MoPac Trail East

Nebraska

22 Reviews

Overview

The MoPac Trail East follows the former Missouri Pacific Railroad's Omaha Belt Line (hence "MoPac"). The trail offers a rural experience, heading east from the outskirts of Lincoln through the small communities of Walton, Eagle, Elmwood, and Wabash. Spanning nearly 22 miles, the crushed-stone pathway traverses prairie, woodland, and farmland.

About the Route

The Mopac Trail East has a western endpoint on the outskirts of Lincoln, but as it heads east, becomes increasingly more rural as it leaves the suburbs and moves into a sparsely populated farm country. The trail is rural in aspects, as it travels through farmlands and rolling hills along a crushed-stone pathway that can be rough in some sections.

Most of the route is sheltered in some sections surrounded by the trees that line the old railroad corridor. Along the route, trail users will pass the towns of Eagle and Elmwood, both of which have modest dining and retail options.

Connections

In Lincoln, the MoPac Trail East continues as the MoPac Trail West.

For almost its entire length, a separate path for horseback riders, called the Charles L. Warner Equestrian Trail, parallels MoPac Trail East.

The MoPac Trail East is part of the Great American Rail Trail, a 3,700-mile route from Washington to Washington D.C.

Trail History

The Mopac Trail East was built along the former Missouri Pacific Railroad Corridor (hence "MoPac") which was active until 1984 when heavy flooding destroyed a portion of track in Elmwood. In 1991, the Nebraska Trails Foundation and the Great Plains Trails Network purchased the rail property, which was deeded to Lower Platte South NRD.

Parking and Trail Access

The Mopac Trail East runs between S 84th St. (Lincoln) and 322nd St. (Wabash), with parking at the western end.

Please see TrailLink Map for detailed directions.

Note: Equestrian parking is available at the Charles L. Warner trailhead. Voluntary user passes ($1/day or $5/year) are available at several self-service donation boxes along the trail.

Close to the Omaha Metro - Nice Trail!

May 2023 bikrgurl

Parked in the new trailhead in Wabash NE complete with toilet facilities and gravel lot for 20 cars. Rode to Eagle and back. Clean and beautifully maintained crushed gravel trail. Nice bridges. You could probably ride a road bike on it because it was fairly smooth. I rode a mountain bike and my friend had a hybrid. Appx 27 mi round trip. Less than a 40 min drive from Omaha and 45 from Council Bluffs IA.

Wabash, NE to Eagle, NE around trip!

May 2023 bikrgurl

Regular events, great scenery, new trailhead at Wabash

April 2023 traillink user

Nice trailhead now open at Wabash.
This is a great trail, easy to ride, very scenic, many small friendly towns along the way. Well packed, crushed limestone.
Every Tuesday May - September is the "Nacho Ride" to Eagle.
6 Thursdays in the summer "The Pie Ride" to Elmwood happens
Details are at bikecasscounty.com
Best news: project to complete "the gap" from Wabash to South Bend is started. At each end there is a kiosk with a map of the interim route which is on low traveled gravel roads and a country highway.

Easy access from I 80 if you are passing through. Beautiful trail with lot's of rail road history.

November 2022 jmebane7

Easy access from I 80 if you are passing through. Beautiful trail with lot's of rail road history.

MoPac Trail East Reviews

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Accordion

Great Trail!! Worth the stop!!

September 2022 luv2biketoo

44.3 miles out and back. Beautiful ride through cornfields and trees… Good amount of shade. The only downside is no water available on the trail so make sure you have plenty!

My Favorite Trail!

June 2022 darrellhute

I truly love this Trail.

impressed

July 2021 opd1845

I was skeptical when driving to the Wabash NE trail head, but that soon changed to pure joy! This trail is very well kept. A crew of 4 was on the trail cleaning from a recent storm. Multiple signs to educate riders on upcoming trail possibilities (farm equipment, horses & animal holes) I will be back for sure! Hopefully able to hit it in its entirety next time.

I wasn’t sure what to expect but this trail was great! I only did 10 out and back from Wabash NE, and the trail I did bike was in GREAT shape! There was even a crew of 4 working east to west along the trail cleaning debris. I will be here again but hopefully in its entirety!!!

Lovely Country Ride

August 2019 cmc2condit

We rode from the East part of Lincoln to Elmwood on our "hybrid" bikes (not skinny tires). The trail was basically in good shape, with a few very short rough patches due to the kind of gravel surface and the weather. It is well worth the ride, with lovely and somewhat varied country views and plenty of birds and flowers. The mural in Elmwood is worth the ride up from the trail and the convenience store there will let you buy donuts or ice cream or sports drinks and a pitstop to keep you going.

Great trail

May 2017 glhaberman

Have rode the MoPac several times. (It is 7 hours from where I live, but get to Lincoln several times a year.) Started my ride about 5 miles east of Lincoln and rode to Elmwood and back. A few critter holes in a section about 2 miles long, but other than that, trail was in great shape. I started shortly after sun up and saw less than a dozen people on the trail.

Wabash trail head now open

October 2016 aceinomaha

Was just there a couple of days ago and found the bridge repaired. The segment between Wabash and Fletcher Ave is one of the most scenic of the trail. Good news!

Mopac East: Last end of trail closed

July 2015 cateander27

I am riding the mopac trail quite a bit since it is near the farm. I would like to warn people that the bit of the mopac trail running from fletcher road on into wabash has been closed. It has major fences set up across it that say it is closed.

However, the ride from fletcher road into elmwood is very nice. It is wooded and cool in the summer. I will be tackling the trail past Elmwood soon. My goal it to go all the way to Lincoln, which would be a feat for me, as I have just started riding!!

MOPAC rail to trail, Lincoln, NE

June 2015 margokusy

I use to ride this trail biweekly Usually all seasons of the year due to the weather changes in Nebraska... Beautiful landscapes, wildlife, cute towns and co-ops (walton, eagle, elmwood) to stop by along the way... A feeling of serenity along the trail and never too busy... I live in Colorado now, but I actually miss this trail.. Not a lot of climbs, so you can go miles without exhaustion...

Easter Day Ride

April 2015 traillink user

Finally got around to giving this trail a ride on Easter day. Started at Elmwood, Ne and headed towards Lincoln, NE. Nice wide trail and an incline right off the bat. The only disappointing aspect is that for the first three miles, the old rail bed rocks are pretty numerous and coming up through the crushed gravel. Looks like trail could use some work. Can't say condition of trail past the three miles point from Elmwood is because of extreme head winds and decided to turn back. Other then what was already mentioned, a very nice trail. We'll be back!

Great Ride!!!

July 2014 scotdon

I'm a relatively new bike rider, about 3 years. I ride from my home out to this trail and find it very nice to ride, have to watch when it gets really dry, because large cracks show up. I have seen deer and badgers on the trail and numerous bunnies. It always feels like you are in the middle of nowhere when you get out a bit from Lincoln.

Another great ride to put on your list

May 2014 jpkomaha

May 2014 - We parked in Wabash in some weeds right north of the trailhead, there were no signs saying you could or couldn't park there. Not much action in Wabash. We traversed from Wabash to Eagle and back, about 13 miles each way. The grade is slightly upward from Wabash to Eagle but it's an easy ride both ways. The scenery is great, I would say 5 stars on the trail scenery which is heavily wooded and goes along a creek ravine between Wabash and Elmwood, and rural from Elmwood to Eagle. Eagle has a bar/grill on main street and two c-stores on the highway.

The trail is mostly protected by trees all the way with a couple open areas. Due to the need for surface maintenance I give the trail condition about 3 stars, because there are numerous areas where the railroad ballast is protruding and a new layer of crushed limestone is needed. These areas are a danger to your tires so use caution. This trail is an underutilized gem, we only saw one other biker in 26 miles.

Great trail to get a long run on

March 2014 dreddel

Ran a 22 miler on this trail. Very little traffic on a warm Sunday afternoon in late March. Great surface, great views and some nice places to get out of the wind!

Nice Trail

June 2013 aka_locojoe

In 2012 we rode from Lincoln out and back and got in 45 miles. The trail and Lincoln were both better than we expected. The trail has a nice surface, was mostly tree lined and made a lot of turns. Along the trail we spotted deer, many rabbits & squirrels, turkey and many birds including blue birds.
More info at http://locojoe.com

Good gravel trail, decent surface

February 2011 crhilton

Good for anything but a skinny tire bike. The surface is, at times, pretty poor and mostly dirt and moss, but it's generally maintained pretty well.

You can park at the marked trail head in Lincoln.

MoPac East has a good surface

August 2010 gim820

I like crushed limestone and gently rolling hills of Eastern Nebraska. Can't wait until this one is completed to Omaha. Anyone know it there is any work being done east of Elmwood?

MoPac East Trail

February 2010 hskrcyclr

I'm a local/regular rider on this trail. I'm writing this review in February based on my long-term experiences and not on a recent ride. The crushed limestone trail is not cleared of snow and is not a good riding surface surface during the winter. During the spring, summer & fall, it drains fairly well following rainfalls of 1/2" or less, but it's definitely soft when coming out of winter.

The trail surface is decent throughout the length of the trail. You still need to watch what you're doing, as there are a few areas that wash out, and burrowing animals do their thing, especially in the open areas between Eagle and Elmwood. Scenery-wise, this trail is pretty good for eastern Nebraska. You're away from roads most of the trip and the trees on the side of the old railroad right-of-way give you a certain feeling of isolation, even when you're really just 100 feet from a cornfield or pasture. You'll cross roads about once each mile, and most of them are just county gravel roads.

You'll encounter plenty of people in about the first 4 miles nearest to Lincoln; then things thin out going to Eagle (about 10 miles from Lincoln). Elmwood is about another 8 miles from Eagle, and then it's about another 3 miles to the trail's end in Wabash. There are several C-stores, a grocery and a bar in Eagle. There's a Cenex C-store in Elmwood. Wabash is a town(?) in name only. There are no facilities there, but the last 3 miles to Wabash are perhaps the nicest 3 miles on the trail.

The trail tends to be slightly uphill from Walton to near Eagle, and downhill for several miles into Elmwood. If it's a hot day with a westerly wind, you should know that you'll work pretty hard getting back from Wabash or Elmwood to Eagle, but the ride back from Eagle to Walton & Lincoln won't be bad. The trailhead in Lincoln on 84th Street is very nice, although it's closed during the winter months.

Great trail.

February 2008 ender

The trail head is located between O and A street on 84th, has bathrooms, snack and drink vending machines, drinking fountains, parking . From there it turns from pavement to crushed gravel. The whole trail from Lincoln to Eagle is quite flat, some bumpy spots from water washing out a bit of the trail Only two big hills that I know of (between Walton and Eagle). During the morning/evenings or weekends, quite a few people can be seen from Lincoln to Walton. After Walton the foot/bike traffic drops. There are very few road crossings. One major road (fairly major highway) crosses the Mopac about a mile and a half outside of Eagle. I cannot say about the trail past Eagle, but will probably review it again this spring when I go the full distance of the trail.