Reply to Cowboy Trail: Valentine - Stuart

As a native of Omaha, thought I would finally see parts of Nebraska I'd never been to growing up; namely the Sand Hills and north central Nebraska. So, planned and traveled parts of the Cowboy Trail 10/7 - 10/12/26 to determine if I want to tackle the whole thing in the future. The itinerary consisted of several out-and-back trips: Valentine-Wood Lake-Valentine; Ainsworth-Wood Lake-Ainsworth; Ainsworth-Long Pine-Ainsworth; and Stuart-Newport-Stuart. General observations: The trail is in very good condition, but is difficult to hold a line as there are several spots of unpacked gravel. I used 42mm tires on a gravel bike, which I found surprisingly fast and would recommend as a minimum width. Tires narrower than 42mm will be more trouble in the numerous soft spots. Having said that, it is possible to travel on packed portions of the trail; you just have to switch lanes frequently. There are a couple miles of paved trail around Ainsworth. Just east of Ainsworth back on the gravel, there were a few areas where horses and cattle had damaged the trail. That's too bad as it seemed on purpose. Had one flat outside of Johnstown due to goat-head thorns; these are pretty much invisible; you'll get more on your socks than in your tires so you'll know they're present. The towns I went through: Valentine, Wood Lake, Ainsworth, Stuart and Newport had very nice city parks; probably would camp at any of them; all had facilities except maybe Newport. The lodging was adequate in Valentine, Ainsworth and Atkinson; didn't camp. More often than not, the trail parallels US 20; it's not heavily traveled and has a wide shoulder, bumpy in parts. You might want to take a break from the gravel at times. Watch out for farm machinery. The bridges including the trestles were in good shape, but the wood plank to gravel transitions were rough at some points. I would say the biggest negative if comparing the CT to the Katy, Mickelson or maybe Flint Hills Trails is lack of infrastructure on the trail. By that I mean no trailhead parking, water, bathrooms, etc. There are signs coming in and going out of towns, but that's pretty much it. The city parks make up for the few trailside facilities, but you'll need to search them out. Direction-wise, travel west to east; the westerly wind was wicked for a couple of days. My best assessment is that it will be worthwhile to tackle the entire trail, but wouldn't prioritize it above the trails mentioned above. Final note: It might be well worth the effort to try the Chadron-Gordon portion when it's fully completed; the Pine Ridge area has outstanding scenic value. Happy trails.