Cowboy Trail Forum

My wife and I made the trek from Norfolk to Valentine June 5-7, 2018. We were on mountain bikes with tubeless tires and only had one problem that was easily resolved with adding more sealant in the tire. We over estimated our ability for day 1 with our attempt to ride from Norfolk to O’Neill (@ 80 miles). Our lunch stop was Mamas’ and Nanas’ – which we would recommend. The afternoon of this day is a little bit of blur as we were focused on the next shade and/or town with a place to cool off. We thought the trail was in good condition on day 1 and we only rode on the road for @ 2 miles due to the bridge being out. For day 2, we were able to hitch a ride from Emmet to Bassett. After that, we continued our ride into Ainsworth. The Local House 20 in Ainsworth is a great place to grab a bite to eat and cool off. The trail from O’Neill to Emmet and from Bassett to Ainsworth was in good condition. Day 3 was the rest of the way to Valentine. Day 3 had the worse trail conditions of all three days, but none were enough to make us get on the road. There were sections that were more overgrown than other areas, there were areas where livestock had rutted the trail pretty good, and once we veered away from Highway 20, there was quite a bit of washboard from vehicle travel. All of these areas were not for very long. We had anticipated few stops on this day and picked up some lunch stuff at the store in Ainsworth the night before. We stopped at the post office in Wood Lake, who directed us to the park to refill our water. In Valentine, we had lunch at the Coachlight Café (try the peanut butter bacon cheeseburger), pre-dinner drinks at Bolo Brewery (good selection), and dinner at the Peppermill (highly recommend). We did ride partially through Valentine to find the Cowboy Trailhead park.

We stayed in hotels along the way, rather than camping. Due to the ability to make reservations online, we stayed at chain hotels. After driving through the area, several of the smaller, local hotels looked nice. We did take advantage of the breakfast at the hotels most mornings. Most restaurants were not open until a little later, so having a somewhat substantial breakfast helped carry us through the day.

One thing that we noticed about the trail is that many of the towns are not well marked and neither are points of interest that you might be interested in just off the trail. Luckily we had cell service and were able to find some of these along the way. Even still, we missed several.

When we were planning the trip, it was suggested that we ride from Valentine to Norfolk because of the grade but we found the grade to not be a challenge. Surprisingly, we had a tail wind or slight side wind for most of the three days.

On our drive to Valentine to drop our vehicle, we saw quite a few riders on the road and only one or two on the trail. During our ride, we only saw one other pair of cyclists, who were going the opposite direction (and they were on the road).

Almost everyone we met was very friendly. Surprisingly, some were not aware of the Cowboy Trail serving as a rail trail (for biking) and several businesses were not aware of the website that lists amenities in each town.

Overall, the 2 ½ days made up for the ½ day of misery (caused by our over-estimating our ability to deal with the heat/humidity). If we were to do it again, we’d break it into 4 days. I have seen several comments in this thread about creating a resource of “must see” areas while on the trail and that would be a great addition for riding this trail.

Thanks for your write-up! Glad you came out at rode the Cowboy Trail.

Yeah, thanks for the in-depth write-up, it was AWESOME! I hope to ride this trail soon!

Hi.
Just finished the trail on Friday 6/29. (Valentine to Norfork) We rode a Fat tire Pugsley and 2 older road bikes with 1 1/4 tires
(In our defense we have used the road bike setup on the KT Trail, the C+O, the GAP and others without problems)
The Pugsley floated over everything! The 1 1/4s not so much...quite possibly because of the horrendous rains the area had received recently.(duh)
The trail was rough and our choice of bikes made it worse.
We ended up doing about maybe 25% on the trail and the rest on the road. Traffic was mostly light, gave us plenty of room and the shoulder was clean and smooth. The people we met and the towns we stopped in were all very friendly and supportive. East City Park in Ainsworth was very clean. Mill Race Park in Atkinson has a new hot shower! Hot shower in Riverside park in Neligh too! We finished up in Ta-Ha-Zouka Park (hot shower!) were we had left our car before being shuttled to Valentine by North Fork Outfitting. In short it was a good ride in a great area amongst friendly people.
I'll be happy to answer specific questions, if I can.

I have a road bike I outfitted with 28 mm Continental touring tires. Completed the Katy Trail this year, and the Sparta-Elroy trails (both crushed limestone) with no problems, and no flat tires. Are you indicating that I should have some wider tires? (Meaning, quite probably, a different bike.)

Hi,
I've done Elroy-Sparta too on my 1 1/4 tires, my point is that the Cowboy Trail is quite doable on bikes like ours, but just not as enjoyable as Don was on his fat tire Pugsley. Both of us 1 1/4 guys decided that maybe a mountain bike would've been the way to go. Then again like I said it could have been that the weather put the trail in less than ideal shape.

We've enjoyed reading the comments from previous riders, but haven't seen a lot of info on recommended tire widths. Was wondering if a 38C hybrid tire would suffice, or, if not, what tire width folks are recommending.

I would recommend cramming the largest tire that fits in the frame but 38c would be sufficient for sure. I’d run it down around 40 psi to make the ride a bit more supple and helps the tire float on the loose limestone a bit better. A nice fast rolling tread helps.

Just rode Valentine to O'Neill with 5 people, four with 32mm tires, one with 40mm tires. It had rained for like 4 straight days so the trail was pretty soft. The 40mm bike found the trail to be ride-able but for the 32mm tires it was just too soft. We sunk in and it was exhausting. We mostly rode on the highway.

I have 28 mm tires on a road bike, and did the Katy trail with no problems this year. (And Sparta-Elroy as part of a St. Paul to Chicago trip a year ago.) Based on what you're indicating, it sounds like you wouldn't recommend taking on the trail with those tires, correct? Is the trail crushed limestone? In the two other trails noted above, I had no problems.

In Norfolk:
1. Andrew Bicycle and Fitness appears to be permanently closed
2. Cleveland Bike & Sport is closed Mondays and Sundays

I’m planning on a hike on the entire Cowboy Trail in spring 2019 for the purpose of night sky photography. I’d like to carry enough gear for evening or night camp along the way. My thinking is to use a jogging/trail -stroller modified to carry my gear. I’ve researched the surface as crushed gravel but like to make sure a small rolling-type vehicle would work. And ask for thoughts on the western “undeveloped” portion of the trail. I am an experienced backpacker, just wanting to make sure the surface is not extremely rough in places for smaller wheels.

Sweet! I can tell you there will be some fantastic night skies waiting for you. I think a jogging stroller would work well for you on the completed portion of the trail. It's more like a pea sized, packed crushed limestone, great to walk/run on. If you wanted to try and find a wider tire for the stroller so you could air them down a little to add some suppleness, you could. I always recommend slime in your tubes as well (or go tubeless!).

As far as the "western" portion, it's for the most part not suitable for most to travel but I'd be the last person to say don't try it! I've heard of some folks riding fat bikes down it before. The biggest problems you'd probably face are tall grasses on the trail (3'-4'+), bridges that are not decked, and the surface would probably still contain loose ballast rock which would not be fun to walk/push a stroller on.

Great info.... my thanks for posting.

According a search on google, this place is permanently closed and the phone number is a fast busy.

Thank you for the heads-up; I have removed that listing.

Happy trails!

There is a very good restaurant in Johnstown, the next town after Wood Lake. They serve up a great hamburger, loved the atmosphere and the folks that ran it were very friendly. This was August 2017. We ate there twice and if we are back in area, we would be disappointed if they were not there. I don't see them listed, but if the are still there, they should be listed! As I recall the sign into town didn't appear to be open, but they were.

Forgot to mention name of resturant. It was The Lbow Saloon.

Should have named the town. Lbow Saloon, Johnstown. Great place to eat.

We had breakfast in Norfolk then took the shuttle to Valentine. We were pretty darn hungry by the time we got to Wood Lake so the Cafe being closed was disappointing (also no shelter from the persistent rain). The first stop is the L Bow Room Saloon in Johnstown, 34 miles from Valentine. Plan accordingly.

The mushroom-swiss burger i had at the L Bow Room was fantastic.

Hello all, I am curious to get some feed back on the use of small wheels on the CowboyTrail. My family and I are planning a trip spring 2019 and part of us will be on a Bike-Friday tandem. I'm wondering if anyone has a perspective or guidance on how the smaller wheeled bike would handle.

- Kevin

Need more detail. Which section are you planning to ride? How far? You'd be OK going for a little while and on certain portions of the trail, but you don't want to try a long distance

We rode August 2017 on Ranz recumbents from Valentine to Norfolk and back. 20" on front and 26" on back. No problems.

We just finished the trail from Valentine to norfolk. My peeps used mountain bike tires. Road tires i would not recommned. We also had the tire liners for thorns. This time of year the thorns are not mature but later in the year they will be worse. But we did keep meeting up with a group that used road tires. They did it but had to travel down the high way in sections and had to get a tire replaced. We had a wet ride with lots of rain. We didn't have any tire trouble. If you do use road tires bring spare tubes with you.

I am planning on hiking the trail in late August. Can anyone tell me how long it takes to get around the detour and if it is clearly marked? Also, I would like to being my companion dog. Are they allowed on the trail?

Hi Laurie,

Dogs are welcome on the trail!

The detour at Clearwater,NE is not very clearly marked but is easy to get around. I recommend staying on HWY 275. Here's a link to a google map showing how to get around the damaged bridge/portion of the trail.

https://goo.gl/maps/RWTeyVQBGkS2

Where are you hiking to and from?

Thanks, Alex, for the detour info. Looks pretty simple.
Tyler, I want to go from Valentine to Norfolk.
Thanks!

I was just out there a few weeks ago and I retract my statement about the detour markings - they now have signs up marking the detour. If you want though, I checked out broken bridge and it was kind of neat.

Thanks, Alex!

I just completed a backpacking trip on the trail. We did not have to deal with the detour, but saw the area on the way down the highway. We started in Stuart and were to hike to Ainsworth with 3 days of hiking. 22 day 1, camp at Bassett, 10 more to Long Pine, and then a final day of 10 to Ainsworth. We did not get started until 1130am and it was over 90 degrees our first day. Minimal shade available, but overall, we managed.

I wanted to mention here, and plan to write up our trip notes to share, but the #1 surprise to us (considering myself a somewhat seasoned and experienced backpacker in good shape)was the wear and tear the 22 miles from Stuart to Basset did to our legs and feet. The trail is like crushed limestone but it is not packed very well in this stretch and being sandhills, there is....sand, not packed earth underneath. I felt the effects within a mile or 2. Changed socks, and it did not help. Maybe it was the extreme heat heating up the ground adding to it, but stopping at 10 miles I put moleskin on one foot pad to see if it would help. Unfortunately I powered on through the second leg and forgot about my other foot. Large blisters on my right foot pad that night. Very painful. I also feel I may have worn out my left foot by compensating for the blisters and walking off kilter. Either bruised it bad or stress fractured. The extra weight (40-60lb packs) 22 miles of sustained 3mph pace, little stopping or changing direction, heat, and somewhat sandy ground all lead to each of us with major blistering.

I guess what I am getting at is, tape your feet up well before you start. Use moleskin or duct tape, but do it before you start, not once you feel it. Wish I would have. If you are going to go 20 miles in a day, start early and break more than once. Also, I would recommend some sturdy hiking boots. I opted to leave mine at home since I was not going to be going over rocks and uphill, went with a NewBalance trail runner, and they did fine, but wished I would have had my Keens. Good luck!

Just finished going from Valentine to Ewing. Trail was decent except for a few badger holes along the way -also East of Arabia for about 3-4 miles the trail is somewhat overgrown but manageable. Using MTBs with liner and thorn resistant tires with no issues.

My husband, his brother, and I completed a ride on the trail from Valentine to Norfolk last week.
I have posted notes, info, and photos on my blog in a series that begins with this one. (Hope link is allowed here.) Will be happy to answer any questions as well as I can.
https://cindysheets.wordpress.com/2018/06/06/cowboy-trail-day-1-long-day-on-the-road/

Enjoyed the blog! Did you use tubeless tires?

Excellent Blog...great info .. you have persuaded me to come and ride the CB trail.

Thanks for sharing! Excellent write-up on the trail. Be sure to stop at Long Pine SRA next time! It's a great place to camp overnight.

Alex

ronray43 - Glad you enjoyed it! My tires were tubeless, but Keith and John's weren't. No issues either way.

Schosh - Yay! I want to read your experiences on the trail!

Alex - Thanks for your kind words! Honestly, I think the Long Pine scenery was my favorite. I would love to visit the area again!

Hi All.
I am looking to ride the trail the last week of Sept. I have a mountain bike and trailer for my JRT -Skipper as he has a bad leg. Curious to know if the trail is good enough for the trailer? We travel slow so trying to figure out the best stopping points. We will most likely stay in hotels along the way. Appreciate any feedback. Happy Riding - Lara

I was wondering the same thing. I am looking to pull a trailer w/dog. I am sure someone will give a response. Have fun on your trip!

I pulled a bob trailor on the trail a few years ago. I had about 40 lbs on it and it wasn’t that bad. At times it did feel like I was dragging a boat anchor but I think that was more just me being out of shape! Bring the trailor and dogs along!

Thanks Alex, appreciate the feedback

Planning on visiting the area in july and will be traveling with a dog. Are there any vets/boarding kennels in the valentine or Norfolk. Normaly my wife stays at the RV with the dog , but I'd like to do an overnighter with her if we can find a dog sitter/kennel to keep the mutt for a day or two. Thanks in advance,Schosh

Yes in Norfolk there's Happy Tails -

http://happytailss.com/

What part can be done on a bike (type of bike needed) is road, trail, cyclocross or MT bike. Running is this all trail or paved trail, Type of terrain and types of shoes needed.

We just completed the entire route on bikes. Two of our group were on gravel bikes, and the other was on a touring bike. We were self-supported, so were hauling all our gear. The entire trail is mostly hard-pack gravel. A couple of miles at Norfolk is paved. We had little trouble. I would advise against roadbike tires.
I'm working on a blog that details our route. Hope to have it all up by tomorrow.

I haven't stayed here, yet, but I booked it. What I learned: it is run by the town of Long Pine. I believe there are 12 rooms which share 6 bathrooms with shower (one bathroom per each pair of rooms). $35/night. The 12 rooms have a shared common space with a refrigerator and perhaps a kitchenette; the common space is at the west end of the building. Call the town of Long Pine at 402-273-4120 to reserve.

My husband and I are staying at the bunkhouse tonight. The mayor checked us in to our room. It is a great place with grocery and restaurant close by. Use of a full kitchen and living room. Very friendly town. Nice hot shorts. Very clean rooms.

Nice hot showers. Funny how spellcheck has a mind of its own

I started a walk down the Cowboy Trail on 5/25/18 leaving from Valentine. The first day was pretty brutal as the weather decided to turn super hot. I had originally planned to camp in Wood Lake but instead caught a ride into Ainsworth and stayed at the Super 8 and ate at Big John's (all you can eat fish on Friday nights). On 5/26 I kept my walking distance shorter due to continued hot weather and made it to Long Pine. This part of the trail was beautiful and the bridge into Long Pine was just as great as the bridge outside of Valentine. I stayed at the Bunkhouse right beside the trail for $35. I was the only person there that night so had the place to myself. The numbers to call are posted on the side of the building and I was able to reach someone quickly who came right over to check me in. I found the people of Long Pine extremely helpful/nice. I wondered around the Long Pine State Rec area, did a load of laundry at the laundry mat (closed on Sunday's), got a few snacks at the grocery store (closed on Sunday's) and ate prime rib at the local bar, Sandhill's Lounge. Long Pine is a beautiful area! On 5/27 I walked to Basset and stayed and ate at the Bassett Lodge and Range Café. Again, the people were extremely nice and the owner's of the lodge let me check in early. Got snacks at the convenience store on the highway as the grocery store was closed on Sunday. 5/27 continued my walk to final destination of Newport. Waited at the famous Newport Pool Hall for my ride to pick me up. Several people stopped to talk with me and provided history of the town. Overall, it was a great trip. Saw lots of wildlife (beavers, birds of all kinds, woodchuck (I think), deer, blue heron, turtles, snakes and the cows were always really interested in what I was doing) and the landscapes were unbelievable. I was walking so did not have to worry about trail conditions that bikers talk about but to me the trail seemed in great shape with the exception of a few places. I would recommend calling the services listed on this sight if you are counting on them. I think several places are closed so better to know ahead of time. So much to see...hope to do another leg of the trail another time.

Stayed here after a wedding in Adkinson last June. Pleasant workers on phone and at motel, clean, comfortable, not fancy but met our needs at a good price compared to others in the area.

Would like to use a RIDE W/GPS APP on my IPHONE. How is cell coverage on the Trail. I have Verizon.

We have a GPS app, Run Keeper and it worked on the Cowboy Trail just fine for us last August.

Several of us just rode the Cowboy from Valentine to Norfolk last weekend. I have an iPhone with Verizon and run Strava -- I did not have any issues with coverage.

Thanks!

Just spent a weekend trying to ride this thing and did most of our miles on U.S. 20 instead. The trail was in poor condition from farm equipment, animals, and too much water. In places, we were riding in tire ruts because of the overgrowth. If the trail was dry, we were banged around on the wash-boarding and tire ruts. If it was wet, we were sinking in, hardly moving, and looking to see if our tires were flat or if it was just the soggy trail causing that sensation. We are experienced cyclists riding gravel bikes with tubeless 700x38 or 700x40 tires and were extremely disappointed. We’d been looking forward to the trip since January. The only thing that saved the trip was the fact that we had a driver who could pick us up and take us down the road a ways to try again and again. The only decent part of the whole trail was from Battle Creek to Norfolk – and that part was completely beautiful in addition to being well-maintained.

On another note, the people in the towns were completely wonderful and welcoming. They were sad with us that the trail was so unrideable, and tried very hard to give us suggestions for where to start on it, or other things to see while we were in the area.

From reading the other comment threads on here, it looks like we hit a bad time to be out there – heavy snows this winter seem to be the cause of all the standing water and soggy trail conditions, but the heavy equipment ruts are likely a common trail condition. With so many other choices of beautiful trails in this country, I see no reason to return to the Cowboy Trail.

I'm sorry to hear about your poor experience on the Cowboy Trail. I have forwarded your comments to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. I will be out there this weekend and will take pictures and record locations of the damaged sections.

Thanks Alex. I will be looking into this as well. Contact me if you need anything.

We just backapcked the trail from Norfolk to Clearwater and it is in great shape. It's too bad the rest of the trail is being neglected. Hopefully they can work on it this summer.

Backpacking Cowboy Trail

On Friday morning 4/27, we began our hiking trip from Norfolk to Clearwater with 80 pounds of equipment split between the two of us. We started out at the trailhead in Ta Ha Zouka Park just south of Norfolk. We left at 8:00 am and hiked until we reached Battle Creek around 12:00 pm. We had a quick lunch and left Battle Creek around 12:20 pm to head towards Meadow Grove. The section from Norfolk to Meadow Grove was pretty scenic with grass meadows and picturesque alleys of trees. The trail also follow the Elkhorn River for quite a ways too. In this section, we came across various different animals such as: cardinals, blue jays, garter snake, bullfrogs, deer, and many more. The trail was clear from Norfolk to Meadow Grove. There was a tree down about a mile east of Meadow Grove, but there is a enough room to go around it.

From Meadow Grove to Tilden was the roughest part of the trip due to the lack of trees. There wasn't as much shade to take advantage of when we were looking for a break. We reached Tilden around 6:00 pm. After hiking 22 miles it was refreshing to finally get to the Tilden Campground. That was about as far as was humanly possible without being severely fatigued. The Tilden Campground has a really nice setup with a heated bathroom, a shower, and water hydrants to drink from. This is the best place to stop along the 1st part of the trail.

The next morning we awoke to near freezing temperatures, so that heated bathroom was a god send. We had a hearty breakfast and resumed the hike at 10:30am to head towards Neligh which was 13 miles away. Neligh was the next spot on the trail that has camping. Oakdale and Clearwater do not have campgrounds.

Just outside of Oakdale there is a nice grove of trees where you can take a break. Once in town there is a picnic table next to the gas station Mr. S.'s that you can rest at as well.

From Oakdale to Neligh was another part of the trail that was really scenic. Just outside of Oakdale the trail veers off into the wilderness away from the highway. In this little stretch there were lots of new critters to see. Many turtles, ducks, and beavers were spotted. The Elkhorn River runs right through this section as well which added to the vista.

Once we were to Neligh, we decided to make camp at the Riverside Park Campground around 5:00pm. It is a really nice campground right along the trail, but just be aware that you can not have open fires at this campsite. There are restrooms and a shower.

The following morning we left around 9:00 am to Clearwater. The landscape on this part of the trail starts to change into more of a grassland area. This trail follows the highway up until about halfway to Clearwater, where it veers off back into the countryside. A little past halfway to Clearwater our journey ends as the trail was closed and detoured onto the highway. From there our ride came and got us and we were driven back to Norfolk.

The trail was clear and open all the way up unto that point. We averaged about 20 minutes a mile with 40 pounds on our backs. Definitely a good time and worth the trip.

Sounds like an awesome trip! I'm glad you had a good time, thanks for sharing.