Explore the best rated trails in Waukesha, WI. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Eisenbahn State Trail and New Berlin Recreation Trail. With more than 59 trails covering 766 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 52-mile Glacial Drumlin State Trail between Cottage Grove and Waukesha provides a glimpse into the past when glaciers bore down on southeastern Wisconsin in the last Ice Age. Those gigantic sheets...
The WE Energies Trail, so named because it uses a Wisconsin Energy Corporation utility corridor for much of its route, links Racine and Oak Creek in Racine and Milwaukee counties. Despite the presence...
Janesville's Spring Brook Trail provides an important non-motorized route to many of the city's popular recreational amenities. The pathway begins just off the eastern terminus of the Rock River...
The Prairie Crossing Bike Path is a hard surface trail connecting Mundelein to Grayslake in central Lake County, Illinois. The trail is perpendicular to the 30-plus-mile Millennium Trail, which it...
The Fort Hill Bike Path trail sits on the north side of Peterson Road/ County Road 20. The trail peels away from the Prairie Crossing Bike Path at Midlothian Road and extends west, passing industries...
The paved New Berlin Recreation Trail runs straight as an east–west compass bearing for 7 miles through the western Milwaukee suburbs, from New Berlin to Waukesha. While it is void of trestles,...
This bike path sits on the east side of Almond Road between Washington Street and Fairfield Lane in Gurnee. The 8-foot wide asphalt path is used by residents as a spot for exercise and recreation, but...
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The Lake to Lake Bike Trail takes you through the beautiful terrain of the Kettle Moraine State Forest. It is a newer, well-maintained trail, with a wide, crushed limestone roadbed. It is used daily...
The 2.3-mile multiuse trail wraps around Lake Andrea in Pleasant Springs Park. The trail is an easy walk, run or ride around the lake, and is accessible for a wide range of users. It also helps users...
The Brown Deer Recreational Trail runs through the Village of Brown Deer, a suburb of Milwaukee. The tree-line route parallels an active rail line through commercial and residential areas. Mid-way,...
The Milwaukee RiverWalk provides a pleasant way to get around Milwaukee from the Historic Third Ward, through downtown, and north to the Lower East Side. It also has easy connections to three other...
Although short, the West Allis Cross Town Connector represents an important start to a future link between three trails in Milwaukee County. Currently, the trail begins at a junction with the New...
Stretching from Afton to Janesville, the northern section of the Peace Trail offers a paved, tree-shaded route paralleling the Rock River and an active rail line. At its northern end, the trail merges...
The Beerline Trail, so named because the corridor was once used by freight trains transporting the ingredients for beer to some of Milwaukee’s famous breweries, has contributed to the revitalization...
The Oak Leaf Trail is the jewel in the crown of Milwaukee County’s extensive trail system. The trail meanders for more than 125 miles in and around the city of Milwaukee on a changing terrain of flat...
Kinnickinnic River Trail (called the KK River Trail by locals) runs just over 2 miles in southern Milwaukee, following the river through a densely populated and industrial corridor. The trail links...
In 1957, baseball legend Hank “The Hammer” Aaron led the Milwaukee Braves to the first of two consecutive World Series appearances and a championship over the usually dominant New York Yankees. In...
The 13.5-mile Lake Michigan Pathway keeps you in close touch with the sixth-largest freshwater lake in the world as it links rail-trails north and south of the port city of Racine. Along the way, the...
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The Fox River Trail runs diagonally along its namesake waterway through Waukesha in southeastern Wisconsin (just outside of Milwaukee). A trailhead at the E.B. Shurts Environmental Education Center in...
Moraine Hills State Park Trail offers a wonderful experience for any geology or nature aficionado. A moraine is an accumulation of earth and stones carried and finally deposited by a glacier....
The Chain O' Lakes Bike Path is a paved trail that runs between E. Grand Avenue in Fox Lake and Grant Woods Forest Preserve to the east. The trail parallels the railroad track and Rollins Road/CR 31,...
The Sheboygan Interurban Trail follows the route of an electric railway that once ran between Milwaukee and Sheboygan from the early 1900s to 1951. The trail begins at Pebble Beach Road on the Ozaukee...
The 13.5-mile Lake Michigan Pathway keeps you in close touch with the sixth-largest freshwater lake in the world as it links rail-trails north and south of the port city of Racine. Along the way, the...
The Lake to Lake Bike Trail takes you through the beautiful terrain of the Kettle Moraine State Forest. It is a newer, well-maintained trail, with a wide, crushed limestone roadbed. It is used daily...
In 1957, baseball legend Hank “The Hammer” Aaron led the Milwaukee Braves to the first of two consecutive World Series appearances and a championship over the usually dominant New York Yankees. In...
The Fort Hill Bike Path trail sits on the north side of Peterson Road/ County Road 20. The trail peels away from the Prairie Crossing Bike Path at Midlothian Road and extends west, passing industries...
The Millennium Trail currently spans just over 30 miles in two disconnected segments, but there are plans to extend it to 35 miles and connect it to the Des Plaines River Trail. The trail goes through...
Broad blue skies strung with white cloud wisps; gem-green fields harboring cattails and butterflies; canopied glens giving way to cavernous quarries. It's all part of the ride on the Bugline...
Kinnickinnic River Trail (called the KK River Trail by locals) runs just over 2 miles in southern Milwaukee, following the river through a densely populated and industrial corridor. The trail links...
The KR Trail is a new addition to Kenosha County’s growing bike-ped network. The trail picks up where the Kenosha County Bike Trail leaves off, in Petrifying Springs Park. From the northwest corner of...
The 2.3-mile multiuse trail wraps around Lake Andrea in Pleasant Springs Park. The trail is an easy walk, run or ride around the lake, and is accessible for a wide range of users. It also helps users...
With farmland to the east and the Des Plaines River Floodplain to the west, this picturesque trail is a relaxing adventure on two feet or on wheels. The crushed stone trail runs from Prairie Springs...
The Racine-Sturtevant Trail runs for 3.5 miles from the western side of Racine to near the eastern edge of the Village of Sturtevant. The trail occupies an abandoned rail corridor for most of its...
The Seven Waters Bike Trail is a scenic corridor stretching more than 17 miles northsouth between Burlington and Muskego Lake into Waukesha County. The trail was originally three trails, locally...
The Milwaukee RiverWalk provides a pleasant way to get around Milwaukee from the Historic Third Ward, through downtown, and north to the Lower East Side. It also has easy connections to three other...
The Hebron Trail rolls across the northern Illinois prairie through the former corridor of the Kenosha and Rockford Railroad, known as the Kenosha Division Line at the time of its demise in 1939....
This bike path sits on the east side of Almond Road between Washington Street and Fairfield Lane in Gurnee. The 8-foot wide asphalt path is used by residents as a spot for exercise and recreation, but...
The Eisenbahn State Trail gives a nod to Wisconsin’s German heritage in its name—Eisenbahn is German for “railway.” The strict translation, “iron road,” refers to the iron rails originally used as...
The Long Prairie Trail journeys across the width of agricultural Boone County for nearly 14 miles on the railroad corridor previously used by the Kenosha and Rockford Railroad, later known as the...
The Bull Valley Road Shared-Use Path travels along the south side of Bull Valley Road in the city of McHenry, Illinois. The paved path is suitable for non-motorized uses including walking, jogging,...
Moraine Hills State Park Trail offers a wonderful experience for any geology or nature aficionado. A moraine is an accumulation of earth and stones carried and finally deposited by a glacier....
The Oak Leaf Trail is the jewel in the crown of Milwaukee County’s extensive trail system. The trail meanders for more than 125 miles in and around the city of Milwaukee on a changing terrain of flat...
The Brown Deer Recreational Trail runs through the Village of Brown Deer, a suburb of Milwaukee. The tree-line route parallels an active rail line through commercial and residential areas. Mid-way,...
The Duck Lake Nature Area Trail follows the southern side of Lake Como between Lake Geneva and Como, Wisconsin, not far from the Illinois state line. The trail is more rustic than most rail-trails and...
This bike path sits on the east side of Almond Road between Washington Street and Fairfield Lane in Gurnee. The 8-foot wide asphalt path is used by residents as a spot for exercise and recreation, but...
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The Prairie Trail runs the length of McHenry County and is managed by the McHenry County Conservation District. The rail-trail spans just over 26 miles from the Wisconsin border and the farms and...
The KR Trail is a new addition to Kenosha County’s growing bike-ped network. The trail picks up where the Kenosha County Bike Trail leaves off, in Petrifying Springs Park. From the northwest corner of...
In 1957, baseball legend Hank “The Hammer” Aaron led the Milwaukee Braves to the first of two consecutive World Series appearances and a championship over the usually dominant New York Yankees. In...
The Hebron Trail rolls across the northern Illinois prairie through the former corridor of the Kenosha and Rockford Railroad, known as the Kenosha Division Line at the time of its demise in 1939....
The Des Plaines River Trail runs alongside the Des Plaines River for just over 56 miles, protecting watershed habitat and forestland through much of Lake and Cook Counties. The trail is a natural...
The Stone Mill Trail runs between Lawrence Road in Harvard and Maxon Road in Chemung. The 1.5-mile, paved trail mostly parallels County Highway 17 (Ramer Road) and active railroad tracks, and will...
The Wild Goose State Trail is a premier rail-trail, spanning approximately 35 miles in Dodge and Fond du Lac counties. If you are looking for a peaceful and beautiful place to visit, this trail has it...
Although short, the West Allis Cross Town Connector represents an important start to a future link between three trails in Milwaukee County. Currently, the trail begins at a junction with the New...
The Milwaukee RiverWalk provides a pleasant way to get around Milwaukee from the Historic Third Ward, through downtown, and north to the Lower East Side. It also has easy connections to three other...
The White River State Trail is composed of two separate segments: a 12-mile stretch that runs between Elkhorn and just west of Burlington in Walworth County, and a 7-mile section that connects the...
Helping to extend the excellent network of trails around the city of Racine deeper west into the heart of the county, the Racine County Bike Trail serves as a disconnected addition to the...
The Lake Country Recreation Trail runs from the western edge of Waukesha to Oconomowoc in Wisconsin’s Lake Country area. Most of the trail was built on a former Milwaukee-Watertown Interurban Railway...
The Rock River Parkway Trail in Janesville runs between Rockport Park and S. Jackson Street bridge on the north side of the river. Here, at the trail's eastern terminus, you can easily link to Spring...
Helping to forge a connection between the northern and southern segments of the Kenosha County Bike Trail, the Kenosha Pike Bike Trail also has plenty to offer in its own right, giving trail users a...
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Racine’s southeastern neighborhoods are home to the North Shore Trail, which extends south to the Racine–Kenosha county line. Because Racine County standardized its signs several years ago, you won't...
The Menominee Parkway section is horrible! So many potholes! I popped my tire and had to get an Uber back. My first ever experience with an Uber, which was much better than my bicycling experience!
Pros: fast way to get north-south or vice versa, mostly clean gravel.
Cons:Many streets to cross, if you don't keep your head on a swivel and you stop, you have a great chance of being mugged.
This trail is very scenic as we biked north from the Ozaukee trail. We immediately could tell the difference as this trail had a more wooded or nature feel. We stopped and turned back at the trail’s end just short of Oostburg rather than following the quiet roads the short distance into the village. We wish the trail continued further into Sheboygan County without the reliance on county highways. It’s a great start!
We did the northern leg the second day, parking at the DOT park & ride lot at the I43 northern exit. The scenery is mostly farmland with flat terrain. There are areas with potholes which may be marked with painted circles. It is a great exercise trail as the lack of curves and people walking the trail allowed us to bike faster than normal. We continued further on the Sheboygan County trail at the north end before returning to Port Washington.
This is a very nice trail, well maintained and well marked when you’re biking quiet streets in the various communities. We stopped in Port Washington at a lakeside park for a break before returning to Mequon.
Two of us rode the McClory southbound on July 2, 2021. We experienced few of the negatives described in other reviewers, especially the ones from years ago. Near the northern extreme of the trail, we experienced two spots with a little broken glass, but literally a couple of feet each and they were past. There were some gritty-looking areas surrounding the trail, mostly in Waukegan, but no people or areas anywhere that felt truly dangerous. The trail crosses a lot of streets and that slowed us down, especially since we had been riding several hours. The path was well kept throughout; it was easy to ride and we never had to reduce speed because of the surface. It's also not excessively dusty; no need to wipe down our bikes at the end of the day. We still prefer paved trails, but there's no doubt: combining this trail with the southern Kenosha County trail is an easy way to get from Wisconsin toward Chicago. The paved part, from about Waukegan through Highland Park, is a little faster and almost entirely flat. At Lake Cook Road near the Braeside Metra station, it connects with the Green Bay Trail to continue toward the city.
The southern mile is nice. The rest of it is on busy roads or along industrial areas that don’t smell great or give you much to look at.
This trail is primarily for mom's with strollers and their dog(s); and children learning to bike (and adults learning to bike, too). So if you want to bike at 5 MPH or walk at a slow pace, then this trail will work for you. But if you want to gain any momentum, this trail is not that. You have to slow down or stop a lot and noticed newbies don't know what "passing left" trail etiquette means.
I found this trail to be a great ride! The utility company has fixed the culvert and the trail is in great working order. As indicated in the trail description, this is a crushed stone, dirt trail. Starting at the east end, the trail starts out as packing gravel and about half way it changes to crushed asphalt gravel. It's very ridable with wider (35mm or wider) tires. I'd probably ride it with road tires, but you would be bouncing around and possibly lose traction.
The trail does continue on the west side of Hwy 164 to the Fox River, but it turns into dirt (logging road like AKA double track). The trail was full of chickaree and was in full bloom and hits your legs and wheels.
This trail is a paved trail. The city of Franklin has done a great job of maintaining the trail as well as providing restrooms and shaded rest stops along the way. The only problem with this trail is that it’s too short. I’m hoping someday this trail is able to be extended further north and south.
The small city of Burlington straddles the two sections of the White River State Trail. I did not find any signage directing how to easily get from an east trail head in Burlington to the west trail head. The gap is because of the old railroad tracks still being used and an active aggregate quarry. On my westbound trip, I took what used to be the state highways coming into town, which are all now city arterials, as Wisconsin has built a city bypass.
On my return trip, I looked at the aerials on my phone and found an unmarked city limestone path that borders the north side of the quarry which covers about half of the gap. From there subdivision streets can be used to get to Calumet St which is the overpass over the CN RR. From the top of the bridge one can use the access ramp to head down to easily reach the eastern section of the White River State Trail
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