The Raccoon River Valley Trail in west central Iowa looks like a winter wonderland now, after good snows the week before Christmas and then a thick hoarfrost on Sunday morning, December 26. Dan Case, a trail advocate from Dallas Center, was out south of his community Sunday morning, and took this photo looking back north toward town. What you’re seeing, besides a lot of snow, is the route that the RRVT’s new “North Loop” will be taking from Dallas Center to Waukee. It is scheduled for paving this coming spring. “While the trail is sleepy looking right now, I eagerly anticipate when the silence is broken this coming spring along this stretch,” Case wrote in an email. “It can’t come soon enough. Looking forward to enjoying this new stretch, along with the rest of the RRVT, in 2011!”

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