Only a couple of months after completion of the first mile of Chadron’s Cowboy Trail Connection local residents are already discovering the trail for walking, jogging and cycling away from the car and truck traffic on local streets and highways.
“I love it. It’s so close, and you get out to see the open country,” said Christina Hughes on a recent walk on the newly constructed gravel trail, created on a portion of the right-of-way of the Nebraska Northwestern Railroad.
Since the trail was completed in mid-December, runners from Chadron High School and Chadron State College have found it to be a favorable training ground, residents have been using it for dog walking or just taking a relaxing stroll.
Built with a grant from the federal Recreational Trails Program, the trail is the first segment of a five-mile trail that will link downtown Chadron with the Nebraska Game and Parks Cowboy Trail, which ends where the former Chicago and Northwestern Railroad line was abandoned several years ago.
The Cowboy Trail and the Trail Connection are both key components of the Great American Rail-Trail, a non-motorized trail under development by the Rails-to- Trails Conservancy and local trail groups across the country. The national trail is now more than 55% complete, with more sections coming online each year.
The Northwest Nebraska Trails Association, a local volunteer-run non-profit, has led development of the Cowboy Trail Connection as part of its mission to develop, promote and maintain non-motorized trails in Northwest Nebraska.
In addition to assisting the City of Chadron in constructing the first mile of surfaced trail, NNTA volunteers have been working for months to create a single track mountain bike path for another two-and-a-half miles of the route. The group mowed grass and cleared brush along the rail line, and organized weekly bike rides on the trail all summer. The work included smoothing the rough trail surface, building small bridges over two streams, and installing a picnic table and a bench at strategic resting points. The final segment of trail has just been mowed and plans are in place to build the last bridge needed to complete the connection by late spring.
A ribbon cutting ceremony marking completion of the section of the Cowboy Trail Connection is set for 4:30 p.m. April 25 at the trailhead on First Street in Chadron.
