Cardinal Greenway, Jonesboro, Indiana to north of Marion, Indiana

August 15, 2019
35 miles
including:
Sweetser Switch Trail
Converse Junction Trail

Started out in the Gas City Trailhead parking lot. It was 69 degrees and overcast so again I'm wearing my jacket. It's August and I'm cold, it doesn't make sense!

 Street signs in Gas City, Indiana

First thing I noticed this morning was this northern section of the Cardinal Greenway has been smoothed out where the roots had bumped up the trail. It's a rough surface but so much better than the bumps! You can see from the picture below how bumpy that would have been if it hadn't been ground down. It gives you an idea of what we have been riding over the past few days. Another nice feature of this section is that there are a succession of 9 bridges that go over roads, streams and railroad tracks. It was much more pleasant not having to watch for traffic and slow down at every road crossing. 

 Smoothing out the tree roots

 Trail bridges through Marion, Indiana

At the end of Cardinal Greenway north of Marion the Sweetser Switch Trail begins almost seamlessly. It is a short trail (4 miles) but very beautiful and interesting. It also has an actual toilet and not a porta potty! In downtown Sweetser is an old train with a fiberglass Garfield standing at the back of the train. Jim Davis, creator of the comic strip Garfield is from Marion, Indiana. A local leader in the area came up with the idea to place a Garfield in every community in the county hoping to bring in some tourism.

 Entrance to Sweetser Switch Trail

 College bound Garfield, Sweetser, Indiana

 Bikes Peak, Sweetser, Indiana

As a bonus we discovered that another short trail (3 miles), Converse Junction Trail, connected to the end of Sweetser Switch Trail. Somehow we missed this trail on TrailLink so it was a surprise to us. We've come this far, why not add this on to our ride today. Once in the town of Converse we found a great BBQ restaurant and immediately made it our lunch spot. On the way back to our car the sun finally decided to come out, I actually took off my jacket and by the time we finished it was 76 degrees, perfect riding weather in my opinion. We've had a great three days of cycling in Indiana!