Find the top rated bike trails in Ottumwa, 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.
The Cinder Path in southern Iowa is notable as the state’s first rail-to-trail conversion. Following a shady route past farms and wetlands along the Chariton River between Chariton and Humeston for...
The Ottumwa Trail System provides a scenic north-south route along the Des Moines River through the center of Ottumwa. Along the way, trail-goers can enjoy many of the city's natural treasures,...
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 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 Cedar View Trail provides a connection between the small cities of Fairfield and Libertyville in southeastern Iowa. A trailhead with parking and information on the trail greets users at the...
Who says Iowa doesn’t have hills?! The winding route of the Volksweg Trail sticks mainly to the rolling hills and scenic viewpoints from Lake Red Rock all the way to the town of Pella. Dutch...
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....
Who says Iowa doesn’t have hills?! The winding route of the Volksweg Trail sticks mainly to the rolling hills and scenic viewpoints from Lake Red Rock all the way to the town of Pella. Dutch...
The Cinder Path in southern Iowa is notable as the state’s first rail-to-trail conversion. Following a shady route past farms and wetlands along the Chariton River between Chariton and Humeston for...
The Cedar View Trail provides a connection between the small cities of Fairfield and Libertyville in southeastern Iowa. A trailhead with parking and information on the trail greets users at the...
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 Ottumwa Trail System provides a scenic north-south route along the Des Moines River through the center of Ottumwa. Along the way, trail-goers can enjoy many of the city's natural treasures,...
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...
Who says Iowa doesn’t have hills?! The winding route of the Volksweg Trail sticks mainly to the rolling hills and scenic viewpoints from Lake Red Rock all the way to the town of Pella. Dutch...
The Cinder Path in southern Iowa is notable as the state’s first rail-to-trail conversion. Following a shady route past farms and wetlands along the Chariton River between Chariton and Humeston for...
The Cedar View Trail provides a connection between the small cities of Fairfield and Libertyville in southeastern Iowa. A trailhead with parking and information on the trail greets users at the...
The Ottumwa Trail System provides a scenic north-south route along the Des Moines River through the center of Ottumwa. Along the way, trail-goers can enjoy many of the city's natural treasures,...
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....
Steepest grade (according to our Garmin GPSMap64) was 8% on the trail; on the detour (crossing the dam to accomplish the detour) was 15%. No signs to direct you around the detour ¿¿, but there is a foot bridge crossing the river that connects Hoewell Station Rec Area with North Overlook Rec Area. But it requires riding across the dam. While crossing the dam you will see that the trail could be reopened ¿¿.
I ride trails in Kansas City, have ridden on portions of The Katy Trail, etc. this trail isn’t in as good of shape as The Katy Trail but it was good enough to have a great ride! I rode from Keota to Washington. The first day was a day after a storm and there were branches, vegetation and some mud spots. All part of a nature trail bike ride. The next day most of the vegetation, branches, etc were cleared. The trail was dried up and it was very good. It is mostly flat with small inclines and declines. Great ride!
This trail does have some hills but nothing too hard. The north part was tree lined, there were bridges and several views of the lake. You do ride next to a highway in some portions but you are still on the paved trail so no traffic. The south end is blocked due to building of the Hydro plant. I just loaded up my bike after I was done with the north and unloaded and went around the south end and up to Pella. The south end is very pretty but the ride to Pella was not very scenic after you left the lake. All in all a great trail that will be better when they get the construction done. Will definitely do this again this fall.
I am a regular bike rider and usually ride for at least 30 miles round trip on any given day, but after 15 miles round trip on this Trail I was ready to call it a day. Trail is too soft even for mountain bikes as I was sinking into dirt. I would suggest to walk only on this trail.
Starts out grassy at the south end, then at Derby things get better. Some Amish kids were heading south on horse and buggy so I let them pass, then continued north. Wish we would have met at the covered bridge, but they don't approve of photos.
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.
My wife and I rode the entire length of the Kewash trail from Washington to Keota and back. The paved section was a little bumpy in places but not too bad. Would have been better if it had been swept of leaves and sticks. Once on the unpaved section it was a lot smoother though a good game of "pick up sticks" would have made it much better. There were places where if it was wet it could have caused us some grief but only had to walk one short section which was sort of steep with a little mud. Maybe 20 or 30 feet with a 6 foot section of mud with a gravel path to walk through. Someone braver than me probably could ride right through it. Not trying to scare anyone,the trail is not perfect but we had a great time really enjoyed ourselves and will definitely ride it again.By the way, we both rode on 23mm tires and had no problems.
It won't be challenging enough for the hard core biker, but I was pleasantly surprised and thought it was an enjoyable trail. It's mostly flat and a nice ride. It travels along the river,across interesting bridges, and behind parks, businesses, and homes. Lots to look at and was fun to ride today. It's not point A to point B but has many different paths.
Most of this trail is not rideable at the moment. the west end is flooded out, and the east end is closed for the next couple of years for road construction. So, ....that leaves 4 miles in the center, at the lake. And those 4 miles are really nice! :) One of the things I love best about the rail trails, is the bridges, and there are a few beautiful ones here. (i'll put up a couple pics).
Not lots to say for such a short trail, but if your in the area, the ride is worth it.
Most of my riding are rail trails, some of my riding is mtn biking. This was a very fun trail as far as I'm concerned, and I found no issues with its ruggedness. It all in the name…Cinder Path…NOT Cinder Trail. The cinder sections are smoother than the limestone sections, but then there are the grassy sections, which almost seem like double tracks.
I rode the entire path, round trip, last Saturday, and loved it. There is a mix of cinder and limestone until you get southward to/past Derby, then there is grass. I have not looked into it, but I am GUESSING that since Cinder Path is Iowa's first rails-to-trails conversion, years ago, they may have not laid down any tarps under the trail there, so yes…its carpeted with grass, mostly mowed, but some sections are 1-2 foot tall. It rained the entire morning prior to my arrival, but the entire path was not too wet at all, but was quite sturdy.
There are indeed covered bridge, platforms, and gazebos and more, but sadly, they have gone unmaintained and are mostly unusable. The trail itself, is just what it says…a path, and is maintained appropriately, however, they have dropped the ball on taking care of the resting spots and such that were once so nicely there. They are sad to see, but the trail is lovely.
This is the kind of trail I like…an adventure.
¿ I like interesting things to constantly see and get thru, and this trail has that. There was beautiful scenery, deer, cranes, covered bridge, limestone, cinder, and grass surfaces. A lot of variety. The grass sections were a constant pedal, but not too bad really. I’d say about the last 5 miles or so were grass, out of the entire 15 mile trip.
I'm giving this a 4 star, cause I enjoyed the trail a lot, but they really abandoned the nice things that earlier people had built for the trial…so, - 1 whole star for neglect.
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