Here are the details for my route:

Start by riding east on Foster, and soon after leaving the Peninsula, turn left on Makinaw.

Take another left on Manitua Trail. It’s not really a trail; it’s a street, but at the bottom of Manitua you’ll see a paved bike trail to the left. Take that trail into Water Works Park and ride all the way through the park and the parking lot adjacent to North Dubuque Street.

Exiting the parking lot, turn left on the wide, paved bike trail running parallel to Dubuque. You won’t ride far before you come to the intersection of Oakdale Boulevard. Turn left on the bike trail running parallel to Oakdale and ride until you see beautiful Dovetail Park on your right.

You’ll see asign for the Muddy Creek Trail. Turn right toward Muddy Creek and enjoy the ride through Dovetail. Watch for aquatic wildlife including birds, turtles and frogs.

At the end of the park, the trail turns left. Shift into a low gear. This is the beginning of a steep hill. Half-way up the hill you must turn right onto Meade Avenue. The bike path will follow some quiet, residential streets for a while. Meade will veer left and become Auburn East Lane. After crossing 1st Avenue, it becomes Auburn Hills Drive. Follow Auburn Hills almost to its end, and look for a sign indicating the bike route, turn right at the sign into the Auburn Hills Wetland.

Next, you’ll come to a crossroads of bike trails. The signage is clear. Turn right on Muddy Creek Trail and enjoy the ride along Muddy Creek.

Muddy Creek will lead you to 12th Avenue. Watch for traffic; 12th is very busy. Cross 12th and turn left on the wide bike trail that runs parallel to the street. You’ll go up a hill and then down again. As you get to the bottom of the hill and cross the railroad tracks, the wide path narrows to a regular sidewalk. At this point, I get off the sidewalk and ride on the street. Be careful. 12th has a lot of traffic. You must stay on 12th to cross over Interstate 80. Unfortunately, the bridge over 80 is narrow. The sidewalk also crosses 80 on the bridge, so you can use that if you want to walk your bike across.

Stay on 12th a bit longer. Ride down the hill to a stop sign where 12th converges with 10th Avenue. Veer left to get on 10th, but watch for oncoming traffic.

10th will take you to 5th Street, and you and stop at the Coop. Usually, I take 5th to the Iowa River Power Restaurant, cross the pedestrian bridge over the river and bike up Foster Road to the Peninsula. Now though, 5th is closed, so I bike East along 2nd Street on the wide sidewalk. Just as you get to Clear Bridge, you’ll see Clear Creek trail veer off to the left and down the embankment. Follow that to the pedestrian bridge, across the river and up Foster to home.