The Trail
The trail had its grand opening June 18, 2014 with a write up in the Papillion Times recorded here. Jeff Schram approached THOR in the Fall 2013 about putting in a trail at Walnut Creek. We surveyed the land around the lake and found several areas of potential. The City of Papillion was supportive of the initiative and selected three of the areas for THOR to develop: one north/northeast of the dam, one northwest of the dam, and one off the east entrance on 96th St. THOR concentrated on the two areas north of the dam with plans to connect via singletrack the east entrance to the northeast area in the Fall/Winter 2014.
In the northeast, the trail is divided in two sections, south and north, by the cement path. Starting from the cement path, the south section called Monarch Pass is a single clockwise loop that crosses a drainage twice before bringing you back to cross the cement. Then loop on the east (right) side of the drainage called Titan Twist with associated steep drop onto a log ride, steep up and switchback drop back down along the drainage with tight turns and some log overs. The return is along side the cement where you cross the entrance to Titan Twist and take a sharp right into the section called ‘Whiplash’. Whiplash whips you back and forth and around the west side of the drainage with optional logovers before dumping out on doubletrack at the bottom of the dam.
Follow the doubletrack to the west side of the dam creek into a section called ‘Superbowl’, which has a bowl shape and several ttfs before the trail rides over the gravel Turkey Road which the dam flooded. The doubletrack is picked up again to the northwest section call ‘the Outback’. The ‘turtle’ ttf is like a limbo skill challenge on your bike. We switchback up a false flat before returning down a swerving false flat that will become faster with age to a logover and optional lines before dumping out on the doubletrack for the return back around the toe of the dam into Whiplash and some trials-like skills needed to get through some of the final, tight, trail corridor.
Current length is 2.4 miles. Level is easy to moderate.
The Venue
The Walnut Creek Lake and Recreation Area has the most amenities of any THOR trail: the 96th St cement path connecting to the West Papio Trail and Papillion; a lake with ADA accessible pier for fishing; equestrian trails; an RV campground; picnic and playground; and an off-leash, fenced-in dog area. The 96th St entrance has water and vault toilets. The area is a pack-out what you pack-in, i.e. there are no trash cans. For after trail recovery food and drink, the Fire Barn bar and grill at 96th and 370 has a large outdoor deck which overlooks some of Titan Twist.
Note: Equestrians may be encountered on the doubletrack connectors between Whiplash, Superbowl, and Outback. If we come into contact with equestrians, stop and dismount the bike. The equestrian controls the encounter. Either they will pass by or they will pull off the trail and we can push our bikes past them before mounting and riding on.
Getting There
Via bike on the 96th St path. You can enter the singletrack just south of the tunnel under 370. Go left on the trail paralleling the cement path. Follow the arrows on the brown posts to ride the entire trail. Some posts have directional stickers on both sides. Follow the direction you see when approaching the post. A couple short sections of trail are two way traffic.
From 96th St and Hwy 370, go south a half mile to the Walnut Creek Lake and Recreation Area entrance.
Trail Head
From the 96th St entrance, follow the cement path north to the dam, then east on the gravel road about 100' to the singletrack entrance.
GPS map below by Phil Niles: