COOPER, Iowa, June 13, 2008 – The directors of the Dallas, Guthrie and Greene County Conservation Boards — which own and operate the 56-mile-long Raccoon River Valley Trail in west central Iowa — said at midday on Friday, June 13, that all flooding on the trail has receded, tree damage has been cleared and the RRVT is now fully usable.

That news is especially surprising because of the major flooding and storm damage the rest of the state is coping with, but the flooding in the portion of the Raccoon River valley in the three counties had eased by Friday morning.  Just north of Redfield, water from the Middle Raccoon River that on Thursday had forced closure of a stretch the RRVT there, had dropped and the trail was opened again.

Coincidentally, this weekend of June 14-15 is one of the occasional times when the normal $2 daily usage fee on the RRVT is waived to encourage more people to experience it.

With many of the rec trails in the Des Moines metro area under water, it could turn into an especially good weekend on the RRVT, as cyclists in central Iowa continue their training for RAGBRAI and other cycling events later this summer.

Mike Wallace, director of the Dallas County Conservation Board, said late Friday morning that the trail “is now open all the way” in that county.

Joe Hanner, director of the conservation board in Guthrie County, said at midday Friday that there is no river water on the trail there.  He said on the south edge of the town of Yale, where there is a low-lying spur trail to the trailhead, a 15-foot portion of the spur “still has just a little water on it but you can ride right around it.” A little further south from Yale, there had been a small stream of water crossing the trail, but the flow has stopped. Hanner said his staff swept the sediment off the trail there, but still put warning flags there “just to give trail users a caution that, as wet as everything has been, that could be a little slippery. It’s not big enough to cause any real problem, but people should watch for it.”

Hanner said “other than that, our surface in Guthrie County is in good shape. We’re fortunate that we haven’t had quite as much rain as we did in that flood summer of 1993, so our river levels right here haven’t been quite as high as they were then. As far as the shape our trail is in right now, compared to a lot of other trails, we’ve got to be pleased.”

A ferocious thunder- and windstorm late Wednesday night caused extensive tree damage along the RRVT between Winkleman Switch and Jefferson on the north end of the trail.

“On Thursday morning, I rode out on the trail and saw what had happened,” said veteran Jefferson cyclist Bill Doubler. “It was about the worst tree damage I’ve ever seen on the trail.”

Thursday afternoon, Doubler put his chain saw on his recumbent bicycle and started riding south from Jefferson, stopping and clearing tree branches as he went.

“I ran into Dan Towers, the Greene County conservation director, out there,” said Doubler. “Dan had driven out there in his pick-up and was using his own chain saw to clear trees, too.”

By late Thursday afternoon, they had the trail cleared, he added.

Doubler said that on Friday morning, he rode all the way from Jefferson south to Iowa Highway 141 and back, and found no water, tree branches or other impediments on the trail.

Towers, the Greene conservation director, said he was back out on the trail Friday morning, mowing the shoulders “and everything seems to be in good shape now.”

Should RRVT users encounter any problems on the trail, they should call the conservation board offices in the three counties. Those phone numbers are available in the “Links” on this site.

Article Published: 06-13-2008