Northwest Nebraska Trails Association
Excitement filled the chilly air as about 70 people gathered near the railroad tracks on the east side of Chadron on Saturday to celebrate a new attraction for cyclists, walkers and runners — the first mile of crushed limestone surfacing for the Cowboy Trail Connection which was completed in late 2025.
The Northwest Nebraska Trails Association’s ribbon-cutting ceremony signified the first phase of the effort to link Chadron to the Cowboy Recreation and Nature Trail about 6 miles east of where the trail begins near the intersection of First and Spruce streets. By the end of 2026 or early 2027, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission plans to have the Cowboy Trail surfacing finished from Rushville to that location on Redfern Road, and users are looking forward to having a recreational route from Chadron to Gordon when all is finished.
Britt Helmbrecht, president of the Northwest Nebraska Trails Association, told the crowd about the many challenges in developing the segment of trail.
“What started as an idea — a gap to solve, a connection to make — has become something real. Not just a trail, but a pathway into our community. A place that invites people in, brings people together, and reminds us what’s possible when a group of people decides to keep going,” she said. “Years from now, most people won’t know how complicated this was. They’ll just know they can walk, ride and move safely through this space — and that’s exactly the point. This is something that will outlast all of us.”
Helmbrecht also spoke about the contributions of fellow trails association board members and the many partnerships that brought the segment to fruition, including the Nebraska Northwestern Railroad and its manager, Jim Collins, who allowed the easement to be established alongside the tracks that are used to store rail cars.
The city of Chadron is the official holder of the Cowboy Trail Connection easement, primarily serving as a conduit for the grants and construction funding that the trails association obtains from other sources. While most funding for the $275,000 project came from the federal Recreational Trails Program administered by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, a sizable chunk of the matching dollars were awarded by the Dawes County Travel Board, Panhandle Partnership and the 100 Women of Chadron program.
Other speakers at Saturday’s event included Kevin Belle, project director for the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, and Hannah Jones, Game and Parks’ division administrator for Planning and Development. They each emphasized the significance of the accomplishment and their organizations’ relationship with the trails association.
Belle had been in Casper, Wyoming, earlier in the day for a ribbon-cutting on a new section of trail there. Similar to the Cowboy Trail, it is part of the Great American Rail-Trail, a designated route fromWashington, D.C., where Belle resides, to La Push, Washington. The two ribbon-cuttings were among many events across the nation on the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s Celebrate Trails Day.
With the one mile of the Cowboy Trail Connection surfaced with crushed limestone, the trails
association has been creating a single-track dirt trail to fill the gap between it and the Game and Parks’ portion. It will serve trail users as funding is being secured for the remaining phases.
The association has created about 3 miles of single-track, constructing bridges over Big Bordeaux Creek and a small unnamed stream near Slim Buttes Road. In coming months, they plan to span their final obstacle, Little Bordeaux Creek, with big timbers donated by the railroad. That will open the final 1.9- mile stretch to where the tracks end and the Cowboy Trail begins, which has already been cleared and mowed.
Despite a temperature in the 30s and light snow falling, about 20 cyclists and one runner gathered at 7 a.m. Saturday morning for a 9 1/2-mile round trip from the Bean Broker Coffee House and Pub to Little Bordeaux Creek. That activity, known as Cowboy & Coffee, began in June 2025 and ran for 18 weeks as the trail was developed. The association plans to pick up the weekly schedule for those rides again June 6, which is National Trails Day.
Saturday’s afternoon event also featured a bicycle race for children, which was won by Hazel Bieganski. Cyclists also squared off in a challenge of balance to see who could ride between two points the slowest without their feet touching the ground. Steve Welch triumphed with the slowest pace to claim that event.
