Junction City, KS Running Trails and Maps

80 Reviews

Looking for the best Running trails around Junction City?

Find the top rated running trails in Junction City, whether you're looking for an easy short running trail or a long running trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a running trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.

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5 Results
Activities
Length
Surfaces
Type

Riverwalk Trail (KS)

4.7 mi
State: KS
Crushed Stone

Salina Levee Trail

4.8 mi
State: KS
Concrete, Crushed Stone

Sunflower Santa Fe Trail

1.95 mi
State: KS
Crushed Stone

Flint Hills Trail State Park

118 mi
State: KS
Ballast, Crushed Stone

Manhattan Linear Park Trail

9.4 mi
State: KS
Concrete, Crushed Stone
Trail Image Trail Name States Length Surface Rating
Located in Junction City (about two hours west of Kansas City), the Riverwalk Trail winds along the north bank of the Republican River for nearly five miles between Fort Riley and Milford Dam. The...
KS 4.7 mi Crushed Stone
The Salina Levee Trail traverses the flood control levee along the west bank of the Smoky Hill River in Salina. The trail connects to parks, including the sprawling Bill Burke Sports Complex, as well...
KS 4.8 mi Concrete, Crushed Stone
The vision for the Sunflower Santa Fe Trail is a grand one: 33 miles across a scattering of small cities on the windswept prairie of central Kansas. The heart of the trail lies in Galva, just an hour...
KS 1.95 mi Crushed Stone
Overview In 2018, this 118-mile rail trail across northeast Kansas officially became a state park. Formally known as the Flint Hills Nature Trail, the trail's new name is Flint Hills Trail State...
KS 118 mi Ballast, Crushed Stone
The Manhattan Linear Park Trail will eventually circle the city of Manhattan, Kansas, but as of early 2012, the trail was 9 miles long and forms ring about two-thirds of the way around. The trail...
KS 9.4 mi Concrete, Crushed Stone

Recent Trail Reviews

Flint Hills Trail State Park

Enjoy the solitude

August, 2024 by brian_thomas

I rode an electric bike with 4" tires on three separate rides. All of them were about 10 miles out and back (in 2 days):
Council Grove heading East,
Allen heading West, and
Ottawa heading East.
I drove from Texas to ride them and they did not disappoint! I came for the solitude and the scenery. The western end was reminiscent of scenes from Dances With Wolves. The eastern end was more wooded and shaded. I hope to return to ride other parts too.

Sunflower Santa Fe Trail

Great for families

January, 2024 by aleasha8502

We went with some friends and kiddos. Perfect for toddlers and pushing an all terrain wagon. The benches and gazebo are nice. The kids loved waving at a passing train. We live only a few miles away. Will do this one often. It’s very well maintained. Although, it’s clear some people walk dogs and don’t clean up behind them. There was a lot of poop piles.

Salina Levee Trail

Good Flat Levee Trail

April, 2023 by mlane14_99

The trail is very flat and wide and well maintained with the crushed stone. The grass was cut on the sides of the trail. It passes two parks with ball fields and restrooms, but there are no benches, trash cans, or restrooms on the trail. The trail also passes by some homes and farm fields.

Accordion

Flint Hills Trail State Park

Ottawa to Osawatami n back¿

April, 2023 by utpaduke

Today From HIE-Ottawa I rode The Prairie Spirit Tr to intersection with Flint Hills Nature Tr. Headed west at MM22 I encountered a detour that I did not want to deal with, so I set my sights on going about 22 miles east to MM0 at Osawatami¿. Trail was 1/2 very good condition n 1/2 was bigger gravel¿. The scenery was Beautiful Big AG to my liking. I met up with a red fox, a brown snake, and a big brown hawk!

Flint Hills Trail State Park

fun ride on E bike’s

January, 2023 by john.kf0m

April 2022 We rode east from Council Grove Ks for about 5 miles of the trail out to the Kaw monument. We have knobby cross over tires on our Pedego’s which handled the gravel just fine. We stayed at the COE campground just north of town and rode the bikes into town and on the try and back. It looks like it would also be fun to ride around town as well as the trail but rainy cold weather limited our riding during our stay in the area. Hoping to go back and ride more of the trail and around council grove.

Flint Hills Trail State Park

This trail now officially/unofficially starts in Osawatomee or mile zero at the corner of 12th and South Street.

January, 2023 by mickyds

This trail now officially/unofficially starts in Osawatomee or mile zero at the corner of 12th and South Street.

Flint Hills Trail State Park

My wife dropped me off at mile zero trailhead in Osawatomee and I met her at the depot museum in Ottawa. We then rode to Pamona. Nice ride but a section is closed between Ottawa and Pamona and you must take gravel rodes for a short 3 miles or so.

January, 2023 by mickyds

My wife dropped me off at mile zero trailhead in Osawatomee and I met her at the depot museum in Ottawa. We then rode to Pamona. Nice ride but a section is closed between Ottawa and Pamona and you must take gravel rodes for a short 3 miles or so.

Flint Hills Trail State Park

Beautiful trail--needs a bit of upkeep

October, 2022 by cizawood

We rode 2 sections of this trail in mid-late Sept 2022. 1st section--from Council Grove towards Admire and return. It was an extremely hot day (over 100) and we only rode 12-13 miles out and back for a 25 mile ride. Beautifully kept trail. No goat heads and no other cyclists. Gentle incline out with periodic shade and beautiful rolling hills scenery. The worst part is it is so dry that in the center of the trail can be LARGE cracks in the limestone base (up to 3-6" wide and maybe 2-3' in length) and if you're not paying attention, you could take a major tumble. You have to pay attention at all times as the cracks are here and there.

Council Grove has lodging (limited) and grocery for snacks and cold drinks. We were going to stay in CG, but opted to drive to Pomona St Park and stay there for the next section.

2nd section was from Vassar to Ottawa return (around 50 miles). We stayed in the Pomona St Park (~1 mile from trail head) and again, the trail was fabulous. No other cyclists, beautiful country, some riding next to active train tracks, some out in the rolling fields, shade on and off. One 2-lane highway crossing, you MUST watch for cars as they are going 65+. There is a crosswalk where you can push the button and it signals drivers of cyclists crossing, but they will not stop, I'm pretty sure...it's just an alert. Cyclists must stop and heed traffic.

There were a few downed trees in this section blocking the trail, one we could just get around by walking, the 2nd we had to carry our bikes over as the branches were too big for us to move. They need some chain saw volunteers to come in and clean up some of the downed trees. The 3rd, we moved some of the smaller branches out of the way, to clear a path wide enough to pass, but again, a chain saw is badly needed along this section.

Ottawa is a cute town with lodging, food, drink and lots of other trails around town and the Flint Hills connects to the Prairie Spirit running north and south (we did 1 section of this trail also, will leave review under that trails reviews).

There was 2-3 mile stretch just west of Ottawa that the trail is closed and looked to us like it had been for a long time due to the overgrowth. There is a detour, VERY WELL MARKED and is such a short section that it's easy to get back on track. Again watch for the cracks in the trail base, but other than that, a beautiful trail. We'd like to return and do the entire trail from Council Grove to Osawatomie.

Flint Hills Trail State Park

great ride

August, 2022 by dan.allen.50552

We have ridden this several times over the years. They definitely maintain it better. Today we road Osawatie? To Ottawa. We did 40 miles out and back. Rantoul had no amenities.

Flint Hills Trail State Park

Backpacking the Flint Hills

June, 2022 by dan509

This is a fun trail to hike. The Flint Hills are beautiful. Prairie wild flowers were in full bloom. Great communities all along the trail.

Flint Hills Trail State Park

Enjoy the Flint Hills Trail and some wind...

May, 2022 by 7s5a692x35

One item of note that is not widely advertised especially for out of state riders is that the section of the Flint Hill Trails from the Western Terminus in Herrington to Council Grove {~25 miles} is closed and has been for a while. We arrived to start our Flint Hills adventure to find that section of the Trail in disrepair due to the lack of maintenance as there was 12” to 18” high grass and vegetation to include 5’ tall saplings. There are two more closures experienced on the trail – in Osage City, the trail abruptly ends without any detour signs and recommend just ride on the streets until you are out of the city limits and then rejoin the trail. Finally, the trail is closed headed East from Ottawa about a mile after going under I-35 but there is a marked detour that puts you on gravel roads and gets you back on the trail rapidly but beware of an aggressive dog of a pit bull mix.

We relocated to Council Grove in order to start our journey to the Western Terminus at Osawatomie. Overall, the trail was in great condition and was pleasantly amazed that a majority of the bridges on the trail were recently replaced. Another feature I have never seen before was that that the concrete surfaced bridges were covered in limestone which made for a smooth transition on and off the bridges.

There was tree canopy on some of the trail and a majority was tree lined to aid in blocking the Kansas winds as we experienced a steady 25 MPH gusting to 40 MPH crosswind on both days.

They are adding new restrooms at a majority of the trailheads and they looked to be 90% construction complete.

Finally, beware of branches that are actually snakes (Water Moccasins) and these were experienced between Ottawa and Osawatomie due to all the water features on both sides of the trail.

Flint Hills Trail State Park

A ride through America's heartland

March, 2022 by bikeridesandbreweries

Our quest to ride in every state in America landed us in Vassar, Kansas, a one-horse town about 30 miles south of Topeka, at a trailhead for the Flint Hills Nature Trail. Thankfully, we’d read that it was near a grain silo, otherwise, we might have missed the small dirt clearing we used as a parking lot.
The seventh longest rail-trail in America, the Flint Hills Trail stretches 117 miles across eastern Kansas on what used to be the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Today, it is a crushed stone path with occasional pieces of shale and deeply rutted soft dirt. Riding was slow and bumpy the first several miles and we had to keep a tight grip on our handlebars. The trail was straight as an arrow and flat as a pancake, although the rolling Flint Hills surrounded us. We’d read that there were turkeys and bobcats in the area, the latter of which we may have seen earlier in the day when what we thought was a large, healthy fox darted across the highway. Actually, the only wildlife we encountered while biking were very loud flying insects that reminded us of the cicadas that plague the mid-Atlantic every 17 years.
The trail was lined with scrubby cedars and other trees that formed a narrow screen between us and the farmland on either side. These provided some shade on what otherwise would have been a scorching ride in the summer sun. About every mile, we passed through a gateway with a post on either side, that looked, from a distance, like approaching figures. In fact, we only passed one other bike and two pedestrians during our two-hour ride. The trail widened and improved after we passed through a gateway onto a very broad two-lane roadway with well-packed dirt and cinder.
Award-winning beers awaited us at a brewery outside of Topeka.

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