Cycling Muncie's Cardinal Greenway

Muncie, Indiana

If you're traveling to Muncie to visit friends or a student attending Ball State University, bring your bicycle. Unlike the southern and northern parts of Indiana, Muncie has no rolling hills, but miles of broad flat land-ideal for all levels of cyclists. And the jewel for cycling is the Cardinal Greenway, a rails-to-trails project that runs directly through town.

Currently, the paved trail begins at Prairie Creek Reservoir, south of Muncie and extends nearly 20 miles north, ending at Gaston Indiana. The trail contains well-spaced trailheads that offer restroom facilities, park benches and drinking water. The trail is rich with native plants, flowers and hedges populated with scurrying chipmunks and cottontails.
As you cycle north of McGalliard, the broad lawns of houses abutting the trail merge into fields of beans and corn. Pasturelands, tended by Black Angus or Guernsey dairy cows, spread beyond trailside sunflowers, purple thistle and Tiger Lilies.

No need to worry about how to get there from a northwest Muncie motel. If you're coming from I-69 on state highway 332, a bevy of fine motels can be found as you enter the city. In addition to being surrounded by dining that offers ample selections from fast foods to steak houses, these motels are close to the 300 W county road-a broad, 2-lane highway that offers an idyllic panoramic excursion.

Of course, you may choose to haul your bikes, but with the price of gas, it's a convenient and satisfying cycle trip. Pedaling up 300 West, you will pass well-tended fields, farms and a ranch for registered Belgian horses. The Belgians graze peacefully among the great Canadian geese that often join them. It's a 1.7 mile ride up county 300 to the intersecting 400 North. Once there, head east to enjoy another low-traffic, but well maintained byway. Expect to see broad lawned homes along the road and paths leading to homes tucked deep in lush timber. There's a particulary picutruesque farm, a two-story clapboard on the north side of the road where black-eyed Susans and purple Echinacea skirt an open-air porch complete with a birch wood swing.

After cycling 1.2 miles, you'll arrive at the 400 North Trailhead for Cardinal Greenway where the large, easy to read map will help you decide which direction to go. Be prepared for friendly, courteous fellow travelers along the way. Although never crowded, it's a popular trail.