Explore the best rated trails in Bolivar, MO. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Ward Branch Greenway and South Creek Greenway . With more than 9 trails covering 69 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 Jordan Creek Greenway is a paved 3-mile multiuse trail in downtown Springfield, Missouri. There trail exists in 3 disconnected segments: The most northerly section runs for about a mile from...
Springfield's South Creek Greenway provides residents and visitors alike with a welcome dose of nature within the city's urban limits, and also serves as a useful off-road means of getting around and...
The James River Greenway offers a pleasant route along tree-lined Lake Springfield on the south end of Springfield. The paved pathway offers scenic views of the lake, bluffs, and prairies, as well as...
As with many of the greenways in the Ozark trail system, the Wilson’s Creek Branch trail follows the route of an eponymous waterway. The trail begins at the Rutledge-Wilson Farm Park down to Republic...
The popular Galloway Creek Greenway runs through southeastern Springfield. It begins at Pershing Middle School and heads south paralleling Lone Pine Avenue. Although the trail has an urban feel,...
Taking residents and visitors through the natural areas in the north of Springfield, the Fulbright Spring Greenway is a hidden gem of Ozark’s Greenway System. The trail was initially named after the...
Fassnight Creek Greenway is a 1.2 mile multi-use east-west trail in the heart of Springfield, about a mile southwest of Missouri State University. The paved trail meanders right alongside the...
The 37.6-mile, partially paved Frisco Highline Trail connects Bolivar and Springfield with plenty to see along the way. If you travel from north to south, you’ll find that the corridor rises at about...
Ward Branch Greenway is 4.8 miles existing in 3 discrete sections in south Springfield, Missouri. The northernmost segment begins at Cox Medical Center on E Bradford Parkway, ducks underneath SR 60...
Ward Branch Greenway is 4.8 miles existing in 3 discrete sections in south Springfield, Missouri. The northernmost segment begins at Cox Medical Center on E Bradford Parkway, ducks underneath SR 60...
Fassnight Creek Greenway is a 1.2 mile multi-use east-west trail in the heart of Springfield, about a mile southwest of Missouri State University. The paved trail meanders right alongside the...
The James River Greenway offers a pleasant route along tree-lined Lake Springfield on the south end of Springfield. The paved pathway offers scenic views of the lake, bluffs, and prairies, as well as...
The popular Galloway Creek Greenway runs through southeastern Springfield. It begins at Pershing Middle School and heads south paralleling Lone Pine Avenue. Although the trail has an urban feel,...
As with many of the greenways in the Ozark trail system, the Wilson’s Creek Branch trail follows the route of an eponymous waterway. The trail begins at the Rutledge-Wilson Farm Park down to Republic...
Springfield's South Creek Greenway provides residents and visitors alike with a welcome dose of nature within the city's urban limits, and also serves as a useful off-road means of getting around and...
The Jordan Creek Greenway is a paved 3-mile multiuse trail in downtown Springfield, Missouri. There trail exists in 3 disconnected segments: The most northerly section runs for about a mile from...
The 37.6-mile, partially paved Frisco Highline Trail connects Bolivar and Springfield with plenty to see along the way. If you travel from north to south, you’ll find that the corridor rises at about...
Taking residents and visitors through the natural areas in the north of Springfield, the Fulbright Spring Greenway is a hidden gem of Ozark’s Greenway System. The trail was initially named after the...
Springfield's South Creek Greenway provides residents and visitors alike with a welcome dose of nature within the city's urban limits, and also serves as a useful off-road means of getting around and...
The James River Greenway offers a pleasant route along tree-lined Lake Springfield on the south end of Springfield. The paved pathway offers scenic views of the lake, bluffs, and prairies, as well as...
Fassnight Creek Greenway is a 1.2 mile multi-use east-west trail in the heart of Springfield, about a mile southwest of Missouri State University. The paved trail meanders right alongside the...
The 37.6-mile, partially paved Frisco Highline Trail connects Bolivar and Springfield with plenty to see along the way. If you travel from north to south, you’ll find that the corridor rises at about...
The popular Galloway Creek Greenway runs through southeastern Springfield. It begins at Pershing Middle School and heads south paralleling Lone Pine Avenue. Although the trail has an urban feel,...
As with many of the greenways in the Ozark trail system, the Wilson’s Creek Branch trail follows the route of an eponymous waterway. The trail begins at the Rutledge-Wilson Farm Park down to Republic...
Ward Branch Greenway is 4.8 miles existing in 3 discrete sections in south Springfield, Missouri. The northernmost segment begins at Cox Medical Center on E Bradford Parkway, ducks underneath SR 60...
The Jordan Creek Greenway is a paved 3-mile multiuse trail in downtown Springfield, Missouri. There trail exists in 3 disconnected segments: The most northerly section runs for about a mile from...
Taking residents and visitors through the natural areas in the north of Springfield, the Fulbright Spring Greenway is a hidden gem of Ozark’s Greenway System. The trail was initially named after the...
Me and some friends took the trail from Springfield to Bolivar and back Great trail, gives you the feeling you're in the middle of nowhere Ate at the sonic in Bolivar for lunch All good except for the nail I picked up on the big bridge but hey it's better than work any day I recommend this trail it's great Johnny 6 Fingers bicycle club
Trail is closed due to road construction 3 miles out from Springfield until late Nov 2019. Parked at Willard Trail Head, rode South to closure, then N to mile 15 and back. Trail is paved from Springfield to 2 miles N of Willard - total of 8 miles paved. Unpaved portion at least to mile 15 was in great shape - smooth, mostly shaded but some open sections. Rolling farmland - peaceful and scenic. Riding on Tuesday afternoon - gorgeous, sunny 72 degree day, only a few bikers/walkers on the paved section, did not see anyone else on the trail for the 14 miles of unpaved section I rode. Restrooms/food/secure parking at Willard. Nice rest area with swing at Conco Quarries and benches/tables at Frisco Trail Mini Storage. City park with large pool about 1 1/2 miles N of Willard Trail Head - pool closed for season but a nice cooling off place if riding the trail in the summer.
The trail in Greene county is pretty good. It needs some tree trimming but the trail surface is solid. Thru Polk County not so much. Ruts, loose gravel, spiders repelling from low tree limbs. The scenery is nice but you need to keep eyes on the surface as it changes frequently from sand, dirt, gravel. Just when you direct your attention to the scenery the surface goes soft.
If only the trail was maintained as well as the signs for it are. It starts out in Springfield as a beautiful paved trail for 8 miles, and then the trail deteriorates from there. I wanted to be sure to ride the whole trail, but it was terribly disappointing. Trail went from paved, to crushed limestone, to rocks, to sand, to single track with grass and weeds growing up to your knees. The markings for the mileage were good, but there are no restroom facilities at any of the trail heads where there is parking. When you get to Boliver, there are no markings telling you which way to head to get to food, etc. On the sign it says it's a premier trail. That is just not true. We had to clean our bikes and ourselves of spider webs. Nasty. I will say that there weren't mosquitoes at all, and maybe that's because of all of the spider webs. This trail is in need of maintenance big time.
I rode this trail last summer from Springfield to Walnut Grove and back and really enjoyed it. This summer I stopped to ride the Northern section from Bolivar to Walnut Grove to see all the bridges. Ended up turning around just before Wishart due to all the low hanging tree branches and the spider webs that were hanging down between the tree branches on both sides of the path. After a couple of miles of plowing through them, I gave up especially after noticing a few dozen spiders crawling around my legs, arms, bike, helmet and across my glasses. I don't give up very easily but enough is enough. What a beautiful ride this trail would be if, like other trails, (especially the Katy Trail that I rode next), the towns along the trail would pitch in and trim it back.
Nice, easy trail to do with kids. Trail has lots of trees & goes thru a park. I would also recommend the little restaurant along the trail, Galloway Grill. They are biker & kid friendly w/ good food & a decent selection of beers.
The Rusty Chain Gang went from Bolivar to Springfield and spent the night at the Courtyard and went back the next day.
No need to go into great detail as Emily's review was spot on. A mower and tree trimming is much needed on all sections of the trail. Some areas worse than others.
A reminder to everyone there is no water on the trail and pack extra water with you. I had 3 water bottles but needed the 4th.
I am looking forward in going back when I see some more positive feedback.
It is a shame that a trail through such a gorgeous, natural area is so inconsistently maintained. My husband and I rode from south of Bolivar (MM 31) north into Bolivar one day, and the second day rode from MM 31 south on the unpaved portion of the trail down to around MM 21.
The paved portion of the trail was average; some roots, but overall decent. The road detour around Hwy 13 in Bolivar is rather long and a bit confusing if you don't know the area due to inadequate signage, but we figured it out.
Parts of the unpaved section south of Bolivar were smoothly packed limestone and very easy to ride on our road bikes, which are equipped with wide tires (1.35"). However, a good mowing and branch trimming was needed as the grass and weeds were high, and occasionally the trail would almost disappear in the weeds. But this was tolerable compared to the conditions we encountered the farther south we got.
We had hoped to make it to Walnut Grove at MM 16, but ended up turning around early due to the gravel conditions, mostly from the Little Sac River bridge (MM 23) to MM 21 (and probably farther south). This section appeared to have been relatively recently re-graveled, and not well. The gravel was larger and deeper than ideal (up to 3" deep in some places), leading to fish-tailing and difficulties controlling our bikes. I would recommend this section for mountain bikes only. It was nice to see that some maintenance had been done on this section, but unfortunately, it was not done well; the gravel was not spread evenly or thinly enough, making it somewhat hazardous and not fun to ride.
The bridge conditions were also inconsistent. Some appeared in dire need of maintenance. One wooden bridge had a large hole where a plank was missing, a very hazardous situation.
With more consistent and careful maintenance, this rail-trail could be the gem it should be, but it was a disappointing trail for us, especially compared to numerous other rail-trails we have ridden across the US.
The bolivar portion can be hard to ride on a street bike. We have a tandem and it was pretty hard. We came back with mountian bikes. And it was great!!
From the trailhead at Springfield, the trail is paved and flat for the first 9 miles. Not much scenery to see along this stretch. But this is misleading as the remainder of the trail has many low hanging branches and dangerous ruts as you make your way down the trail. I was riding my hybrid and got a flat tire as did another cyclist we encountered along our 35 mile ride. As we saw only 6-7 cyclists all day long, the odds of getting a flat are pretty high. If you must ride this trail, start from Boliviar as it is much more scenic. Bring all the water you can carry and bring extra tubes!!
I did this trail mid-July following several weeks of no-rain hot weather. The trail showed signs of drought, but it was still interesting and fun to ride. I started at the trailhead in Bolivar, and rode south to near Willard and back. I didn’t go into Springfield because I had a long drive back home afterwards. The Bolivar trailhead is well-equipped. It has paved parking, a new brick building having a large covered picnic area and clean restrooms (open from 8-am to 3-pm) plus information bulletin boards and service outlets nearby. From there, the trail is paved southward to within ½-mile north of busy Hwy-13. I missed the westward detour sign at Aldrich Road before arriving there. This detour gives riders a fairly short safe route across Hwy-13 and back to the trail on the paved roads. After missing that detour, I plowed straight ahead southward on a gravelly unfinished ½-mile section to 13. Once there, the medians between the highway and its service roads are fairly deep grassy ditches with bike-hewn pathways through them. Walking/running your bike across them seems the safest way. Once on the south side of 13, the trail is paved for another mile or two south where it becomes limestone chat near the La Petite Prairie. This prairie was mostly green tallgrass for lack of rain. Most of the trail’s surface is fine limestone with only a few gravelly spots where washouts and other wear have occurred. It’s smooth and easy to ride. Its dual track narrows and widens depending on the density of the green well-treed corridor itself. Some of the trail’s 16 bridges were lengthy and tall. Most had wood-plank surfaces. But others had thick metal plates, probably from original railroad stuff with the rails removed. The bridge over the Little-Sac-River had a concrete surface. I saw ducks and a Great Blue Heron there. Overall, I saw much wildlife along this trail despite the dryness: deer, fox, gobs of bunnies and squirrels, chipmunks, skinks, birds, insects, and butterflies. The white mules (in one field) and the varied barn structures were interesting too. The trailheads are simple with sizeable parking lots. The one in Wishart has a small roofed bench shelter plus a chemical toilet. This shelter was installed by the Polk County Bike Club as were others along the trail no doubt. A half-block west of it, a closed mechanic’s shop has an open-to-the-public pop-machine out front. I got a 20-oz cola there on my return trip for $1.25. It also contained cold bottled water. Outside of that, any real services are in the towns near the trailheads; e.g., at Walnut Grove (1-mile west of it to a market) and at Willard (across the street to several outlets). Also, 2-miles north of Willard, a Bulleye Service Station w/convenience store and a separate café are adjacent to the trail just across two-lane Rt-123. So, air-conditioning, restrooms, food, and water exist near the trail and most of its trailheads. This 35-mile trail is worth doing more than once
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