Iowa’s Wabash Trace Nature Trail: August 2025 Trail of the Month
Some of Rebecca Castle Laughlin’s fondest childhood memories are swimming in a kiddie pool while watching her father work on the Wabash Trace Nature Trail, tucked into Iowa’s southwestern corner. Traversing prairies, creeks and tree-lined corridors, the 63-mile route was conceived, built and continues to be maintained by volunteers.
“A lot of our weekends were spent in the developmental stages of the trail, out working on bridges,” she recalled. Her father was one of the original founders of the rail-trail who helped convert the former rail line more than three decades ago. “There were lots of other families whose parents were volunteering, and they’d bring all the kids along … sometimes, if there was a good amount of water, we’d play in the river while our parents worked on it. All that started when I was about two years old, so I was raised on it.”
Laughlin is now the executive director for the Southwest Iowa Nature Trails Project (SWINT), which manages the vast trail—one of the state’s longest rail-trails—that connects eight communities from Council Bluffs, just outside of Omaha, Nebraska, to Blanchard at the Missouri border.
About the Trail
Iowa’s Wabash Trace Nature Trail is a 63-mile rail-trail with asphalt, concrete and crushed-stone surfaces in the counties of Fremont, Mills, Page and Pottawattamie. Allowed activities on this wheelchair-accessible trail include biking, walking, running and cross-country skiing. Horseback riding is also permitted on a paralleling equestrian path between Council Bluffs and Margaritaville.
A Labor of Love
Bill Hillman, who lives in Shenandoah on the southern half of the trail, is a board member and former president of SWINT that has been there from the trail’s beginning in 1987. He was in his early twenties at the time and saw how the community came together to discuss ways to transform the corridor when it became clear that the rail line was no longer viable.
“When we first started, we joked that it was about a five-year plan, but now we’re in the 35th year,” he said. “We didn’t really understand until we got into it, how big of a deal it really was, and we had to figure out how to do this in one of the poorest parts of the state. The only way we were able to is because we all had some capabilities in construction. Because it’s spread out so far, we could have groups in each county that would build the bridges. So we bought a road grader and we just did it all, mostly with volunteer labor.”
The dedicated group of volunteers built the entire trail with about $1.8 million, half of which came from a Department of Transportation grant via the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation to acquire the trail. From there, they went to every church, garden club and chamber of commerce meeting they could find to fundraise for their efforts.
“We didn’t know how much money it was going to take, but we knew we had to have public support,” Hillman explained. “At our first meeting, we said, ‘For the next meeting, everybody [has to] come back with 100 names, so we can get 1,000 donors before we even get started.’ We spoke to anybody that would let us tell our plan and, when we left that group, we had a list of names of people who supported us. That allowed us to go after some corporate sponsorships.”
The trail was completed in 1997 and, due to its success, entered Rails to Trails Conservancy’s Hall of Fame in 2011. Hillman noted that some farm owners along the route were initially hesitant to having a trail in their backyard, but they came around after seeing how happy it made residents to have outdoor recreation.
“We tried to tell these landowners, ‘You’ve been a neighbor with the railroad for 100 years and I guarantee we’ll be a better neighbor than the railroad ever thought of being,’” he said. “It didn’t take long for them to get on board with us.”
A Family Affair
One of the biggest challenges to creating the Wabash Trace was its bridges; the route includes over 70 of them ranging from 12 to 465 feet. Building a bridge became a family event that volunteers would call “bridge blitzes.”
“To help with costs, we decided we would sell bridges to families or corporations for the cost of lumber and then the volunteers would build them,” said Hillman. “So in a family like [Laughlin’s], the kids would come out and, even as young as she was, if she could carry some nails and she and her sister could put a board on their shoulders and walk it over, that was important for them to get ownership in the trail, because we knew this was going to go on much longer than we’re going to be around.”
Several couples have even gotten engaged under those bridges, including Laughlin in 2016. “My husband was not a biker, but he did buy a bike so we could go out and do some rides together,” she said. “There’s a longer bridge that’s not far from where we live just outside of Imogene and we would always stop there on our way back before we took the hilly gravel road home. We called it ‘our bridge’ and that’s where he proposed [because] he knew how important the trail was to me.”
A Lifeline for Communities
An economic impact study published by the Iowa Bicycle Coalition estimates about 37,000 residents in the counties along the Wabash Trace ride the trail, about 15,000 of whom ride at least twice a month. It also estimates that cyclists in the trail towns spent roughly $54 million on cycling in 2024, half of which was spent on buying or renting bikes and dining at local restaurants and bars along the route.
Malvern, like other rural communities along the route, has rebranded itself as a biking town, installing bike racks, signage welcoming trail visitors, and public art, including a metal “bike tree.”
“People come here and they fall in love with the friendly people, the cozy feel and the welcoming atmosphere,” said Cheryl Jones who volunteers for the Wabash Trace and the Malvern Area Betterment Association. One of her duties is taking care of the Malvern Depot, which was renovated for Airbnb use and opened by SWINT in 2018. She’s met people coming from as far as Belgium for the Wabash Trace.
“I had a gal from Ankeny, Iowa, who walks all the rail-trails in the state and features them on her YouTube channel, WalkingWithWendy,” said Jones. “She said [the Wabash Trace] was the 17th one that she has done and by far, it is the most beautiful. People are continually surprised at the trail. They love the shaded coverage and lighted bridge that we have. The restaurants—it’s huge for them because people come for biking and like the town so much that they come back.”
In 2013, Cheryl’s son, local artist and muralist Zack Jones, opened the Art Church here in a de-sanctified 1873 Presbyterian church, part of which he uses as his personal studio. With its former chapel now covered in a floor-to-ceiling mural of a blazing sunset sky, the building serves as a unique venue for events, including weddings. A couple from Omaha who rode the trail down to Malvern and fell in love with the town, got married there and took their wedding photos on a tandem bike on the trail.
Zack also curates the Saturday Malvern Concert Series, which brings live music to the city’s Heritage Park in the summer. He estimates that roughly 75% of attendees at the outdoor concert series are visitors coming to bike the Wabash Trace. He sees the trail as a lifeline for his hometown, which he moved back to in 2006.
“I was trying to do some beautification projects, and it became obvious as an artist that you can’t just rely on a town of 1,200 people to support you,” Zack said. “It was obvious to me that the trail was a link to the metro area. It’s a real asset and that will become more and more apparent as people come down the trail and discover this little town that has so many options.”
Other buildings in the town have also been repurposed for attractions, like the Malvern Manor, a reportedly haunted former hotel and nursing home that’s popular with paranormal investigators.
“When I moved back, there were a lot of vacancies and Main Street looked pretty trashy,” Zack said. “But once we started seeing that people would travel to Malvern, it reinforced the idea that we don’t have to be a dying community. People will travel; we just have to give them a reason to travel. People come and stay, they have dinner and drinks, they ride the trail and they come to the music series. It’s all helped to make Malvern a destination.”
Hillman, who runs the Depot Deli out of a converted train station in Shenandoah, echoed how the trail has been a lifesaver for businesses in some of the smaller towns. “They see people coming through every day riding bikes, which doesn’t seem like a big deal if you’re from a city. But for a small town of 100 people, if you get two or three extra customers a day, it can make the difference between being open and being closed.”
A Force of Nature
In addition to its charming towns, one of the trail’s big draws is its connection to nature, including the Loess Hills, which were formed 14,000 years ago by windblown sediments reaching up to 300 feet tall. The Loess Hills area is home to native prairies and woodlands, which provide crucial habitat to prairie wildlife such as red-tailed hawks.
“The only other place in the world where loess deposits are that deep and extensive is in the Yellow River Valley in China,” Laughlin said. “So it’s a very unique landform that has a lot of interesting flora and fauna.”
In the future, the Wabash Trace will also connect to Page County Conservation’s Rapp Park, which has a campground, fishing pond and lots of migratory bird-watching opportunities. SWINT is fundraising for the $3 million project, dubbed the Rapp Park Connector Trail, according to Hillman and Laughlin, and they hope to start construction in the spring.
Another project, an extension of the Admiral Trail, will also provide access to the Wabash Trace for the nearby community of Farragut on a route through picturesque countryside.
Inspired by SWINT’s dedication and hard work past and present, other groups have turned to them for advice on building rail-trails in their area. “I personally have spoken to people in organizations in Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and all over Iowa that are starting up trails who want some ideas on how to get started,” Hillman said. “The biggest step is to just decide to do it.”
Related Links
Trail Facts
Name: Wabash Trace Nature Trail
Used railroad corridor: Wabash Railway
Trail website: Wabash Trace Nature Trail website
Length: 63 miles
County: Fremont, Mills, Page, Pottawattamie
Start point/end point: Iowa West Foundation Trailhead Park at Harry Langdon Blvd. and E. South Omaha Bridge Road (Council Bluffs); 0.1 mile south of North St. and N. Railroad St., about 150 feet from the Iowa–Missouri state line (Blanchard)
Surface type: Asphalt, crushed limestone, concrete
Grade: Gentle (5% or less); in Council Bluffs (on the north end of the trail), there is a 6-mile gentle climb while passing through the Loess Hills
Uses: Walking, running, biking, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing; wheelchair accessible. Although horses are not permitted on the Wabash Trace itself, horseback riding is allowed on the adjacent equestrian trail that runs between Council Bluffs and Margaritaville. Note: To use the trail, purchase a trail pass for $2/day or $20/year either online, at trailheads, or at local businesses in the trail towns.
Difficulty: Moderate
Getting there: The closest major airport is Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska, which is 18 miles from the northern end of the trail. (The Council Bluffs Municipal Airport and Shenandoah Municipal Airport are not open to commercial flights.)
To navigate the area with an interactive GIS map, and to see more photos, user reviews and ratings, plus loads of other trip-planning information, visit TrailLink™, RTC’s free trail-finder website.
Access and parking: Parking is available at the following trailheads (from north to south):
- Council Bluffs: Iowa West Foundation Trailhead, 4102 Harry Langdon Blvd.
- Mineola: Barrus Road and Fifth St.
- Malvern: Malvern Depot, 301 W. Fifth St.
- Imogene: 397 Ave., between Third St. and Second St.
- Shenandoah: Sportsmans Park on Ferguson Road, 150 feet west of N. Sycamore St.
- Shenandoah: Waubonsie Park on Ferguson Road, 330 feet east of N. Center St.
Rentals: Heartland Bike Share (402.957.2453) offers bike-share stations at several locations throughout Council Bluffs. In Shenandoah, Depot Deli (101 N. Railroad St.; 712.246.4444) has bicycles that they loan out to visitors.
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