DeeDee and I agreed to let Dave set the pace today. Quite brisk—both the pace and the weather! But we made it. Let's hope February 3rd at Fourmile is a little nicer!

UPDATE SATURDAY 7:30 AM: Upon further review of the weather (and input from participants) this stroll is canceled due to bitter wind chills.

Let’s visit the South Sycamore Trails! The trailhead is in the parking lot of the Polk County River Place building at 2309 Euclid Ave, in Des Moines. Meet by 10:00 a.m. at the large trail map in the southeast corner of the lot.

We will head north and take the left fork onto the Owl Trail. We will loop around the Jason Walker Raceway and return. It will be about 1.8 miles.

Thank you for showing up for a brisk stroll! The trails were in really great shape—nicely frozen without being icy. Let's hope we get just good conditions next Tuesday at Sycamore South.

Thanks for putting up with the ice today. At least the weather and company were good! Maybe we'll get dry trails on the 30th as we stroll at Center Trails?

Let’s return to Grandview Park. It is a 60-acre park with several parking lots. Park along East 32nd Street just north of Guthrie Avenue. We will leave from there at 10:00 a.m.

Our walk will use the Grandview Nature Trail and paved roads in the park to make a loop. The loop is about 1.7 miles.

Fourmile Mountain Bike Park is “a soft surface trail system oriented towards recreational mountain biking, hiking, trail running, and groomed trails for winter fat biking” in the wooded land north of Copper Creek Lake. Park in the gravel lot along Washington Avenue (no sign) off Williams Street. We will leave from there at 10:00 a.m.

We will head north on old 42nd and enter the trail system. We will turn right and take the trail to the other side of the creek. Then we will hike up and down the Against the Current trail and return around the outer loop (Hydro). I estimate the total mileage will be about 2.1 miles.

Let’s head to Ewing Park again and try to break our muddy trail curse. Meet by 10:00 a.m. in the Ashley Okland Star Playground parking lot on south side of McKinley, just west of Indianola Avenue.

We’ll hike around to the other side of the soapbox derby track. There we’ll go up Trail 4 and down Trail 1. Then we’ll come back over the track. This should be about two miles.

Join us for a longer walk at Denman Woods. This flat trail is south of Center Trails in Des Moines. Park along the south side of North Valley Drive west of the bridge over Walnut Creek. Meet by 10:00 at the west end of the bridge.

This time we will take the outer loop. That means the route will be about a mile longer than is typical for our strolls. It also means we’ll get to see new sights!

The walk will use the paved Levee Trail for 1/3 mile to get to the trail entrance. The outer loop of Denman Woods is just under three miles. The return on the paved trail makes the total 3.4 miles.

Wow. The weather and colors were perfect. And the people pretty dang awesome also. Thank you for coming out. I hope to see you on the 15th for a long hike through flat Denman Woods.

Thank you for coming out! I am so glad we got to walk the trail. I can't wait to explore more with you.

Join us for a stroll through the woods of Southwoods Park. The driveway for this park is just off 35th Street, across from the West Des Moines Learning Resource Center. Meet by 10:00 a.m. in the disc golf course parking lot.

We will walk up the paved trail from the lot to the singletrack. We will go around the hill clockwise and double back to walk it counter-clockwise. This route is about 1.5 miles.

Beautiful fall day! Too bad the recent rain made the dirt trail muddy. Thanks for exploring the paved trail with me. Let's hope it's dry Saturday the 18th at Southwoods.

Thanks for coming to one of my new favorite parks, and for trying to point to your favorite spots on the map. lol. I like the "north mixmaster." See you next week at my original favorite park: Sycamore North.

Thanks for coming out to check my mowing of Trail B, too bad it was muddy. lol I really did have fun exploring those other trails though. :-)

Thank you for braving the acorns with me! A bit humid, but otherwise a great day for a hike. I hope to see everyone again next week at Ewing.

I wish more folks had been able to make it for these perfect trail conditions and perfect temperature. Oh well, Dave enjoyed his opportunity to walk at Dave-pace. IYKYK. Hope to see you all next week when we stroll Hillside Trail!

Another lovely day! Thank you for showing up for a delightful trek on the dirt! Next week we will be at Denman Woods.

We got to hike the dirt trail!! Thank you for being there! Did you know that of our previous eleven events, only two were on the soft trail? Let’s hope this good weather holds next week for our stroll at North Sycamore.

I really wanted us to be able to stroll Sycamore South, but this summer has been just so, so wet. Thank you for taking the Riverview Park Trail over to Riverview Park. Maybe things will be dry for Southwoods park next week…

Thanks for braving the forecast! Reality was just damp and humid, no thunderstorms. Had fun wandering around—it's a very pretty park. See you Tuesday the 19th at a NEW (to us) trail: Sycamore South!

Thank you for being flexible. The first trail we wanted to hike was too overgrown, the second was just right, and the rest were too wet. So we took to hardened trails and still found plenty to explore in and around the park! See you at Grandview on Saturday, August 9.

We tried the dirt trail, but were picking up mud. So we explored the park on pavement and grass. Weather wasn't too hot because it was breezy and overcast. See you next week when we are back at Fourmile!

As I predicted the trails were muddy; there was even a bit of flooding. So we took the the paved trail and saw the sights from there. Let's hope it's dry on the 22nd at Ewing.

Hot, but not too hot. And very shady! I love a good walk in the woods. Thank you for joining me for a quick loop of North Sycamore. I hope to see you all Saturday the 12th at Denman Woods.

Grandview doesn't have paved trails as a fallback option, but it does have scenic roads, a playground, and trash for us to pick up. Thank you to everyone who helped explore. Let's hope for drier conditions next Tuesday at North Sycamore!

I wish I could have been there. Jina, thank you for leading and sending me photos!

The forecasted 98% chance of rain turned into nothing. Thank you to everyone who showed up! And welcome to the folks who randomly showed up from out of town to check out the trail!

We hiked, biked, and ran, and picked up bags of trash.

Another paved stroll, but the Ashawa Greenway trail turned out really scenic. Check out the Soft Trail Stroll Facebook group to see everyone's photos. Let's help for nice dry trails on Saturday, June 7 for National Trails Day.

Thanks for coming out on a rainy day. As predicted, Sycamore was muddy and we had to walk the Neal Smith Trail. Longer walk than usual, but we got to see things I had not seen in a while. I hope things are dry next Tuesday for Southwoods Park. Don't forget to put National Trails Day, Saturday, June 7 on your calendar.