Explore the best rated trails in Ledyard, IA. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Trolley Trail (Clear Lake/Mason City) and Red Jacket Trail. With more than 9 trails covering 90 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.
Basically this is just a sidewalk next to a busy highway that connects mason city to clear lake. There isn’t much shade or much for scenery.
What a great trail. We loved it. Ride it in July 2022. Temps were great and lake and trees make this trail amazing. It’s a must if your in the area. We from Texas and was in town for work and couldn’t miss the opportunity to ride this trail.
Trail is really great but could definitely use some more gravel in certain areas where the path is shaded and it doesn't get as much sun the sand can suck all the energy out of you. Of course that could just be in the Winter months.
This trail wonders through tree tunnels, bridges over train tracks, grassy fields full of wildflowers and spotted several groups of deer. Many places along the route however have bad cracks and yes I worried about my spokes as did the 2014 reviewer. Was surprised to see the 2017 review said it was newly paved. Beautiful ride just watch the road.
We cycled from the Land of Memories Campground to the Mankato Family YMCA and started there. The first part of the trail passes through residential areas with a number of street crossings. The trail was rather narrow compared to other bike trails we have ridden. There are no mileage markers along the way.
The trail is shaded for most of the way and ends abruptly at Huffy Lane. There is no indication or sign that we had reached the end of the trail so we continued on the road for a couple of blocks to the small village of Rapidan. Not much there. The route towards Rapidan was a slight uphill grade so made for an easy ride back to Mankato. The trail is paved but could use a bit of maintenance in some sections. The trail was OK but nothing to rave about.
We only walked a bit of the trail, but saw no one on it the whole 30-45 min we were on it.
They have added about 3.75 miles to the west of the trail from Hyvee in Spirit Lake west to Vick's Corner on Highway 86.
Awesome biking trail! Very smooth packed gravel trail. Restrooms and air stations available in some areas. Plan full day and bring water/energy bars.
This trail is nicely paved with asphalt. It was expanded in 2019 for .6 miles to the northeast and .6 miles to the southeast, now making it 3.0 miles long. There are sunny areas and shady areas. It is bike, walker, jogger and wheelchair friendly. The trail features a Story Walk along with a Little Free Library. There are all kinds of parks and activities nearby: disk golf, swimming, tennis, skateboard facility, playgrounds, picnic spots, and brand new in 2020, a pickleball court. If you are hungry, you can find hamburgers, pizza, sub sandwiches, Mexican food and ice cream in Belmond. A nice system of sidewalks connect the trail to the whole town.
We stayed at Gull Point State Park which had direct access to this trail. The first time I rode it I went clockwise starting from the west side of the lake. There was more paved trail than indicated in the app. However I did lose the trail when I got to the east side in Lake Okoboji/Arnold's Park area. The second time I rode the trail, I went counterclockwise and was able to follow trail signage from that direction (mostly). I also rode the trail north to Spirit Lake. Many beautiful sections and the portions not on the trail were little-traveled roads. Very enjoyable!
This is a great trail. However, we only did 1/2 of it. We started out at the beginning of the trail on the east side of Big Spirit Lake and rode south to Memorial Park. Then we headed back the way we came, but continued West around Big Spirit Lake. This was nearly 16 miles. The directions tell you to park on a gravel lot on 253rd about 1/2 of a mile before the end point. We drove down to the end point to check it out and found several spots along the side of the road where you could park. It was nice to start the trail at the beginning because you get to ride through soy and corn fields. There are a few spots where signage could be improved. But if you just keep in mind that you should always be able to see the lake then you'll intuitively know which direction to go. One of the things I really like about this trail is how little you are on the road. It's nice to be away from cars. Memorial Park was a great spot to stop and have lunch. There are at least 2 covered picnic areas. And there are fairly decent rest rooms. The trail on the west side of Big Spirit Lake ends at an RV park. We rode around in there and realized they have awesome views of the lake. We'll try to stay here in our rig sometime.
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