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Landon Nature Trail out of Topeka KS

42K views 417 replies 9 participants last post by  slakjak 
#1 ·
Anyone ride this lately? I lost track of where the trail ended and the pasture started around 89th, around mile 12 or so.
 
#27 ·
Jerry's and the Collective are other shops in the area. Jerry's used to be a great shop, and Capp's always has been. Go to any and/or all of them. They all offer a different experience. Rate them all.

BTW, there will be a night-ride (lights) at Dornwood on Tues. I think there are actually 2 groups: an "earlier" (before dark into dark) and a "later" ride (well after dark methinks). I don't think I can make it, but I'm going to try.
 
#29 ·
I'll be at the opposite end of town at Menards picking up some cabinets. If things go smooth, might check out the later one.

I use the Petzl Tikka Plus 2 for running and biking on the trails. Just had to order a new one because of a battery leak in mine. Expensive battery leak.
 
#30 ·
Get some good cheap flashlights and some O-rings. Put the light on your bar, throw the ring over the light, then stretch it around the bar and over the back end of the light, and you're golden. I use 2 of them rigged that way. The guys I've ever ridden with have expensive lights, so I don't need that much light - though some of them use lights even lower-tech than mine.

I have a headlamp, but it was a freebie from BrandNewSantaFe shops. I haven't used it yet, but I've used a considerably cheaper one (bought in an alley in Athens, Greece for .5 Euro), and it worked pretty well w/ the 2 bar rigs. The BNSF one should really light it up.

I have some other stuff to do, but I might shirk it and show up.
 
#32 ·
No cabinets, no bike ride, waste of an evening. If it wasn't for AC/DC coming out on iTunes today, I would really be questioning the meaning of life tonight.

I didn't really care about lights until one of my daughters who is a rabid runner turned me on to the Petzl. I only use it on the trails. Rest of the time, I use other stuff. She has now decided to work on my hydration needs. Will see what I end up with.
 
#34 ·
Nah, it slides up and off the helmet, so I just wear it normal. Probably not the optimum arrangement. Looking for a new helmet for the wife to buy me for Christmas so will be taking that into account.

The daughter and I will be out at the trails for our Wednesday night run at the Governors place tonight. If any of you trail riders want to go out in front and knock down spider webs for us, we would appreciate it. We start off between 8:45 & 9. But I do enjoy her scream when she eats a web.
 
#36 ·
Webs?! This time of year? I haven't seen a web since...I don't know when the last one I saw was. They weren't as bad this summer/fall as they have been in years past. I guess I'm not getting out to the trail early/late enough to have dealt w/ any. 3 years ago I had a contraption on my bike to take them down in front of me. Worked well.

If I can get someone to go out there and ride tonight, I might show up. Black carbon, no-branded frame...you probably wouldn't see me anyway unless you see my lights. Haha.

Enjoy the run.
 
#38 ·
expostdelirium:

Its funny you mention the spider webs @ the Governor's & Menninger trails. I was up there several years ago and they were THICK! I had some good sized zip ties in my bike bag. I ended up lashing a branch onto my handlebars to knock them down ahead of me. Got some strange looks from other bikers......but, hey it worked!
 
#39 ·
There weren't any last week but figured there might be a few with today's temps. Since she's tons faster, daughter eats most of them anyway. The only time a bike has sneaked up on me out there running is by the train tracks with one is going by. With the leaves gone, you can see any light from quite a distance.

I hate every second of running but I figure it's good conditioning for the bike riding.

Going to try and drive out south tomorrow to scout some trail, Ride Governor's Sunday a.m. and try Dornwood on Monday. Want to ride to Clinton or do something at Perry 1st or 2nd week in December.
 
#41 ·
rynoman03:

RE: Governor's Trail parking:

There are 2 parking lots along 6th ST. 1 is adjacent to the ponds, down in the SW corner of the Governor property. You can also park in a small parking lot on west of there. That lot is actually in the Kaw River State Park area. A 3rd parking lot is right next to the Governor's mansion. Just take the access road off of Fairlawn. It will take you right past the front of the mansion. Keep heading north and that drive deadends into a parking area. You will then see trailhead signs.
 
#43 ·
And a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone too!

Drove out south this morning. The trail is blocked off and posted on the south side of 89th. I drove on east to Shadden and took that south to try and pick it up again. Ran into the Clinton Wildlife area for public hunting, fishing, and trapping. Looked like a lot of trails there. Lot of hunters too. I have to guess that one of them is the right of way but I'm not too keen on riding through a hunting area so I will end it at 89th until I find out something else or they develop it more.

Nice drive. Think it took me as long to get there in the truck as it did on the bike. A lot more direct way with the bike.

We park by the Governor's residence for running and at the State Park lot on 6th for biking.

No spider webs last night but a bunny rabbit almost got peppered sprayed. A lesson to be learned. Be still and quiet in the bushes when the older daughter runs by you.

Now a smoked turkey and I have an issue to resolve.
 
#45 ·
Yep, you can connect with all the others from there. Might take a bit to find your way around but that's part of the fun. I haven't seen any maps of the trails on the west side of the State Park road yet but those on the east side are pretty well mapped.

The only down side in starting a trail ride from there is that no matter what, it's uphill back to where you parked.
 
#47 · (Edited)
Govs/Landon

I'll see if I can't link to one of my maps of it. I always park right there next to the Mansion.

The trail is expanding, and that stuff up by the old Menningers is great when you get up there. You get to ride on the old access road for 100 yards, then you drop back onto the trail going north - near the gate as I remember. There is a great deal of climbing on that trail, and it never seems that you descend very much. The climbing isn't as bad as it seems because of all the switchbacks. Maybe I was just "feeling it" last time I was out there, but it didn't seem so bad. I ride a 1x9, and I really wasn't shifting all that much. I was going to ride it w/ some guys I ride w/ today, but I slept too late and had to go to family dinner. Might go tomorrow.

It's strange how long it takes to get way out south in a car, and how quickly you can get there on a bike. I'm glad that someone else has experienced that, because it's not something that I like to mention. People think you're crazy. If I ride steady, not hard, but not dawdling, I can get to 53rd and back downtown in an hour and (small) change. If I go to 45th and back home, it's almost an hour dead. I'm going to TX on Friday night, but if the weather doesn't get crazy, let's get it together and all of us ride out and see what we can find. I might take the bike to 53rd or 61st (wherever the lot is), and take a quick little ride out to 89th. If we don't see hunters' cars we might be able to poke around enough to find which trails go where. One of the guys I was supposed to ride w/ today has ridden it to the lake. I will email him, and report back on how he went. I know the gravel route, but if there's a trail, I'd rather use it.

EDIT:
Waiting on the email.

I must not have had my GPS running last time I rode at the Mansion, because the other maps I had were of rides that didn't go clear up to the SW part of the trail.
 
#49 · (Edited)
rynoman - KTC has a PDF detailed map on their site. Their site is down today and I had thought I had downloaded the file but I guess I didn't because I can't find it. You can also pick up a copy of the maps at the entrance to the trails by the Governor's residence. I will keep on trying it today and send you the link when I get it. The day I rode out south, I parked by the skate park at 21st & Washburn because I wasn't sure where I was going that day. From there and back it was 25 miles. It was pretty flat all the way. Fought a strong north wind on the way back but other than that it wasn't a bad ride. The skinny tires on my Schwinn made me work harder than I wanted to on the bigger rocked sections but that was only a mile or so. The trail is really too tame for my Stump Jumper. The ad for my carbine starts in the paper tomorrow so hopefully I'm not too far away from a decent crossover.

expost - you must have been in the zone that day. If we are talking about the same section of trails, those are pretty rough. The climb wasn't bad but those rocks and ties the whole way up on them were a monster to me. I couldn't keep going and you know how hard it is to start mid hill after stopped. I am going to have to do some more hill work before tackling those particular ones again. Looking at the map, Clinton Lake is right down 89th there. Looks closer to that than back to Topeka at that point. Hopefully your friend will provide the key. It has to be east on 89th and south on Ratner, Shawnee Heights, or Shadden somewhere. I assume it has to follow that creek somehow. And yes, used up a 1/4 tank of gas fooling around out there yesterday. The bike is the quickest way to get there.

My run on the streets this morning was cold! That northwest wind was killer.
 
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