Days River Pathway: nine miles of loops above the river

The trick to the Days River Pathway is that it’s really five trails wearing one name. About five miles northwest of Gladstone, off M-35 and Days River 24.5 Road, a single trailhead feeds a set of stacked loops totaling roughly nine miles. The first two are gentle and short — fine for kids or a quick after-work walk — and each loop you add reaches farther out and climbs more, so you pick your distance at the trailhead instead of committing to the whole thing.

The path winds along the Days River itself, threading ridges of red pine, spruce, and cedar that lean over the water. It’s good wildlife ground: white-tailed deer, hawks and eagles overhead, and enough songbirds in spring to keep a birder happy. Mountain bikers have their own single-track spur built off the main system, and horseback riders are welcome on the pathway too, so on a busy Saturday you’ll meet all three kinds of traffic.

Come winter the whole nine miles gets groomed for cross-country skiing, and the same ridges that gave you river views in July turn into a quiet, snow-packed circuit. Backpackers are allowed to camp dispersed along the way, which is unusual for a day-use pathway this close to town. It sits inside the Hiawatha National Forest, so the surrounding woods run on for miles past the marked loops — close enough to Gladstone to walk after supper, wild enough that you can lose the sound of the road within the first half-mile.