I am behind in my posts so while Iowa is now suffering from a drought, in June the rains would not stop and we experienced flooding which made it very hard to get out and camp or even get out to ride bikes!  On a rare dry June day — that actually happened on a weekend — my first bike ride of the season was on the Marshalltown bike trail.

I like to start out by driving to the Y in Marshalltown and parking in their lot since it is so big and also a water source on return!  Taking the trail westward, it is more on the edge of the downtown area so I can get out of the city pretty quickly.  I like riding to the Grimes Farm which is a conservation area with a visitor’s center and some nice picnic areas to sit and eat a snack before heading back.

Continuing past Grimes Farm onto the new section which goes along Highway 30 and then up 330 to Melbourne, I wanted to be sure that I biked 5 miles out before I headed back.  As you can see in the picture below, there is absolutely no shade on this section and it is very hilly so I did not last long as the sun was unrelenting!

Once back at Grimes Farm, I stopped and ate my almonds and cheese stick while watching a cute little chipmunk sneaking up on me before skittering away and colorful birds flitting around.  This time I went into the Visitor Center and was very impressed with their displays!  It was nice being in some air conditioning because did I mention it was HOT out?!

The trail back to Marshalltown is very shady and woodsy, and I quickly became obsessed with how big the Queen Anne’s Lace was!  I don’t think I have ever seen it that tall.  So I am going to end this post with a very rare selfie, (since I hate pictures taken of myself, let alone me taking it) because I want to give a reference for how high the Queen Anne’s Lace was!  For more posts on the Marshalltown, Iowa, Trail, click here.