Cedar River Trail — Monday, May. 26, 2025

My son and I made a loop out of this hike by heading northeast from the Landsburg Road trail head. The hike starts as a perfectly flat gravel (former) railroad bed. There was even a family playing in the river here though it still seemed too cold for most people today. Just over a mile later, into the Big Bend Natural Area and over the first bridge take an immediate left to find an overgrown trail along the river. This trail is barely maintained but provides access to the Putnam Rd trail which is the much more rustic but easily worth if for the scenery. This connection trail is only about a half mile long but it was enough to get me drenched from the wet brush. From the intersection of the Putnam Rd trail it was only about 1.5 miles back to the car but this trail sports some amazing views down to the river. The whole loop took us about 1.5 hours but we like to stop and snoop for mushrooms.