Find the top rated bike trails in Iowa City, whether you're looking for an easy short bike trail or a long bike trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a bike trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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The small city of West Liberty in Muscatine County, Iowa, is home to a short segment of the Hoover Nature Trail. The paved pathway parallels Elm Street and is anchored at its southern end by an old...
Running throughout Iowa City and the surrounding area, the Iowa River Corridor Trail provides residents and visitors alike with an invaluable off-road means of getting around the city. The trail has...
The Sac and Fox Trail offers 7.2 miles of beautiful, shady recreation along the Cedar River and Indian Creek on the outskirts of Cedar Rapids. The oldest designated National Recreation Trail in Iowa,...
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The Morning Sun section of the Hoover Nature Trail actually runs from a couple miles north of Morning Sun to just south of it on the small town's eastern edge. The trail is mostly surfaced with mowed...
The Great River Trail is a breathtaking journey along more than 60 miles of the Mississippi River in northern Illinois. In places, the paved trail follows the former spur route of the Chicago, St....
The tranquil, tree-lined Boyson Trail runs along Indian Creek and Dry Creek in western Marion. The crushed limestone trail connects neighborhoods, shopping areas, and several parks (north to south):...
The Kent Stein to Deep Lakes Park Trail (also known as the Wiggens Road Trail) provides an important connector in the southeast Iowa community of Muscatine, which is separated from Illinois by the...
The Duck Creek Recreational Trail, also known as Duck Creek Parkway Trail, traverses three riverfront cities in the Quad Cities region of eastern Iowa, offering residents the opportunity for a...
The Fairfield Loop Trail forms a 16-mile ring around the town of Fairfield, mostly in the outlying areas of the countryside. The trail links two major preserves and connects city and county parks....
Located in the quaint community of Lost Nation, the Gilroy Rustic Park Trail is one of the most picturesque places in Clinton County. The half-mile path is lined with trees and, although the trail is...
The Cedar Valley Nature Trail—part of the cross-country American Discovery Trail— follows the fertile Cedar River between Evansdale and Ely. The 68-mile trail comprises three former trails—the Cedar...
The Kewash Nature Trail winds for nearly 14 miles between the towns of Keota and Washington. These endpoints were creatively combined to form the trail's name. The trail has a crushed limestone...
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Iowa's Riverfront Trail runs along the Mississippi River through the cities of Davenport and Bettendorf to its eastern endpoint near the large Alcoa plant in Riverdale. In the west, the trail starts...
Running between the rural communities of Eldridge and Long Grove to the north of Davenport, the Eldridge/Long Grove Trail provides a great recreational asset to these small, quiet suburbs. The path...
Running throughout Iowa City and the surrounding area, the Iowa River Corridor Trail provides residents and visitors alike with an invaluable off-road means of getting around the city. The trail has...
The tranquil, tree-lined Boyson Trail runs along Indian Creek and Dry Creek in western Marion. The crushed limestone trail connects neighborhoods, shopping areas, and several parks (north to south):...
The Great River Trail is a breathtaking journey along more than 60 miles of the Mississippi River in northern Illinois. In places, the paved trail follows the former spur route of the Chicago, St....
The small city of West Liberty in Muscatine County, Iowa, is home to a short segment of the Hoover Nature Trail. The paved pathway parallels Elm Street and is anchored at its southern end by an old...
The Cedar Valley Nature Trail—part of the cross-country American Discovery Trail— follows the fertile Cedar River between Evansdale and Ely. The 68-mile trail comprises three former trails—the Cedar...
The Fairfield Loop Trail forms a 16-mile ring around the town of Fairfield, mostly in the outlying areas of the countryside. The trail links two major preserves and connects city and county parks....
The Sac and Fox Trail offers 7.2 miles of beautiful, shady recreation along the Cedar River and Indian Creek on the outskirts of Cedar Rapids. The oldest designated National Recreation Trail in Iowa,...
Iowa's Riverfront Trail runs along the Mississippi River through the cities of Davenport and Bettendorf to its eastern endpoint near the large Alcoa plant in Riverdale. In the west, the trail starts...
The Kewash Nature Trail winds for nearly 14 miles between the towns of Keota and Washington. These endpoints were creatively combined to form the trail's name. The trail has a crushed limestone...
Running between the rural communities of Eldridge and Long Grove to the north of Davenport, the Eldridge/Long Grove Trail provides a great recreational asset to these small, quiet suburbs. The path...
The Kent Stein to Deep Lakes Park Trail (also known as the Wiggens Road Trail) provides an important connector in the southeast Iowa community of Muscatine, which is separated from Illinois by the...
The Duck Creek Recreational Trail, also known as Duck Creek Parkway Trail, traverses three riverfront cities in the Quad Cities region of eastern Iowa, offering residents the opportunity for a...
Located in the quaint community of Lost Nation, the Gilroy Rustic Park Trail is one of the most picturesque places in Clinton County. The half-mile path is lined with trees and, although the trail is...
The Morning Sun section of the Hoover Nature Trail actually runs from a couple miles north of Morning Sun to just south of it on the small town's eastern edge. The trail is mostly surfaced with mowed...
The Morning Sun section of the Hoover Nature Trail actually runs from a couple miles north of Morning Sun to just south of it on the small town's eastern edge. The trail is mostly surfaced with mowed...
Running between the rural communities of Eldridge and Long Grove to the north of Davenport, the Eldridge/Long Grove Trail provides a great recreational asset to these small, quiet suburbs. The path...
The Great River Trail is a breathtaking journey along more than 60 miles of the Mississippi River in northern Illinois. In places, the paved trail follows the former spur route of the Chicago, St....
The Kewash Nature Trail winds for nearly 14 miles between the towns of Keota and Washington. These endpoints were creatively combined to form the trail's name. The trail has a crushed limestone...
The Duck Creek Recreational Trail, also known as Duck Creek Parkway Trail, traverses three riverfront cities in the Quad Cities region of eastern Iowa, offering residents the opportunity for a...
Iowa's Riverfront Trail runs along the Mississippi River through the cities of Davenport and Bettendorf to its eastern endpoint near the large Alcoa plant in Riverdale. In the west, the trail starts...
The tranquil, tree-lined Boyson Trail runs along Indian Creek and Dry Creek in western Marion. The crushed limestone trail connects neighborhoods, shopping areas, and several parks (north to south):...
The Kent Stein to Deep Lakes Park Trail (also known as the Wiggens Road Trail) provides an important connector in the southeast Iowa community of Muscatine, which is separated from Illinois by the...
Running throughout Iowa City and the surrounding area, the Iowa River Corridor Trail provides residents and visitors alike with an invaluable off-road means of getting around the city. The trail has...
Located in the quaint community of Lost Nation, the Gilroy Rustic Park Trail is one of the most picturesque places in Clinton County. The half-mile path is lined with trees and, although the trail is...
The Sac and Fox Trail offers 7.2 miles of beautiful, shady recreation along the Cedar River and Indian Creek on the outskirts of Cedar Rapids. The oldest designated National Recreation Trail in Iowa,...
The Cedar Valley Nature Trail—part of the cross-country American Discovery Trail— follows the fertile Cedar River between Evansdale and Ely. The 68-mile trail comprises three former trails—the Cedar...
The Fairfield Loop Trail forms a 16-mile ring around the town of Fairfield, mostly in the outlying areas of the countryside. The trail links two major preserves and connects city and county parks....
The small city of West Liberty in Muscatine County, Iowa, is home to a short segment of the Hoover Nature Trail. The paved pathway parallels Elm Street and is anchored at its southern end by an old...
I headed south from Evansdale toward La Porte City. It's a good trail in the fact that it's flat so I didn't have to struggle with lots of hills like some other trails around the Cedar Valley. However there is a part of the trail closer to Evansdale that is gone in which you have to take your bike on a little dirt path to continue riding. There is also a bridge out closer to La Porte City. I hope they plan on fixing these issues so that the trail is in better shape.
Just started riding a bike for the first time since I was 10 and this trail is very enjoyable
You may not want to try this on a narrow-tired road bike, the surface is largely either turf, sand, or rocky turf :)
The Westernmost segment is about 3.2 miles long, somewhere in the middle there is maybe 50-75 yards of boggy (wet) grass from a spring, your tires may cut in a little.
It's about .7 miles of surface roads to the Center segment, which is about 2.3 miles long.
The Easternmost segment appears to have been abandoned. The TrailLink map shows the West end of this segment beginning at Alderman Rd, but, I don't think that the trail is accessible there unless you ride a fat bike and enjoy serious boon-docking. There -is- access to the Easternmost segment at Linn Grove Rd, (about 3.3 miles of Gravel roads from the East end of the Center segment), but, it's only passable going East, and then only for about .25 miles of nearly knee-high grass, until it dead-ends into a fence.
A great trail if you want to try a more primitive bike ride.I used a mountain bike and glad I did.This is mostly a grass trail with a gravel rut to run on,I saw a few walkers with dogs but no other bikers.It has great potential! Rode 1st 2 segments starting from Highway 13 going east and ran out time as I averaged about 8 mph because it's a little slower going.A cool change of pace from the normal Cedar Rapids paved trails!
This is a great trail for novice riders, or those getting into shape. It's an old rail trail, so it's flat. It's very scenic and a nice ride. There is trail damage from a recent flood and a section near Waterloo is completely washed out. It's closed there, but you can get through if you can carry your bike. I did almost 27 miles and greatly enjoyed it!
Just east of town, there is dedicated parking by the town garage. Some railroad structures remain. You can ride a couple miles north on partly shaded trail. The path also goes a half mile south on grass covered gravel to the highway. The three mile segment running south from Columbus Junction not far from this section is very grassy and had some trees down. The Iowa State bike map shows it open.
Planned to do 60 miles roundtrip, from Rapids City to Thomson and back. Beautiful day for riding in July - temps not high, not humid, slight breeze. The small towns of Rapids City and Port Byron were quite nice to ride through; a lot of direct river access/views. Primarily flat with a few small slopes or hills here and there. Cordova also has a couple nice riverfront parks with working water fountains. However, we ended up only doing half, and turning around just before Albany. My biggest gripe - which almost had me turning around sooner - was how closely the trail follows highway 84. It's better than nothing or riding on the road, don't get me wrong, but as someone who prefers more remote trails the segments along the road just killed it for me. A lot of ugly spots, auto noise and fumes. A lot of trash and bottles tossed onto the median between the road and the trail or onto the trail itself. 84 isn't exactly high traffic but it also isn't low. The trail also soon started to angle away from the river and once north of Cordova, you barely see it again, at least through the point where we turned. There are stretches where vegetation is growing out into the trail and you frequently have to ride on the outer edge of the trail - generally not a problem as the trail was not busy, and a stretch where someone has clearly gone in to try and cut things back but ended up leaving a lot of wood debris which isn't great for bike tires. There were also some spots where a couple holes are in the trail; one marked by some orange cones that hopefully no one moves as it could cause serious damage or even injury if someone rode into it. Some nice little wooden bridges at various points but with a little too much rise, which caused some bumps for my 700x38c tires and I can't image what they do for road bike tires if you hit them wrong, so keep an eye out when approaching bridges. The 3M factory also doesn't make for a great view (sorry 3M, I buy your products, I just don't enjoy biking past you) although things did start to look a little nicer just north of the plant for a while, detouring through a nice little woods before going back to following 84. The trail comes to an abrupt end where one has to ride for about half a mile on Meredosia Road, which has no shoulder or bike lane but does seem to be low traffic. You then catch the Albany Mounds Trail (if you are riding north, there is no sign to tell you to turn left and the trail/sign is hidden; just turn left at the first road you come to and the trail head is right there). The trail does have a couple small hills, max 8% grade, and rides through a lovely field of Bluestem grass and then a short wooded section, with views of the tops of a few mounds over the grasses. At the far end of the trail is a nice rest area with a shelter, working water fountain, and pit toilets. The mounds were one of the highlights of the trip, natural and peaceful even with the nearby houses encroaching, and I highly recommend it. Unfortunately we decided not to go on so never made it into the town of Albany or beyond as the thought of more roadside trail riding was so unpalatable by this point. It may have gotten better, I don't know, and we'd really wanted to visit the sand prairie area by Thomson, the Heirloom cafe, as well as the lock and dam, but not this day. The second highlight of the day did occur after retracing our route, on one of the ugly stretches of roadside trail - I happened to look down and found wild cactus growing! So that made up for things a bit. All told, just shy of 40 miles roundtrip, with a really nice meal at Brothers restaurant in Rapids City, just a block or two away from the parking area. There were definitely several good points as mentioned above, and plenty of people would likely not mind the close proximity of the trail to the road, it just isn't my cup of tea. We may go back another day and ride Savanna south to Albany to see what we missed.
Living in Chicago, I'm spoiled: the Lake Front Trail which lead to the McClory Trail which leads to Skokie Valley Trail--all lovely smooth asphalt. The perfumed streets (thanks to the plants installed by professional landscaping)of the North Shore suburbs are paradise to any cyclst with nearly an infinite choice of routes. Then, of course, eschewing asphalt you can chose among the Fox Valley Trail (mostly but not entirely asphalt), and Illinois Prairie Path will both take you to the Wisconsin state line. The I&M Trail parallelling teh Illinois River is one of the original bicycle trails for the area.
So, now no longer in Chicago and happily living in rural NW Illinois, I feel churlish complaining about any nearby trail. All of them show admirable effort for which I am grateful and can raise their quality over time to that of the Chicago-area trails.
There is so much potential we miss! I am convinced that many trails are installed by workers who never themselves spend much time on a bike or assume bike trails are mostly for little kids. Many do not appreciate the differences and capabilities of road, trail, hybrid and other bikes and what kind of trail and routing is best adapted for these types.
The signage here is ambiguous and a sometime thing. I was stunned at Albany to find myself directed onto Uther Rd: two miles of sharp, unstable gravel on top of an unyielding substrate. This a road to eat tires. This is the worst route I've seen in the many states and many thousands of miles of trails. My Schwalbs protected me from disaster and having to hitch a ride back to my car. My route is then directed into a steep hill an alternate route would easily avoid. There is a long stretch of cement trail right up against the pounding, busy highway for miles. I am sure in time a better, quieter and more scenic and enjoyable route will be found and established
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The trail is in many places exposed to sun and wind on unprotected prairie trails and open streets. I'm surpised the US govt-maintained (I assume) trails are so good (smooth, lovely asphalt) and missed opportunity (straight through open prairie. A lightning storm there would be truly scary).
So, I'm writing mostly not criticize. If I seem critical, I apologize but I write hoping what I have to say will be read by administrators and designers. We have a gem now, but somewhat in the rough. I remember the 50s and 60s when the radical idea of a bicycle trail of any kind was met with derision and hopelessness. We've made a lot of progress then. We'll make progress more. Soon we'll have Interstates exclusively for bicycles! I hope I live long enough.
To all cyclists reading: Take this trail! use it from top to bottom. Every bike on this route validates and strengthens it.
We rode from Credit Island up to and across Arsenal Bridge to the lock and dam on the Illinois side. Along the way we stopped at the Freight House brewery, a nice little area with an active farmers market and a local foods store. Then we moved on to downtown, where the Bix Festival was in full swing with a ton of food vendors and live music. The trail offered a wide variety of scenery, from the shady river bottom views around Credit Island through a little bit of prairie, through the renovated areas of the river front with nice playground areas and gazebos to the more historic areas near Davenport's East Village. The trail was paved and well maintained. Also flat and well marked. In all a very pleasant ride.
We started at the Stoney Creek Hotel in Moline, which is right on the trail. After a short stretch along the road, it meanders through a park which runs along side the river's edge. In Hampton, just follow the signs on neighborhood roads. At the 13 mile mark, we came onto Port Bryan. There is a public restroom and water fountain by the large statue of a bicyclist riding an old fashion bike (Will B. Rolling). There is a convenience store (Casey's) just up the street from the Post Office, as well as a few restaurants/bars. Cordova is about 23 miles down the road. We didn't see anyplace to stop. We turned around at 25 miles. The trail is fully paved on the part we rode, flat and easy to navigate.
Nice gravel and dirt trail, flat grade. First half between Washington and West Chester often under trees lining the trail. Freshly laid gravel in first 3-4 miles outside Washington was a bit thick at times and bogged me down even with 700x38 tires meant for such trails. Main objection is lack of services outside Washington, particularly water. West Chester has very nice trail side park, but no water. Pump behind the shelter but it was off and this was early June. Trail end in Keota was disappointing and ugly, ending confusingly in the middle of a co-op, tho nice golf course next door. If any facilities nearby I didn't see them. Two bottles of water and ran out at last 7 miles of return trip, so may want to take three if riding full trail round trip. Overall nice scenery and worth the trip.
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