the state like seeds in the
breeze. One of the newest additions to
this network is the High Trestle Trail.
The 25-mile pathway runs from
Ankeny, on the outskirts of Des
Moines, northwest to the community of
Woodward. You can pick up the paved
corridor in several places, but a great
staging point is Slater. It’s the trail’s
hinge, where you can swing south 12.2
miles toward Ankeny or aim west 12.7
miles to Woodward.
Picking up the High Trestle Trail at
Earl Grimm Park, you have two options.
If you head south, you’ll follow a former
Des Moines & Minneapolis Railroad—
and later North Western—corridor. You’ll
watch the stubbled fields and farmyards
gradually give way to signs of the city.
You can visit Sheldahl and the “Oasis,”
a watering hole and rest stop for trail
users, or take a short detour to explore
Saylorville Lake, a flood control reservoir
with parks, beaches, trails and camping.
Eventually you’ll reach the suburban
neighborhoods of Ankeny, about 10 miles
north of downtown Des Moines.
You
could
opt for this 24-mile
round-trip. But today you have a dif-
ferent destination in mind: the trail’s
namesake bridge, near the western end
in Woodward. So you head north from
Earl Grimm Park and quickly dogleg
west, changing railbeds to join part of
the old Milwaukee Road. (An equestrian
track runs parallel to this section from
Slater to Woodward.)
You’ll notice right away this is work-
ing farm country. Soybeans and corn
fields texture the horizon all around you,
and on weekday mornings trucks line up
for business at grain elevators. But you’ll
also find plenty of recreational diversions.
A few miles before you reach the
town of Madrid, you’ll come to a sign
on Violet Avenue directing you to Snus
Hill Winery (
http://snushillwine.com
;
515.795.3535). Swedish immigrants
Charles and Hanna Larson purchased the
site in 1878, and their original homestead
remains in the Larson family today.
Next up is Madrid, where just feet
from the trail is the Flat Tire Lounge.
The owners have stretched ropes out
front for bicycle parking, and nearby is
Delander Park, a trailhead with room for
horse trailers.
From here, it’s only three miles to
the bridge, where two 42-foot-tall tow-
ers mark the east gateway. Veins in the
structures, representing seams of coal,
pay tribute to coal mining, once a minor
industry in the Des Moines River val-
ley—which is where the story of the
High Trestle Trail began.
When the Chicago, Milwaukee & St.
Paul Railroad first built tracks through
the area in 1881, the route down to the
valley floor and across the river involved
steep curves—a treacherous journey for
rail cars. Trains had to steam down one
side to pick up enough speed to climb
back up the other. A number of wrecks
resulted. So in 1912 the railroad finally
built a high trestle bridge flat across the
top of the valley.
More than 60 years later, the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers built a new
crossing—better able to withstand regu-
lar flooding from the new Saylorville
Dam. The 1973 bridge was built on 22
concrete piers, the largest weighing more
than 2 million pounds. When Union
Pacific discontinued service on the
corridor in 2003, they removed the
decking, leaving only the gigantic piers
poking up from the mud. They became
known as “Iowa’s Stonehenge.”
Today, the revamped bridge extends
2,530 feet from end to end, and 13
stories—or 130 feet—above the val-
ley. Arcing over the decking are 43 steel
“cribbings,” each lined with blue LED
strips that come on at night. These artistic
structures depict the geometry and sensa-
tion of moving through a mine shaft.
The original west abutment from the
1912 bridge has been converted into a
lookout area, where you’ll find some of
the best views of the bridge and river
valley. Two and a half miles farther west
is the town of Woodward, where the
railroad built a depot—and where the
High Trestle Trail ends today with a full-
service trailhead.
Your experience on the trail shouldn’t
end with daylight, however. A nocturnal
bridge crossing is an absolute must for
any visit. When you return, you’ll need to
bring a flashlight. The closest parking lot
is on QF Lane, and you’ll have to walk or
ride roughly a half-mile down the unlit
trail to reach the bridge—and the dark-
ness of an Iowa night can be stifling.
Critters shuffle in the brush around
you, and your footsteps thud through
the dead quiet. After a few eerie minutes,
you spot the two gateway towers, lights
casting up their faces. Deck lights, as on
an airplane runway, guide you out onto
the bridge, which seems suspended in
space. Up ahead, the cribbings burn blue
like glow sticks. Walk through them, and
you are bathed in the fluorescent glow;
ride through them at 10 mph, and the
lights spiral and blur together as though
you’re plunging deep into a mine or fir-
ing into warp drive. It’s a surreal passage.
When the sun rises in a few hours,
you’ll wake once again to a rich Iowa land-
scape of flood plains and farmsteads. But
you won’t forget this bridge, mesmerizing
in its scope and artistic design, and how it
redefines the experience of a rail-trail.
The bridge lit up at night.
On the trail just west of Slater—Andrea
Chase, left, and Lisa Hein of the Iowa
Natural Heritage Foundation.