Homer's Travels: Hiking Nebraska: The Steamboat Trace - A Preview

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Hiking Nebraska: The Steamboat Trace - A Preview

My next hike will be this weekend.  I'm hiking the Steamboat Trace from Nebraska City to Brownville, spend the night, and hike back up to Nebraska City the next day.  One way is about 20 - 21 miles so I'll be doing some 40 - 42 miles over two days.  I've never done two long hikes back to back before.  It will be interesting to see how I do.

The Wife will be dropping me off at the Arbor Station Trailhead.  I'm planning to start the hike at 7:00 AM.  I'll be carrying a pack with a change of clothes, toiletries, a two liter water bladder, two half liter bottles of Gatorade (or a similar electrolyte replenisher), weather gear of some sort, camera (my old, lighter, and less expensive one), and some snacks.  All in all I hope to keep the weight down to about 18 lbs (8.16 kg) or less.

Lunch will be in Peru, NE, home of Peru State College.  It's a little over half way but it should be a good place to stop and rest and, like most college towns, should have plenty of places to eat.

I hope to arrive in Brownville around 3:00 or 4:00 PM.  I'll be staying at the River Inn Resort, a B&B on a barge floating on the Missouri decorated to look like a riverboat.

I was hoping to have dinner on the Spirit of Brownville, a pseudo-paddle boat that offers dinner cruises, but the dinner cruises don't start until later in May.  I'm a little bummed as eating dinner while floating down the Missouri River after a long day's hike sounded very relaxing.  Instead I will be eat at the Lyceum Cafe & Bookstore, a nice restaurant I've eaten at before and enjoyed the librariesque decor.

Next day it's up early ... well, not so early as breakfast isn't served at the River Inn until 8:30AM so I probably won't hit the trail until 9:00 AM or so.  That's probably a good thing but it also means I won't get to Nebraska City unit 4:00 or 5:00 PM.  Lunch will probably be in Peru again, before completing the hike back to the Nebraska City end.  The Mom will be there to pick me, and my weary feet, up to take me home.

My biggest enemy will be distance but the second will be weather.  Temperatures in the 80s both days.  Windy (gusting to 37+ mph) with 90% chance of thunderstorms on Sunday.  At least the wind seems to be a tailwind.  Drenched in sweat, drenched in rain, and then blown away.  Yippee.

4 comments:

  1. I'd toss in a first aid kit & flashlight, just in case. And one word for ya: Moleskin!

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  2. GH: I already have the first aid kit in my bag and I'll have a Petzl Headlamp as well (Forgot to include them in my post).

    I hear you about the moleskin. I'll be buying some before I go.

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  3. Oh, and be sure to use the moleskin. It doesn't do much good sitting in your pack. Not that that's... uh... the voice of experience... or anything... *whistling*

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  4. GH: You do that too? Every time I've gotten bad blisters, the moleskin was sitting worthlessly in my backpack/fanny pack.

    I'm prepared this time and it will be on my most vulnerable spots (the balls of my feet usually).

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