Hi All – With traffic picking back up on the trail, I wanted to put up a reminder that we still have some closures on the trail.
- A large bridge over the Elkhorn River between Oakdale and Neligh is still out so you will need to take the highway shoulder between Oakdale and Neligh for about 4 miles.
- Just west of Neligh there is a short stretch next to the river that has been eroded severely. You will be able to see some construction cones on the trail, you will need to walk adjacent highway shoulder for roughly 1/4mile and then can jump back on. Or if comfortable you can probably hike through the damaged section, stay away from the edge though.
- Between Neligh and Clearwater there is a section of trail that is permanently closed due the river reclaiming the trail in this section. You will need to take 519th ave back to the highway and ride around on the highway for about 3 miles. You can take 517th ave and head south to get back on to the cowboy trail. About a 2.5 mile detour for this one.
- The next closed spot is on the east edge of Long Pine. A large section of the trail embankment was washed out due to a culvert failure from the flood. To detour around, take 440th rd to the highway and then come back in to Long Pine and find the trail by the park on the main road, about 2.5 miles.

On NGPC's online trail map it will show a closure just east of the Niobrara River trail bridge, it is passable at the moment but exercise caution. These detours are likely to remain the same for the remainder of 2023.

A bit about goatheads - all trails and roads pose potential flat hazards, best you can do is try to mitigate and be prepared with extra tubes. I have had luck running slime in my tubes and if I do pick up few goatheads, don't pull them out, the thorn acts like a plug and helps the sealant seal the air leak. We are trying some new mitigation measures to reduce the presence of goatheads this year.

I hope you come out to ride the trail!