Top 8 Midwest bike trails

Sun June 29 2008
Posted Jun 29, 2008
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With gasoline above $4 per gallon, here are eight great biking trails in the Upper Midwest, recommended by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, which advocates turning abandoned rail pathways into biking trails. (Midwest flooding could affect some of these trails.) 1. Military Ridge: This 45-mile trail from Dodgeville to Verona features 48 bridges, wildlife and wetlands. 2. Elroy-Sparta: This 32-mile trail in Wisconsin is one of the first rail-to-trail conversions in the nation. 3. Illinois Prairie Path: This 61-mile trail in suburban Chicago follows the historic path of the Chicago, Aurora and Elgin electric railroad. 4. Tunnel Hill State Trail: This 47-mile trail from Harrisburg to the Barkhausen Wetlands Center in Illinois has a 540-foot-long tunnel. 5. Willard Munger State Trail: This 72-mile trail from Hinckley to Duluth, Minn., includes the Hinckley Fire Museum. 6. Paul Bunyan State Trail: This 110-mile trail from Brainerd-Baxter to Bemidji in Minnesota is among the longest paved rail trails in the nation and passes along the shorelines of 21 lakes. 7. Wabash Trace National Trail: This 63-mile trail in Iowa stretches from Council Bluffs to Blanchard, with views of the Loess Hills along the Missouri River Valley. 8. Cedar Valley Nature Trail: This 52-miles trail from Evansdale to Hiawatha, Iowa, follows rivers and rolling farmlands.