Destination: Iowa
By Karl Wirsing

t's the last week of summer in central Iowa. Cottonwood leaves are showing the first pale blush of fall, and a bristling wind rakes the plains. Yet even as the warm season wanes, the countryside still flitters with life. A western fox snake soaks up the last warmth from a strip of pavement, and crickets buzz and lurch in the breeze. With the harvest soon to begin, soybeans have rusted over to a coppery gold, and dust swirls around bustling grain elevators.

Spooling out into this fertile heartland is the 25-mile High Trestle Trail. The year-old rail-trail has quickly become a signature Iowa adventure, stretching among silos and farmsteads and featuring an artistic bridge 13 stories above the Des Moines River Valley.

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 Destination: Iowa (PDF/667KB)