Oak Creek Trail is a former Union Pacific Railroad corridor in the eastern part of the state. The trail is only about an hour from both Omaha and Lincoln.
The rural environment of the Oak Creek Trail makes for beautiful scenery. Begin your journey at the trail's northern endpoint in Brainard. Outside of the town, the trail follows the top of a picturesque ridge. For the next several miles, natural prairie stretches as far as the eye can see.
Just north of the trail's midpoint, trail users enter the tiny community of Loma. Restrooms are located just off the trail near St. Luke's Czech Catholic Shrine—established by Czech immigrants in 1911—in the center of town.
The rest of the route continues through natural prairie, open farmland and oak woodlands until the trail reaches its endpoint at the trailhead in the town of Valparaiso.
From Brainard to Valparaiso it is 12.98 miles and 99ft of elevation gain.
- Submitted by Graig Skartvedt
