Raccoon River Valley Century+ Loop

This trip follows a route that encompasses the three branches of the Raccoon River - North, South and Middle.Start between 8am and 10am with a great breakfast at the Waveland Cafe West in Booneville. Your rider can have a couple of Bloody Mary's w/ breakfast. You'd better stick to Virgin Mary's! Booneville butt's right up to the last section of the Raccoon River and is a popular put in/take out spot for canoeists. Just west of Booneville, near the town of Van Meter, the Middle 'Coon and the North 'Coon merge into one.Stick to the 'Blue' highways on this trip. That means a short trip on Highway F90 to Earlham then follow a couple of asphalt county highways and Rte. 6 to Redfield. The Middle Raccoon flows just south of Redfield and connects to the South Raccoon River. The Middle 'Coon is great for smallmouth bass fishing because of its rocky bottom - a rarity for flatland Iowa rivers.Take County Road F59 (aka Wagon Road) west out of Redfield. This section has the 'twistiest' roads on the route as you head to Panora. This small town is the home to one of Iowa's nicest residential lakes - Lake Panorama. A nice side trip in the summer and fall would be to check out the lake and all the nice homes. At this point, you have a couple of options, a slightly longer option is to take State Hwy. 44 to Guthrie Center and then north on Hwy 25 to Springbrook State Park. Or, you can head north out of Panora on Hwy 4 with a couple of easy options to get to Springbrook. Just follow the signs, they're both nice ways to get to this sweet little state park and lake on the Middle Raccoon.The rest of the trip is pretty much straight highways back to Des Moines. If you're up for more sightseeing, I suggest heading north from Springbrook to Bagley and picking up Hwy 141 into Perry. The Hotel Pattee and the museum across the street are both nicely restored links to the past. From there, head west on 141 to Hwy 169, south into Adel, home of Nile Kinnick (University of Iowa Heisman Trophy winner). Finish up the ride on Hwy 6 to the Machine Shed for a delicious 'home-cooked' dinner to cap off the day. Enjoy

This is a motorcycle ride in the state of Iowa. This motorcycle route has 7 scenery characteristics and other road conditions to help you plan your road trip. This motorcycle map was created by jalhess in November. Click here to see other Motorcycle Roads by jalhess