Explore the best rated trails in Lawrenceburg, KY, whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Ohio River Greenway and Big Four Bridge . With more than 13 trails covering 81 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.
On a chilly morning in late October with a temperature hovering at forty degrees, I ventured out onto the Louisville Loop's Parklands of Floyds Fork portion of trails. The Parklands is made up of five sections in a rural setting, and I rode four of them out and back.
BECKLEY CREEK PARK
First of all, this section is surprisingly hilly at the start and toward the end. Even the bridges over the creek were steep! Thank goodness for my Swytch pedal assist! It's especially picturesque with beautiful creek and woodlands views. The calls of birds will accompany you throughout this section.
(Unfortunately, the connecting trail to Pope Lick Park was closed as of October 23 due to construction, so back up the trail, pack up the bike, and drive to the next trailhead.)
POPE LICK PARK & THE STRAND
If you're averse to hills, then these are the sections for you. If you're also into sensational creek views and crossing over bridges, you'll be in heaven.. These two sections also contain beautiful scenery of wooded hills, farmland with field of corn, and a few charming country homes. Keep your eyes peeled for turtles. I saw about a dozen of them sunning themselves on a log extending into the creek. Rust colored fuzzy caterpillars with a black collar and black rear tip were also all over the trail. By far, these portions of the trail were the busiest with bicyclists and walkers.
TURKEY RUN PARK
Again, if you're not into hills, this is not a good section for you. With my pedal assist it was not an issue, and it was especially fun going through the woods and seeing the multitude of squirrels with nuts in their mouths scampering across the path and up trees. Of course the silo at the top of the hill is one of the stars of this section and is most definitely worth the climb to the top. From there you can see the trail head down through Turkey Park to the north, and the trail also heading down to the south and Broad Run Park (which I didn't have time to do).
CONCLUSION
All in all, I did 31 miles in this superlative park. The trail is superb: wide, smooth, and curvy which adds to the fun and interest! The park has real restrooms that are clean and have sinks. No porta-potties for The Parklands! This park system is obviously much beloved by the community. There were many happy, friendly folks utilizing it on a weekday. It's evident that a great deal of thought and planning went into this treasure! It's a model of what a park should be. The rest of the country should come and study it. It is most certainly a destination bike ride. I came all the way from California to ride this, and I have no regrets! What a gem of a park and trail system!
(This was the 49th state I've ridden my bike in. Thanks for making it a great one, Louisville! On to Hawaii!)
I’m in Lexington for business - whenever I’m in a new city - I try to checkout the bike trail. The Legacy Trail did not disappoint- I’m from Central Ohio and our trails are pancake flat - the Legacy Trail has enough elevation to get the heart rate up - but nothing the novice cyclist couldn’t handle. I enjoyed taking in the history in the trail and most importantly- I felt very safe as a solo female rider from out of town. The trail was full of friendly cyclists!
We found ourselves on this trail thinking we were near the end of the legacy trail. There are nice bike lanes marked in green. We turned around due to the amount of broken glass on them . Found a beautiful fox mural on one of the buildings.
Ok there are some hills but all good. Nice maintained smooth. I approves. Hit Boonedogs afterwards and it was yummy.
We did an evening 8 mile ride (out n back). Very few people, birds singing, farm fields and I-75...but it was still perfect. Well maintained, easy access.
I haven't ridden my bike in 4 years! I looked like I had never been on a bike in my life. ¿ It is a great trail, no dogs chasing you and lots of houses in case you have a heart attack! Seriously, I give it ¿¿¿¿¿
We continued our ride at the Pope Lick trailhead (right after the Taylorsville closure) and rode south 10 miles to the Brown-Forman Silo center. The first 7 miles were relatively flat and the last 3 very hilly. Most of the trail sections we rode were in the sun which may make this a little warm in the summer. However, it was very evident that Louisville spared no expense on this section of the trail.
We road the Parklands of Floyd’s Fork trail which is the section east of downtown Louisville. It was an amazing ride with diverse scenery. We’ve ridden quite a few trails and this ranks right up there with any of the hall of fame trails we ridden. We started at the most north trailhead in Beckley Park. We road 5 miles south to the Taylorsville road closure. It was very hilly with steep grade warnings and we felt very lucky to be on hybrid bikes!
Paved multiuser trail is short & flat. While not a destination trail, it is nicely shaded and worth a look if you are in the area.
Tale of 2 trails….maybe 3
All the glowing reviews are for the Parklands of Floyds Fork. Look out when you go downtown!!!
5 stars for Floyds but 2 stars for downtown.
We parked at Turkey Run Park on Seatonville Rd. Turned out to be almost perfect midpoint. Rode 10 miles North to end at Miles Garden. All concrete except for the section North of Taylorsville Rd. Relatively flat except for the tough long climb North of Taylorsville and then at the very end approaching Miles Garden.
In the afternoon we parked at the South end at Broad Run Park. Rode about 10 miles North to Turkey Run. Much different experience. Same great trail surface, but many more hills. I think we had 3 steep climbs. I got off and pushed on a couple. Windy downhills were fun though. Amazing that this beautiful park is not tax supported. A real gem indeed!
Downtown is a different story. Parked at Big Four and headed West. Pretty nice for first couple miles. Started seeing some homeless tents under I-64 past the Science Center parking around 9th Street. Had some folks riding go carts and scooters on the trail and wouldn’t move over for bicycles. The real “fun” started after the railroad underpass where trail turns right. Down a sidewalk with some flood level markers in the pavement, then a couple sharp turns into a wooded park. Pavement ends. All dirt and mud. Abandoned cars. We finally turned around when we got to a bridge with mud halfway up to the railings. (see pic) Do yourself a favor. Turnaround when you see the sign at Portland Wharf Park that says Loop Alt Route. (see pic) Was about 4.2 miles from Big Four to Portland Wharf.
Enjoyed the wide diversity of the 3 rides. Definitely a big change from a typical flat and straight Rail-Trail…..bikin-Mike….Aug 2022
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