Just received an email this morning from Duncan Brown about a great new series of trails in Iowa known as the Jefferson County Loop Trail System. Located in tiny Fairfield, Iowa (pop 9600), this series of crushed limestone biking/hiking trails runs through prairies, woodlands and wetlands, on old railroad corridors and over major bridges.
At present, 15 miles of the system are open and all 33 miles will be ready for bicyclists in about a year or so. According to Duncan, "(t)he segments completed now (on the North, West and East sides of the city) include a great bridge across the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad tracks, another bridge across Cedar Creek, and a picturesque ride alongside two of our local lakes, a small forest, plus pastures and cropland." Duncan writes "I love biking over the trails, particularly the beautiful bridge across the BNSF RR, with architectural elements from the Loudon Equipment Co., which was in Fairfield."
Fairfield is about a two hours drive (West and South) from Davenport, Iowa and has been included on the route of RAGRBAI at least once. Fairfield is also on the route of Amtrak's California Zephyr, which stops 20 miles East of town in Mount Pleasant and was a former stop on the defunct Rock Island Line's Golden State Limited which ran from Los Angeles to Chicago until 1968.
More about the Jefferson County Loop Trail System:
http://www.jeffersoncountytrails.org/
My thanks go to Duncan Brown for his input on this trail.
LL
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