Lind to Marengo is another hot, dry, no services section of trail. You might be fortunate to find trail angels in Ralston, but do not necessarily plan on this. There are also no services in Marengo, unless you can again find trail angels. Be sure to carry lots of water!!! Your only shelter will be the shade of grain silos/elevators. There is a small park in Ralston that you could potentially camp at, but there is no water there. There is also a significant road detour between Lind and Marengo. The trail maps that come with your permit offer a detour to Ritzville from Ralston and then riding back down to Marengo and on to Ewan or St. John. Our group opted not to take the Ritzville detour, but rather rode directly on to Marengo. If you are at all worried about having the help of trail angels in Marengo or being able to carry enough water, then I highly encourage you to take the Ritzville detour. There are services in Ritzville and I did not research this at all so cannot offer details on what is available regarding camping, supplies, etc. There are other blogs/resources that have information you can research; check out the "resources galore!" section on this blog for links. Before you reach Marengo, as you are going down Marengo Road, there is a huge grove of trees to the right; you could potentially camp there, but I believe this is private property.
Trail riding moments: From Lind, you will take 1st street which becomes Van Marter Ave, turn left/take Y to the left on Wahl Road to return to JWPT. You will take the trail the entire way until you reach Ralston. At Ralston you can decide if you will take the detour to Ritzville or take back farm roads to Marengo. I do not have the directions to Ritzville, but they are on the map when you receive your permit. Our directions are as follows: turn left onto highway 261, take second right onto Benzel Road which makes a hard, natural left; in approximately 1 mile, take first right on Roloff Road; makes a sweeping left and becomes Klein Road; follow Klein Road for approximately 6 miles and turn right onto E Gering Road; road makes natural hard left and becomes Snyder Road; follow for approximately 1 mile and turn right onto E Heineman Road, this will dead-end into a T; turn right onto Hills Road, makes sweeping natural curve to left and becomes E Urquhart Rd; follow for approximately 1.4 miles and turn right onto Marengo Rd. Follow Marengo Road for approximately 3.6 miles until it curves around near some large grain silos. You could potentially camp here overnight.
**Caveat: this detour exists because the HUGE trestle that used to cross Cow Creek no longer exists. I've become curious if it might be possible to ride this section as there is a small little road below the trestle that you could possibly take and get back onto the trail directly over Cow Creek (Google Maps Pin). That being said, I have no idea if this is a huge marsh; how big the creek is or any other information. From Cow Creek it does look like the trail continues on into Ewan. If you were going to attempt to ride this section, I would highly encourage you to drive the back country roads to see if the trail is accessible through this area.**
Memorable moments: Wicked rough trail, road detour at Ralston to Marengo had insane hills!! ~900 feet climbing and 625 feet dropped. No injuries besides regular bumps and bruises. Amazing old farm homesteads, grain elevators/silos, little railroad stops. Poor Sandy's lips became incredibly swollen from the sun and wind burn! Sandy bought a bag of grapes and we ate sun-warmed grapes throughout the day. Passed, and smelled, a mounted cow skull and dead, rotting coyote hanging over a "No Trespassing" sign.
Trail angels: Dale at Jim's Market super sweet and helpful. Found some lovely trail angels in Ralston who allowed us to use their bathroom and fill up with water. Their house was incredible!! So much history - 200 people lived in/around Ralston. The house we stopped at was a hotel, restaurant, whorehouse, dancing floor, meat locker and grain storage throughout its life. It had 16 rooms, but technically only 15 because no number 13. Lots of original parts and pieces. In Marengo we talked to a wheat farming family that told us there used to be 9 families living there, a grocery store and school. Marengo was the switch yard for the Milwaukee and Northern Pacific rail lines - one train heading west and the other east. When you ride down to Marengo you will ride past a huge grove of trees - these were planted in 1985 to attract birds. So many birds!!!!
Wildlife sightings: rabbits, pheasants, quail, lots of birds and insects
Vital stats:
4 bridges
~15 canyon cut-throughs
8 trestle bypasses, one of which was a marsh at the bottom
3 huge underpasses ridden through
35.56 miles
ATM = 5:28:36
MXS = 23.1 mph
AVS = 6.4 mph
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