Explore the best rated trails in Fergus Falls, MN, whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Central Lakes State Trail and Heart of the Lakes Trail . With more than 2 trails covering 82 miles you're bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
The leaves were turning colors and the weather cool when I rode. Black top trail in good condition. It’s a combination of open areas and rides through tree lined sections. It would be a great ride year round for the property prepared.
There is one section not completed from Highway 108 through Maplewood State Park. It will be really nice when that is completed. Few sections where the terrain is difficult but for the most part very nice trail!
We had a great ride from Alexandria to Ashby. The trail was wide and went through beautiful country with lakes and farmland. There were some trail sections with cracks which were bothersome - but long stretches where we did not notice any cracks. Bring plenty of water as we only saw a couple of gas stations along the way (we did not go into towns). We will definitely ride on this trail again.
Washboard surface due to vertical cracks and sealer. Planned to spend several days exploring, aborted .
My wife and I rode the trail from Garfield to Ashley on July 28 and Garfield to Osakis on July 29. Cut our rides short because of afternoon temps in the 90's Nice trail, wide, able to ride side by side with comfort. Certainly worth riding.
Not hard. Not easy. Construction near Evansville is complete. 56.2 miles from Fergus Falls to Osakis. Trail is in great shape; there's only minor rough areas. Lots of shade.
I biked this trail last year, easy, quiet and beautiful ride. I am going back this spring and bike the entire Central Lakes and Lake Wobegon trail over 2 days. Minnesota is blessed to have so many beautiful, safe and well-maintained paved trails. I am from ND and really we have no paved trails.
As others have noted, this trail has wonderful scenery of lakes, farm fields, hamlets, marsh, etc. and is very wide and flat. Some town trail heads lack a biff and most lack water. Most have shade & picnic tables or benches. Small towns have convenience stores and restaurants. There are some swimming spots along the way e.g. Alexandria. I stayed at a nice campground near Ashby which is right across from the trail.
However, this trail desperately needs some TLC. There are big cracks from side to side which have filled in with weeds growing up; you'll have a "clunkity-bump" every 20-30 feet on many parts of the trail. Somebody needs to spray Round-Up on the weeds, pull them out & then fill the cracks in again with asphalt.
Nice ride from Ashby to Dalton. Open views of rolling prairie, wetlands and farm fields. Head (right) to downtown Dalton and take the paved county road east for 2 miles, then south on a less traveled paved county road with rolling hills past several lakes and wetlands, a beautiful country church on top of a hill with an outstanding view of the countryside and to the trail for the return to Ashby. This is about a 17 mile loop and makes the ride more interesting than out and back on the trail.
On August 21, 2015 my wife, 7 year old daughters and I traveled a couple miles east and a few miles west of Big Ole in Alexandria. The kids did fine as the trail is level and in good shape. On this short trip, the travel west was easier.
Going east involved more side street crossings. The tunnel under the main highway limits the high traffic danger going east and is kind of cool to go through. If we had traveled a little further and I expect we would have been out of town and had the joys of rural riding.
Going west involved crossing a couple busier roads, but was picturesque once we left town. As we rode several large culverts brought us right over the lakes. We did some Geocaching along the way and stopped to just look around.
The scenery was beautiful. In our view, the trail is great. Our round trip distance was about 14 miles (2 east and 5 west X 2).
The trail head in Alexandria had toilets, water and a place to sit down. Parking was good. Also, basically across the street is the Minnesota Lakes Maritime Museum (lots of vintage boats) and the Runestone Museum. We enjoyed both.
We look forward to more Central Lakes trail this summer.
This trail is a beautiful ride through the edge of Praire Pothole Region of Minnesota.
You'll see plenty of potholes and prairies with lots of wildlife along the way. Watch out for the deer and Sandhill Cranes! You should see lots of water fowl along the way too.
Check out the Prairie Wetland Learning Center just outside of Fergus Falls MN. For more info go to http://www.friendsofprairiewetlands.com/
If you ride the trail in late summer to see the those "amber waves of grain" that are part of the great American folk song "America the Beautiful!"
The trail weaves through the land dotted with woods, prairies, lots of large and small lakes and the many small towns that dot the country side evoking memories of a Norman Rockwell painting. Truly a wonderful experience of small town America from a cycling perspective.
The east end of the trail merges with that other icon of America... "Lake Wobegon" ... in the form of the Lake Wobegon Trails. The combination of trails creates 100+ miles of paved rail trail to enjoy from Fergus Falls MN on the west to St Joseph at the east end ... a really wonderful ride across Central Minnesota.
This route is also a favorite of many of the cross country cyclists following the northern tier route of the Adventure Cycling Association. (http://www.adventurecycling.org/)
Happy Tails! Cliff
Cliff Borgerding
Lake Wobegon Trails Association
33504 Shorewood Drive
Avon MN 56310
320-293-9364
Cliff@lwtrails.com
www.lakewobegontrails.com
www.lwtrails.com
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