Wabash Trace Trail / Shenandoah to IA-2

Section Hiking the Wabash Trace Trail | Shenandoah to IA-2 | February 2022

This month, we returned to the Wabash Trace Trail for another section from Shenandoah to Iowa highway 2. We parked again at Sportsman Park, and began our hike with a little road walk to reach the continuation of the trail in Waubonsie Park. Shenandoah is one of the relatively larger towns along the Wabash, but the trail just passes across the North end before continuing Southeast. We followed Fourmile creek for a little ways until it ended, and then continued our walk through the countryside.

Being a warm and sunny day (nearly 60 degrees!) we saw more people out, especially closer to Shenandoah. Curtis continued his search for either antlers or telegraph insulators, and was actually successful at finding some insulators, including one that was still 80% intact! (Most were just fragments because, as Curtis put it, “It turns out that the way they get on the ground is they fall.”)

We ended up walking nearly 10 miles round-trip that day. Most of the sections we have left will be longer like that, and at least an hour away to drive to, but whenever we get the motivation to make the drive and the hike, we are always glad we did. It satisfies our desire to walk somewhere “new” and to be continuously working on a larger trail/goal. Since the trail is all mostly flat, it doesn’t take too much effort physically or mentally, and we know we can always accomplish the small section set before us. We always end up talking about goals, plans, and memories, and while walking the quiet path it’s easy to get lost in thought dreaming of our future plans that are slowly starting to take shape. These moments walking through the Iowa countryside will always be ones I look back to fondly when I remember our time living in Omaha.