Black Hawk Lake Iowa-2022

Today’s destination was about one hour from our Airbnb. Lake View, Iowa. We stopped at Miltons on Main coffee shop and restaurant in Lake View. We had a couple of breakfast sandwiches and the house coffee and looked over the rest of the day’s plan.

We thought we’d paddle first then try the bike trails so we headed to Black Hawk Lake on the south edge of town. What a gem of a lake. Large and deep enough for bigger boats but small enough to offer paddling and other watersports.

The lake is around 900 acres so we set in at one of the boat ramps and did mostly the shoreline-about 5 miles. There were speedboats and jet skis on the water but everyone was courteous so the wakes and waves were very manageable. The weather was warm but calm, what a relaxing paddle.

We had heard about the Sauk Rail Trail from others and it came highly recommended. There was a trailhead right at the lake so we packed up the boats, unpacked the bikes and off we went.

There was a fee to use this part of the trail, so we dutifully put our $2.00 fee into the drop-tube and headed south.

The trail is 33 miles long, starting at Lake View and extending south to Carroll, Iowa. It’s completely paved and there are numerous rest areas with benches and shade. And not too many hills. Perfect.

Acting on a recommendation, we biked around seven miles south to Carnavon, IA to the Trailside Roadhouse. We were warned it was kind of a dive bar-type place and they were right. Carnavon is unincorporated and in the middle of nowhere. It does have it’s own zip code, and of course, Trailside. It was around 2:00 PM when we arrived very hungry and the place was empty but the AC felt great. We ordered the lunch special cheeseburger and fries. Very tasty. And reasonably priced. However, one word of caution. They only take cash.

We finished up and headed the 7 miles back to Lake View. We loaded up the bikes and returned to Milton’s, got some iced coffee and bought a couple of travel stickers to put on our boats.

Overall another wonderful day in Iowa. Great weather, beautiful countryside and friendly locals.