It’s freedom, baby! Yeah! Cycling and hiking the wooded Heritage Trail

Boomer blogger, Alan Sivell, celebrates his post-COVID freedom with a bike ride through the woods of northeast Iowa along the Heritage Trail just outside of Dubuque.

By Alan Sivell

After a year and a half of what felt like a home confinement sentence, we are being set free. And nothing sets you freer than your first mode of transportation, your bike. IMHO.

For a quick biking getaway this summer, I recommend Heritage Trail in Dubuque. If I lived closer, I would be on this trail everyday. As it is, it’s only a little more than an hour from the Quad Cities. It’s easily doable as a day trip. I did it in a morning.

About Heritage Trail

Heritage Trail is 26 miles of woods and bike trails located just outside of Dubuque, IA. Click on this image to view a larger map.

The trail is 26-miles of crushed limestone set on the bed of rail line that ran between Dubuque and Dyersville in the 1800s. The trail follows the Little Maquoketa River and is deeply wooded.

It’s so deeply wooded that you can feel the temperature drop within the first hundred yards on the trail. I rode on a day when it was in the 90s, but under the heavy canopy of trees, the temperature dropped quickly. I barely broke a sweat.

There are access points throughout the 26-mile trail. Check out the map.

You can hop on in Dubuque, which is the closest starting point from the Quad Cities. I arrived at about 10 a.m. on a Sunday Morning and the parking lot at the Dubuque access point – three miles north of town – was already about 2/3 full.

I was worried the path would be crowded, but it wasn’t. In fact, there were long stretches – miles – where I saw no people and could just enjoy being in the woods.

In my former life as a feature reporter, I often came up with story ideas because I, selfishly, wanted to experience them. And in the early 1980s, I had a new bike so I did a story on the Heritage Trail. The trail itself hasn’t changed much but there have been important improvements.

There are more restrooms strategically located on the trail. And there are more places to grab something to eat. And the places where the trail crosses roads are now paved. Those intersections used to be loose rock, which your bike would sink into causing even experienced riders to fall. Or your tires to pop. Or both, as happened to me back then.

Which brings me to the fee to use the trail, to keep funding those improvements. You can buy passes online.

It’s nice to get out … and spend some time in the open air

During the pandemic, I spent a lot of time on the great bike paths we have in the Quad Cities. So did a lot of other people.

And that’s good … and bad.

Sometimes, the paths would get crowded and it was hard to enjoy your bike ride because you had to spend time concentrating on the traffic jam ahead of you. And saying, “Left.”

Louder: “Passing.”

Still louder: “Left.”

Finally, they might hear you and jump out of the way as if you were totally unexpected.

On the Heritage Trail, it’s so quiet, that the walkers in front of you can hear your tires coming on the crushed limestone. And even if they don’t, you certainly don’t need to shout.

By Alan Sivell

After a year and a half of what felt like a home confinement sentence, we are being set free. And nothing sets you freer than your first mode of transportation, your bike. IMHO.

For a quick biking getaway this summer, I recommend Heritage Trail in Dubuque. If I lived closer, I would be on this trail everyday. As it is, it’s only a little more than an hour from the Quad Cities. It’s easily doable as a day trip. I did it in a morning.

About Heritage Trail

Heritage Trail is 26 miles of woods and bike trails located just outside of Dubuque, IA. Click on this image to view a larger map.

The trail is 26-miles of crushed limestone set on the bed of rail line that ran between Dubuque and Dyersville in the 1800s. The trail follows the Little Maquoketa River and is deeply wooded.

It’s so deeply wooded that you can feel the temperature drop within the first hundred yards on the trail. I rode on a day when it was in the 90s, but under the heavy canopy of trees, the temperature dropped quickly. I barely broke a sweat.

There are access points throughout the 26-mile trail. Check out the map.

You can hop on in Dubuque, which is the closest starting point from the Quad Cities. I arrived at about 10 a.m. on a Sunday Morning and the parking lot at the Dubuque access point – three miles north of town – was already about 2/3 full.

I was worried the path would be crowded, but it wasn’t. In fact, there were long stretches – miles – where I saw no people and could just enjoy being in the woods.

In my former life as a feature reporter, I often came up with story ideas because I, selfishly, wanted to experience them. And in the early 1980s, I had a new bike so I did a story on the Heritage Trail. The trail itself hasn’t changed much but there have been important improvements.

There are more restrooms strategically located on the trail. And there are more places to grab something to eat. And the places where the trail crosses roads are now paved. Those intersections used to be loose rock, which your bike would sink into causing even experienced riders to fall. Or your tires to pop. Or both, as happened to me back then.

Which brings me to the fee to use the trail, to keep funding those improvements. You can buy passes online.

It’s nice to get out … and spend some time in the open air

During the pandemic, I spent a lot of time on the great bike paths we have in the Quad Cities. So did a lot of other people.

And that’s good … and bad.

Sometimes, the paths would get crowded and it was hard to enjoy your bike ride because you had to spend time concentrating on the traffic jam ahead of you. And saying, “Left.”

Louder: “Passing.”

Still louder: “Left.”

Finally, they might hear you and jump out of the way as if you were totally unexpected.

On the Heritage Trail, it’s so quiet, that the walkers in front of you can hear your tires coming on the crushed limestone. And even if they don’t, you certainly don’t need to shout.