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 88 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.
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The Iowa Great Lakes resort on the northern border with Minnesota is a longtime destination for fishermen and vacationers who arrived from big cities by rail. Dickinson County employed two different...
The Three Rivers Trail runs for nearly 40 miles from the small community of Rolfe—named after the early English settler who married Pocahontas—to just west of Eagle Grove. The mostly rural trail is...
The Hanson Trail is a paved, off-road alternative to State Route 9 in Forest City, Iowa. The trail parallels the road for its entire length through fertile farmland. Forest City and the Winnebago...
The Blazing Star State Trail is located in Albert Lea, near Minnesota’s southern border. The town is known as “The Land Between the Lakes,” and the trail begins on the northern shore of one of the...
The Hynes Spur Trail links the heart of Forest City, Iowa, with its municipal airport to the south. The short paved trail passes through Pammel Park and adjacent to the Bear Creek Golf Course, with...
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The best place to begin the Trolley Trail is in Mason City in Ray Rorick Skate Park, located adjacent to the 81-acre Lester Milligan Park, which has two fishing and swimming ponds, hiking and biking...
The Franklin Grove Heritage Trail rests on top of an abandoned Rock Island railroad corridor that runs through the heart of the small Iowan city of Belmond. The trail connects the residential section...
Named after a Seneca Indian chief who lived in the area until the 1830s, the Red Jacket Trail runs along an old Milwaukee Road (formerly the Minnesota Railroad and the Central Railroad) right-of-way...
The South Route Trail begins west of Mankato in Minneopa State Park, known for its beautiful waterfalls and views of the Minnesota River Valley. Heading southeast from the park, following County Road...
The best place to begin the Trolley Trail is in Mason City in Ray Rorick Skate Park, located adjacent to the 81-acre Lester Milligan Park, which has two fishing and swimming ponds, hiking and biking...
The Hanson Trail is a paved, off-road alternative to State Route 9 in Forest City, Iowa. The trail parallels the road for its entire length through fertile farmland. Forest City and the Winnebago...
The Three Rivers Trail runs for nearly 40 miles from the small community of Rolfe—named after the early English settler who married Pocahontas—to just west of Eagle Grove. The mostly rural trail is...
The Franklin Grove Heritage Trail rests on top of an abandoned Rock Island railroad corridor that runs through the heart of the small Iowan city of Belmond. The trail connects the residential section...
The Blazing Star State Trail is located in Albert Lea, near Minnesota’s southern border. The town is known as “The Land Between the Lakes,” and the trail begins on the northern shore of one of the...
Named after a Seneca Indian chief who lived in the area until the 1830s, the Red Jacket Trail runs along an old Milwaukee Road (formerly the Minnesota Railroad and the Central Railroad) right-of-way...
The Hynes Spur Trail links the heart of Forest City, Iowa, with its municipal airport to the south. The short paved trail passes through Pammel Park and adjacent to the Bear Creek Golf Course, with...
The Iowa Great Lakes resort on the northern border with Minnesota is a longtime destination for fishermen and vacationers who arrived from big cities by rail. Dickinson County employed two different...
The South Route Trail begins west of Mankato in Minneopa State Park, known for its beautiful waterfalls and views of the Minnesota River Valley. Heading southeast from the park, following County Road...
The Franklin Grove Heritage Trail rests on top of an abandoned Rock Island railroad corridor that runs through the heart of the small Iowan city of Belmond. The trail connects the residential section...
The Blazing Star State Trail is located in Albert Lea, near Minnesota’s southern border. The town is known as “The Land Between the Lakes,” and the trail begins on the northern shore of one of the...
The Hanson Trail is a paved, off-road alternative to State Route 9 in Forest City, Iowa. The trail parallels the road for its entire length through fertile farmland. Forest City and the Winnebago...
The Hynes Spur Trail links the heart of Forest City, Iowa, with its municipal airport to the south. The short paved trail passes through Pammel Park and adjacent to the Bear Creek Golf Course, with...
Named after a Seneca Indian chief who lived in the area until the 1830s, the Red Jacket Trail runs along an old Milwaukee Road (formerly the Minnesota Railroad and the Central Railroad) right-of-way...
The Three Rivers Trail runs for nearly 40 miles from the small community of Rolfe—named after the early English settler who married Pocahontas—to just west of Eagle Grove. The mostly rural trail is...
The Iowa Great Lakes resort on the northern border with Minnesota is a longtime destination for fishermen and vacationers who arrived from big cities by rail. Dickinson County employed two different...
The best place to begin the Trolley Trail is in Mason City in Ray Rorick Skate Park, located adjacent to the 81-acre Lester Milligan Park, which has two fishing and swimming ponds, hiking and biking...
The South Route Trail begins west of Mankato in Minneopa State Park, known for its beautiful waterfalls and views of the Minnesota River Valley. Heading southeast from the park, following County Road...
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.
rode from Rolfe to Rutland. We saw few people except 2 trail maintenance guys who were mowing and removing down limbs. The Des Moines River was bankfull+ so the water was very close to the bridge bottom. Nearly rode over a garter snake and a 3' bull snake who was hugging the edge of the grass line. Just a really nice trail that is maintained. The toilets were closed, though, due to Covid.
We parked at Minneopa and did half the trail for a total of 6.3 miles round trip. You start by going uphill out of Minneopa which was really pretty, do a few smaller hills then there’s a killer hill shortly before Mt Kato. I did have to walk but my 20-year-old son conquered it. The prettiest part is in Minneopa and the rest parallels a road. The trail is in great shape though without any cracks.
I rode the section from Humbolt to Rolfe and back on Friday August 31, 2018. As others have posted, this is a crushed limestone trail but it is very smooth and in great shape, especially considering all the rain this area has received this summer. There were some small branches and leaves on the trail and there was one spot just west of Bradgate that was a little soft but other than that it was firm. I rode my Kona Rove with 700c x 35 mm tires and had no problems at all. I felt that the entire route was very scenic as it follows the Des Moines River. There are a lot of wooded stretches and glimpses of water. I even saw a Beaver near Bradgate.
If you take this trip, there's not much in Rutland or Bradgate to stop for, but there are nice picnic areas alongside the trail near both towns. There may have been restaurants in Rolfe but I wasn't really paying attention. Humbolt looked like a fabulous little town with a very vibrant Main Street and several restaurants. This is about an hour from my home, and so I plan to come back and ride the other direction to Eagle Grove. All in all, a great day.
Wanted to try out this trail for the first time on Saturday and it is closed. Maybe try it next year.
I road this trail end-to-end starting at the very nice Red Jacket Trail Park near the LeSeur River trestle, riding south to the trail end (no parking, ends at a country road), and then doubling back to ride to the north end in Mankato.
I even did an unintended but worthwhile side trip to Minneopa Falls park when I missed a sign at a trail intersection (some challenging hills on this route).
The trail length is definitely overstated in the description, closer to 6.5 miles than 13, but you can easily connect to other trails to extend your ride.
All-in-all a very nice trail that is in quite good condition.
If you make a right onto the Minnesota River trail when the trail ends in Mankato you ride right along the river on the water side of a flood wall. If you go about 3/4's of a mile to the trail entrance at E. Main Street there is some wonderful wall art on the city side of the flood wall.
I have ridden around both West Lake Okoboji, Big Spirit,East Lake many times. Some of the trail is on the road which is county black tops and local streets, it would be impossible to go around 5 lakes and be only bike/walk trail. Go to dickinsoncountytrails.com map on top tool bar. It's prox 24 miles around West Okoboji and 46 miles around outside of all 5 lakes. Great adventure and gets better every year,
To look at the trail map (which we did) you would think that there is a trail around both Spirit Lake and Lake Okoboji. Nothing could be further from the truth. Much of the trails consist of residental roads, highways, with a few dedicated trails mixed in, which simply stop, with no instructions. Whats even worse is the fact that there are ZERO signs anywhere to tell you where the "trail" is. Maybe I'm spoiled living in central Iowa. If you're a boater, head to the Iowa great lakes. If you're a biker, go elsewhere!!
Nice trail leading to Pilot Knob State Park entrance. A few conditions issues. but quite usable for many.
new pavement beautiful scenery very nice ride I will return to explore side trails and surrounding areas
I run this trail at least 4-5 times a week and I never get tired of it. My route usually consists of the miles between the trailhead in Rolfe and a few miles outside of Bradgate. It is a quite and easy run. There are cricks and rivers all along this route which provide many wildlife spotting.
I would highly recommend this trail to anyone!
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