Whether you're looking for a trail for a leisurely stroll, a bike ride with the family, or something a bit more challenging, you'll find it in this comprehensive trail guide highlighting the best, most highly rated trails in Rail-Trails Iowa and Missouri. Many of the trails were converted from unused railroad corridors to become some of the best multiuse rail-trails in the region. In this guidebook, experts from the Rail-to-Trails Conservancy present their list of 58 of the best trails and rail-trails in Iowa and Missouri. Explore the region's history by hitting the Frisco Highline Trail, retracing a 35-mile route of Harry Truman's "Whistlestop" campaign. Readers can also meander along farmlands and forests on the 21-mile T-Bone Trail in Iowa. In addition to details about each trail, Rail-Trails Iowa and Missouri provides information about trail amenities, including restrooms, parking facilities, and water fountains.

Whether you're looking for a trail for a leisurely stroll, a bike ride with the family, or something a bit more challenging, you'll find it in this comprehensive trail guide highlighting the best, most highly rated trails in Minnesota. Many of the trails were converted from unused railroad corridors to become some of the best multiuse rail-trails in the state. In this guidebook, experts from Rail-to-Trails Conservancy present their final list of 48 of the best trails and rail-trails in Minnesota. Experience first-hand how Minnesota earned the nickname "Land of 10,000 Lakes" by taking one of several paths through the various lake districts, including the 121-mile Paul Bunyan State Trail, one of the longest rail-trails in the United States. In addition to details about each trail, Rail-Trails Minnesota also provides information about trail amenities, including restrooms, parking facilities, and water fountains.

Explore 63 of the best rail-trails and multiuse pathways across two states. All around the country, unused railroad corridors have been converted to public multiuse trails. Here, the experts from Rails-to-Trails Conservancy present their list of 63 of the best, most highly rated rail-trails and other multiuse pathways in Michigan and Wisconsin. Each entry includes detailed maps, driving directions to trailheads, activity icons, and succinct descriptions. Explore Wisconsin's iconic Elroy-Sparta State Trail--widely acknowledged to be the oldest rail-trail in America--or Lake Michigan Pathway, which features beaches and marinas that keep you in close touch with its namesake. Tour Michigan's state capital on the Lansing River Trail, which winds along scenic riverbanks for 8 miles, from the campus of Michigan State University to Old Town Lansing. Witness the effects of ancient ice floes on Wisconsin's landscape along the 52-mile Glacial Drumlin State Trail. You'll love the variety in this collection of Midwestern multiuse trails--from beautiful waterways and scenic areas to the hustle and bustle of the states' urban centers. So whether you're looking for a trail for a leisurely stroll, a bike ride with the family, or something a bit more challenging, you'll find it in this comprehensive trail guide.

All across the country, unused railroad corridors have been converted to public multiuse trails. In 2007, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy began recognizing exemplary rail-trails through its Rail-Trail Hall of Fame, based on scenic value, value of use, amenities, historical significance, excellence in management and maintenance, community connections, and geographic distribution. These Hall of Fame rail-trails are found in 28 states and in nearly every environment. In this book, you'll find detailed maps for every rail-trail, plus driving directions to trail-heads, icons indicating the activities each trail can accommodate, succinct descriptions written by rail-trail experts, and a look at the fascinating railroad history behind each trail. Rails-to-Trails Conservancy serves as the national voice for more than 160,000 members and supporters, more than 22,000 miles of open rail-trail across the country, and more than 8,000 miles of potential trails waiting to be built--with a goal of ensuring a better future for America made possible by trails and the connections they inspire.

If, as Wallace Stegner said, the national park is “the best idea we ever had,” the rail-trail is certainly a close runner-up. Part transportation corridor, part park, the rail-trail has revolutionized the way America creates high-quality, car-free pathways for bicyclists, runners, walkers, equestrians, and more. It was only a few decades after railroad barons had run roughshod over America’s economy and politics that they began to shed nearly one hundred thousand miles of unneeded railroad corridor. At the same time, bicyclists were being so thoroughly pushed off ever-more-intimidating roadways they came close to extinction. Through political organizing and lawyerly grit, an unlikely, formerly marginalized advocacy arose, seized on seemingly worthless strips of land, and created a resource that is treasured by millions of Americans today for recreation, purposeful travel, tourism, conservation, and historical interpretation. From Rails to Trails is the fascinating tale of the rails-to-trails movement as well as a consideration of what the continued creation of rail-trails means for the future of Americans’ health, nonmotorized transportation networks, and communities across the country.

During the 1850s and early 1860s, Iowa, the westernmost free state bordering a slave state, stood as a bulwark of antislavery sentiment while the decades-long struggle over slavery shifted westward. On its southern border lay Missouri, the northernmost slaveholding state. To its west was the Kansas-Nebraska Territory, where proslavery and antislavery militias battled. Missouri slaves fled to Iowa seeking freedom, finding opponents of slavery who risked their lives and livelihoods to help them, as well as bounty hunters who forced them back into bondage. When opponents of slavery streamed west across the state’s broad prairies to prevent slaveholders from dominating Kansas, Iowans fed, housed, and armed the antislavery settlers. Not a few young Iowa men also took up arms. In Necessary Courage, historian Lowell J. Soike details long-forgotten stories of determined runaways and the courageous Iowans who acted as conductors on this most dangerous of railroads—the underground railroad. Alexander Clark, an African American businessman in Muscatine, hid a young fugitive in his house to protect him from slavecatchers while he fought for his freedom in the courts. While keeping antislavery newspapers fully apprised of the battle against human bondage in western Iowa, Elvira Gaston Platt drove a wagon full of fugitives to the next safe house under the noses of her proslavery neighbors. John Brown, fleeing across Iowa with a price on his head for the murders of proslavery Kansas settlers, relied on Iowans like Josiah Grinnell and William Penn Clarke to keep him, his men, and the twelve Missouri slaves they had liberated hidden from the authorities. Several young Iowans went on to fight alongside Brown at Harpers Ferry. These stories and many more are told here. A suspenseful and often heartbreaking tale of desperation, courage, cunning, and betrayal, this book reveals the critical role that Iowans played in the struggle against slavery and the coming of the Civil War.

The story of the men who build the transcontinental railroad in the 1860's.

Across the country, more than 1600 unused railroad corridors have been converted to level, public, multiuse trails, where people can enjoy a fitness run, a leisurely bike ride, or a stroll with the family. In this updated guide in the popular series, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy presents the finest rail-trails plus other great multiuse trails in three Midwestern states. Rail-Trails Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio covers more than 70 trails in the region. Many rail-trails are paved and run through the most scenic parts of towns. Others, such as the 20-mile Sam Vadalabene Great River Road Bike Trail, travel along lush waterways, dramatic bluffs, and steep hills. The Monoon Trail in Indiana highlights the best of midwestern rail-trails by stitching together neighborhoods, recreational facilities, schools, and cultural centers between Indianapolis and Carmel. Rail-Trails Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio lets readers enjoy the serenity of the rural countryside along the Midwest's many great multiuse trails. This full-color book includes succinct descriptions of each trail from start to finish, plus at-a-glance summary information indicating permitted uses, surface type, length, and directions to trailheads for each trail. Every trip has a detailed map that includes start and end points, trailhead, parking, restroom facilities, and other amenities.

"From Itasca State Park in Minnesota, to the southernmost point in Louisiana, on the Gulf of Mexico, Bob Robinson guides you along the designated route of the Mississippi River Trail, turn by turn. The Mississippi River Trail follows the mighty river's entire 2000-mile journey across America's heartland"--[p. 4 of cover].