11.5 Mile Bike Ride Keystone and Big Papio Trails

A bike ride on the central portion of the Keystone Trail in Omaha, with a sidetrip through Seymour Smith Park via the Big Papio Trail.

Enter Keystone Trail from Karen Park

Enter Keystone Trail from Karen Park

Our latest bike ride was again on the Keystone Trail. This time we began our ride at Karen Park, which is at 63rd and F Street in Omaha. Karen Park is not a bad little park, it has shade trees, baseball bleachers to sit on, a swimming pool, and (at least for now) one of those porta-potty things.

This picture shows the entrance to the Keystone Trail at Karen Park, and you have the option of taking a right, crossing the bridge and heading north, or veering off to the left will take you south. I left the trail choice up to Vicky, and she wanted to head south, with the plan of going as far as Aspen Park, taking a break, then turning around.

Keystone Trail Three Wheeling

Riding South on the Keystone Trail

Not too far down the trail, we stopped for a few minutes so that Vicky could adjust her rear view mirror. As you can see, we were riding early enough in the day to get a bit of shade along this part of the Keystone Trail.

As we headed south, we left the area with houses and passed by a golf course and a warning sign to watch out for golf balls. There is a fairly high fence between part of the golf course and the trail, which should offer some measure of safety for bike riders.

By the time we reached Aspen Park we were ready for something to drink, and we pulled up to a shaded picnic table we had used on a previous ride. Curious as to what else was in this park, I hopped back on my bike and took a tour of the park and discovered a tennis court, playground, picnic tables, and a portable toilet.

I went back to where Vicky was parked, and talked her into riding over to the picnic table, playground, bathroom area, where we took our break. As long as it was handy, I decided to use the bathroom, and although it was only a portapotty, it was clean, and even fairly large.

After resting a bit, we headed back north, and a bit up the trail we decided to cross the Harrison Street bridge, get on the Big Papio Trail, and take the loop around Seymour Smith Park. Currently (July 2008) this bridge crossing is in a construction zone, but the bridge does have a separate but narrow section for bikers and walkers, so we didn’t have to worry about vehicles.

Big Papio Trail south of Seymour Smith Park

As we turned on to the Big Papio Trail we discovered it to be a pleasant ride as it curved around Seymour Smith Park. However, the grass along the trail was being mowed, and this may have been the reason there were so many biting bugs along this trail.

Because of the bugs, we kept going, and discovered the trail went by a skeet range, with a warning sign for trail users. Before too long, but not soon enough for us, we arrived at the Q Street bridge, crossed over that, and were back on the Keystone Trail.

Perhaps another day we will return to this section of the Big Papio Trail, and hopefully we will find it bug free so we can truly enjoy the ride.

On the Keystone again, we were away from the lawn mowers and bugs, and riding became more of a pleasure again.

Young Robin at Karen Park

Young Robin at Karen Park

Returning to Karen Park, our point of origin, we sat on the shaded baseball bleachers for quite a while, watching a young robin on the other set of bleachers as its mother encouraged it to fly off into a tree. Eventually the mother robin did convince its youngster to fly as far as a nearby pine tree.

After watching this young robin for a while, we were rested up a bit and not quite ready to head for home, so we headed back to the trail, crossed the bridge and headed north, with hopes of reaching the Nebraska Furniture Mart. We had ridden as far as the Nebraska Furniture Mart from the north on an earlier ride, and it would be nice to reach that place from the south, and complete this section of the trail.

The trail led us under a railroad bridge, with another warning sign, this time to watch out for falling debris if trains were on the bridge. The trail actually has a roof over it as it goes under the railroad bridge!

In the area of the railroad bridge we saw a bit of unexpected wildlife, a woodchuck (?) was a few feet away from the trail. I suppose there is nothing too amazing about seeing a woodchuck, but there was also a rabbit a few feet away from the woodchuck, and they were facing each other.

We slowed down, but didn’t stop as we passed by these two critters. I was curious as to the reason for their encounter, and wondered if a woodchuck considered a rabbit as a potential meal, and was almost positive a rabbit would not eat a woodchuck.

Note: I looked up woodchuck diets on the internet later on, and learned that woodchucks are generally herbivores. Generally? I couldn’t find anything more specific on this.

Keystone Trail Heritage Park

Keystone Trail Heritage Park

By the time we arrived at Heritage Park it was getting hot, the humidity level had risen, and we were getting tired. Having only reached Pacific Street, we were about a mile short of our goal of the Nebraska Furniture Mart, but we both decided we’d had enough bike riding for the day, and turned around, only taking a short break at the unshaded Heritage Park.

Length of this bike ride: 11.5 Miles

Total miles biked together in 2008: 75.78 Miles

Date of this ride: July 10, 2008

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