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Health & Fitness

Iowa City area trails issues: no directional signs, dogs off leash, large tree down, trails closed

Iowa City trails issues: a tree down on a North Liberty trail, Crandic Park Trail closed, dogs off leash on trails, and no directional signage on the Iowa City Water Park trail maze.

Iowa City and North Liberty trails are wonderful and I'm grateful for them. I support them monetarily, and yet, there are maintenance issues, dogs off leash issues, and trail blockades that are more dangerous than the reasons for closure.

Jim and I rode 50 miles this weekend, 28 on mostly trails and 22 on paved shoulders and sidewalk trails. 

The North Liberty trail between Oakdale Research Park and North Liberty:

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The North Liberty trail between the University of Iowa's Oakdale Campus and North Liberty is a beautiful, shady, tree-lined trail along a railroad track behind Oakdale Campus buildings, North Liberty houses, and North Liberty mobile home courts.

The trail was temporarily closed last summer to put a new road through the trail, and the cross-through trail repair was beautifully done. I talked to the construction workers who constructed it. Some of them were from southern states who came here looking for work.

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There's half of a large tree down on the North Liberty trail behind either the North Liberty houses or the trailer courts, I forget which, but not behind the Oakdale Campus buildings. 

We encountered a walker with two dogs on the trail. The dogs were off leash. I wasn't worried about the older dog who sniffed at the foliage, but I was a little worried about the dog that ran straight toward me. I wasn't sure if he/she was just running enthusiastically in my direction or in attack mode.

A dog that doesn't bark and just runs straight toward you could be in attack mode. I know that from riding on country roads. I've outraced and yelled at many a farm dog. A coworker on a bike had her ankle savaged by one of the farm dogs that I outraced.

So I asked the older man, "Do you have a leash for those dogs?"

Belligerently, he asked me, "Do you have a license or a bell for that bicycle?"

It took me a minute to realize that I am not required to have a license or a bell for my bicycle. My husband said that the old man was used to being challenged by unnerved pedestrians and bicyclists, and had his stupid response ready. (My Dad always told me that "the best defense is a good offense." Apparently, this old man was a subscriber to that notion.)

I talked to one bicyclist on an organized bike ride recently who said he had a 1500-decibel horn on his bike, but it didn't work. That seems like overkill to me, or would be if the horn worked. Doesn't anything above 75 decibels damage your hearing?

I wouldn't mind getting a bell on my bicycle. I always had one when I was a kid. I don't believe I'm required to have one. When I'm on my bicycle, I always call out "behind you on your left . . . on your left . . . biker up . . . walker up," and so forth. I'm a polite cyclist unless I'm scared or threatened, at which point I go from scared to angry at the speed of light. I chased down a semi driver and confronted him once when he stopped after nearly running me over.

Are bicyclists required to have a license? No. I'd be more than glad to purchase a bicycle license if it encouraged motorists to think that bicyclists have a right to ride on the roadway (except interstate highways), but so far as I know, no bicycle licenses required or available except vanity plates. You can register your bicycle and get a serial number for it at the police station in case your bicycle is stolen. 

The North Dubuque Street Trail:

The North Dubuque Street Trail, which provides a safe, smooth path north out of Iowa City along the Iowa River to North Liberty, becomes a maze in the Iowa City Water Park.

A shorter, more direct route over Interstate-80 on North Dubuque Street is less confusing but far more terrifying. The last time I stayed on North Dubuque Street and biked over Interstate-80, a motorist honked at me from behind as I crossed the on-ramp. Then a wedding party in two buses screamed at me from behind in joyous, mindless celebration as they approached St. Mary's Church. I know because I caught up to them and yes, kept going. There's no cure for stupid. Why ruin their day and mine?

So the next time we rode the maze of trails in the water park. There are no signs and no arrows painted on the trails (paint would be cheaper) telling you how to reach Foster Road. We've done the maze before and often thought how nice it would be if someone in charge would realize that not everyone is looking for a secluded place to run their dogs off leash in a loop that goes nowhere. (Awkward smiles from off-leash dog owners in the maze loop.)

No, we're actually trying to find Foster Road through the new housing development at the bottom and up to the top of a steep hill that verges on Foster Road. We had to ask other bicyclists how to get through the maze. One of them knew. We followed her on the trail that goes under the interstate. 

Crandic Park, the trail that was and may never be again:

The Flood of 2008 was four years ago. For all their enthusiasm for TIFs (Tax Incremental Financing) and over 200 million dollars' worth of indebtedness, Coralville pooh-bahs don't seem to have figured out that it would be nice to have a safe way for non-motorists to go from Iowa City to Coralville.

The sidewalk criss-crossed by 100 business driveways on the Coralville Strip doesn't do the trick. You can walk or bike on it, but you might not live to tell the tale, especially as you travel in front of Old Chicago, motels, and other businesses in a large strip mall of sorts on the Coralville Strip. Motorists zoom in and out of there as though bicyclists and pedestrians didn't exist.

The Crandic Park Trail would be a nice alternative if Coralville's city fathers would do something with the trail other than put a closed sign in front of it and concrete barricades to indicate more convincingly that it's closed.

Some time I wish the Hawkeye football team would work out on the Iowa River and push those concrete barricades into the river. That would be a good workout with the possibility of a hernia but no rhabdomyelosis.

You see, people who walk to and from Iowa City to Coralville still use the trail.

How do I know that? Because the trail still exists, even through areas that are nothing but dirt and weeds. Feet and bicycle tires make well worn pathways. If the Cities of Iowa City and Coralville were to put trails wherever feet and bicycle tires have worn a trail, they'd be performing a huge service for those who need to get somewhere and don't have wheels.

You see those trails if you're on a bike. One is along Riverside Drive south of Hwy. 6 where it turns into Hwy. 1 West. One keeps Crandic Park Trail alive if not well. I traversed the Crandic Trail without getting off my bicycle, but it was a dicey business. Cracked asphalt, mud, concrete barriers, and tall weeds made me worry about falling and also about getting poison ivy. Fortunately, I survived the experience intact.

It's wonderful to have trails, any kind of trail. I'm all for them, I contribute towards them, and the trend toward trail building in a society that has an epidemic of obesity, truly a public health emergency, is a good one.

There are just a few trail maintenance, repair, animal control enforcement, and signage issues that need to be addressed.

If it were up to me, I'd repair and reopen the Crandic Park Trail first. The cheapest problem to solve, of course, is the large tree down on the North Liberty Trail behind the trailer courts. All you need is a large chain saw. If my husband would tell me where the chain saw is at our house, I could do it myself.

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