Explore the best rated trails in Emporia, KS, whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Flint Hills Trail State Park and Lake Shawnee Trail . With more than 5 trails covering 207 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.
Ottawa Trailhead to Richmond. About 27 miles round trip & 272 ft. climb. Quick, easy ride. Well maintained trail with good surface for our hybrid bikes. It was a destination trail for us and glad we made to effort to experience it.
Nice, level, well kept trail of small crushed gravel and about half sun & half shade. We rode from Ottawa 13 miles to Richmond and then back. There are restrooms & water fountains in Princeton & Richmond along with picnic tables & parking as well as a few benches at spots along the trail. We basically had the trail to ourselves, early on as we headed out we saw a couple of cyclists and then a single cyclist…..that was it. Just us and the deer, rabbits, squirrels and birds.
Today I rode South from Holiday Inn Express corner of I35 and Main St Ottawa, MM61 to MM87 and back¿ for a total of 52 miles. Trail is in Great Shape and the agricultural views are amazing. This is rural riding at its best. I could no believe I did not see another biker during my entire ride ¿. The riders around here must have a rule regarding if wind is X-mph, they don’t ride ¿. I was severely beaten by the Great Plains Wind all day long¿.
April 2022 We rode east from Council Grove Ks for about 5 miles of the trail out to the Kaw monument. We have knobby cross over tires on our Pedego’s which handled the gravel just fine. We stayed at the COE campground just north of town and rode the bikes into town and on the try and back. It looks like it would also be fun to ride around town as well as the trail but rainy cold weather limited our riding during our stay in the area. Hoping to go back and ride more of the trail and around council grove.
This trail now officially/unofficially starts in Osawatomee or mile zero at the corner of 12th and South Street.
My wife dropped me off at mile zero trailhead in Osawatomee and I met her at the depot museum in Ottawa. We then rode to Pamona. Nice ride but a section is closed between Ottawa and Pamona and you must take gravel rodes for a short 3 miles or so.
Another lovely trail in Kansas. We were pleasantly surprised. We started our section in Garnett in mid-late Sept 2022. We drove south from Ottawa due to rain there and when we got to Garnett, the rain and moved on, so we rode south (40 miles return). The parking lot at the old train depot has water and toilets and is a good place to park. There is a delicious Amish run restaurant in town--a must stop for breakfast or lunch. The cycling was great--just watch for some dry cracks in the trail base and some limbs or trees can be down. This section was partly shaded, but more out in the open. Some of the trail was parallel to the north/south highway connecting Ottawa to Iola. Every small town had a nice rest stop complete with toilet and water. Only Garnett had anything worth stopping in, the others were small settlements with residents only (or that's what we saw anyway). The entire trail looks great, and we hope someday to return to do the entire trail from Humboldt to Ottawa.
We rode 2 sections of this trail in mid-late Sept 2022. 1st section--from Council Grove towards Admire and return. It was an extremely hot day (over 100) and we only rode 12-13 miles out and back for a 25 mile ride. Beautifully kept trail. No goat heads and no other cyclists. Gentle incline out with periodic shade and beautiful rolling hills scenery. The worst part is it is so dry that in the center of the trail can be LARGE cracks in the limestone base (up to 3-6" wide and maybe 2-3' in length) and if you're not paying attention, you could take a major tumble. You have to pay attention at all times as the cracks are here and there.
Council Grove has lodging (limited) and grocery for snacks and cold drinks. We were going to stay in CG, but opted to drive to Pomona St Park and stay there for the next section.
2nd section was from Vassar to Ottawa return (around 50 miles). We stayed in the Pomona St Park (~1 mile from trail head) and again, the trail was fabulous. No other cyclists, beautiful country, some riding next to active train tracks, some out in the rolling fields, shade on and off. One 2-lane highway crossing, you MUST watch for cars as they are going 65+. There is a crosswalk where you can push the button and it signals drivers of cyclists crossing, but they will not stop, I'm pretty sure...it's just an alert. Cyclists must stop and heed traffic.
There were a few downed trees in this section blocking the trail, one we could just get around by walking, the 2nd we had to carry our bikes over as the branches were too big for us to move. They need some chain saw volunteers to come in and clean up some of the downed trees. The 3rd, we moved some of the smaller branches out of the way, to clear a path wide enough to pass, but again, a chain saw is badly needed along this section.
Ottawa is a cute town with lodging, food, drink and lots of other trails around town and the Flint Hills connects to the Prairie Spirit running north and south (we did 1 section of this trail also, will leave review under that trails reviews).
There was 2-3 mile stretch just west of Ottawa that the trail is closed and looked to us like it had been for a long time due to the overgrowth. There is a detour, VERY WELL MARKED and is such a short section that it's easy to get back on track. Again watch for the cracks in the trail base, but other than that, a beautiful trail. We'd like to return and do the entire trail from Council Grove to Osawatomie.
Today we rode from trailhead at Arrowhead stadium to end in Lees summit. You have to ride untill you hit trailhead in Pleasant Hill. From there you can ride to Windsor . There you go to Clinton or Machens, that is end to end KATY!
We have ridden several sections and will continue to do so until completed. The sections all on eastern section we good rides.
Rode my bike around the trail 8/20/22 on a Saturday morning starting at 10:30. Beautiful day so I expected the trail to be crowded but it wasn't at all. Just a few walkers and even less on bikes. Beautiful scenery. Saw a sailboat sailing. So many flowers. Do stop and visit the Ted Ensley Garden (all free). Just amazing. So peaceful. Plenty of toilets along the way. Water to drink along the way too.
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