This ‘Glow Trail’ in a Small Iowa Town is the Largest of Its Kind

If you're someone who loves unique experiences around the state of Iowa, there is a beautiful pathway that is the largest of its kind that is less than two hours away from Dubuque.

Located in Vinton, IA, a small city in Benton County, which is also a part of the Cedar Rapids metro, a glow trail called "Nathan's Miles" has been illuminating the area and people's hearts for the last few years. The trail is named after Nathan Hesson, a former Vinton City council member and advocate of the project, who died in January 2021 at the age of 37.

The website Shive-Hattery contextualized the project with the help of Nathan's wife, Ashley. Nathan apparently loved the trails in Europe that glowed under the night sky, and he wanted to replicate something like that in Vinton. With the help of the City of Vinton, Hesson and other folks looked at different options of colors and glows before choosing the "ultra-grade, emerald green half-inch glow stones" due to their simultaneous brightness and easiness on the eyes.

The trailhead of the 2-mile path starts at the corner of 21st Street and Second Avenue.

The resulting "glow trail," as its been called, is the longest of its kind in the United States, and it pulls visitors from all over the city and beyond at all hours of the day and night.

Fittingly, the trail is known as "Nathan's Miles," paying tribute to the man instrumental in its creation, who unfortunately was gone too soon:

Hopefully that will be something that the people that knew him can remember about him for a long time to come. And the people that don’t know him or that will come and enjoy the trail in the future can learn a little bit about his story and who he was and what he put back into the community around him. - Ashley Hesson, per Shive-Hattery.com