Portage, WI Cross Country Skiing Trails and Maps

522 Reviews

Looking for the best Cross Country Skiing trails around Portage?

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

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Activities
Length
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Type
19 Results
Activities
Length
Surfaces
Type

400 State Trail

21.9 mi
State: WI
Crushed Stone

Elroy-Sparta State Trail

33.8 mi
State: WI
Crushed Stone

Glacial Drumlin State Trail

53.2 mi
State: WI
Asphalt, Crushed Stone, Gravel

Glacial River Trail

55.8 mi
State: WI
Asphalt, Crushed Stone

Mascoutin Valley State Trail

21 mi
State: WI
Crushed Stone, Grass, Gravel

Southwest Commuter Path

5.6 mi
State: WI
Asphalt

Wolf Run Trail (WI)

2 mi
State: WI
Crushed Stone

Badger State Trail

39.8 mi
State: WI
Asphalt, Crushed Stone

Hillsboro State Trail

4.3 mi
State: WI
Crushed Stone, Gravel

Military Ridge State Trail

40 mi
State: WI
Asphalt, Crushed Stone

North Mendota Trail

4.14 mi
State: WI
Asphalt, Boardwalk

Omaha Trail

12 mi
State: WI
Asphalt, Gravel

Starkweather Creek Path

3.1 mi
State: WI
Asphalt

Wild Goose State Trail

34.5 mi
State: WI
Asphalt, Crushed Stone, Dirt, Grass

Bannerman Trail

7 mi
State: WI
Dirt, Grass, Sand

Northwestern Trail

2.8 mi
State: WI
Dirt, Grass, Gravel

CamRock Trail

2.4 mi
State: WI
Crushed Stone

Ice Age Junction Trail

3.8 mi
State: WI
Asphalt, Crushed Stone

Wingra Creek Path

1.9 mi
State: WI
Asphalt
Trail Image Trail Name States Length Surface Rating
Traveling the 400 State Trail is a numbers game. The trail’s name refers to the old Chicago and North Western Railway’s “No. 400” passenger train that zoomed through here between Chicago and St....
WI 21.9 mi Crushed Stone
Note: The three tunnels on the trail close from Nov. 1 to April 30 each year. Three hand-dug tunnels along the Elroy-Sparta State Trail make utter darkness as much a part of the scenery as rolling...
WI 33.8 mi Crushed Stone
The 53-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...
WI 53.2 mi Asphalt, Crushed Stone, Gravel
The Glacial River Trail provides bikers, pedestrians, and in-line skaters with a 55.8-mile off-road/on-road rural route winding through farmland, prairie, wetlands, and woodlands as it passes through...
WI 55.8 mi Asphalt, Crushed Stone
The Mascoutin Valley State Trail is divided into two segments along a former corridor of the Chicago and North Western Railway. The eastern section runs 10 miles between Fond du Lac and Rosendale. The...
WI 21 mi Crushed Stone, Grass, Gravel
All it takes is a short ride on Madison’s 5.6-mile South  west Commuter Path to understand the critical role it plays in getting people around town. Not only does it pass within a mile of the State...
WI 5.6 mi Asphalt
The Wolf Run Trail supports a wide variety of users on its two miles of crushed gravel, situated on the outskirts of Mazomanie in northwestern Dane County. Heading southeast from the charming...
WI 2 mi Crushed Stone
Closure Notice: The Stewart Tunnel has been closed since 2019 and remains closed for the foreseeable future. A detour using Tunnel Road allows trail users to go around the tunnel. Visit the trail page...
WI 39.8 mi Asphalt, Crushed Stone
The 4.3-mile Hillsboro State Trail will make you feel instantly at home. Starting out easy with a crushed stone surface before turning to slightly more difficult loose gravel, this trail will take you...
WI 4.3 mi Crushed Stone, Gravel
NOTE: A State Trail Pass ($25 annually/$5 daily) is required for bicyclists and in-line skaters ages 16 and older. Snowmobilers must display either a Wisconsin registration or a snowmobile State Trail...
WI 40 mi Asphalt, Crushed Stone
The North Mendota trail is a 12-ft wide asphalt trail that connects Waunakee and Governor Nelson State Park, on the shores of Lake Mendota. Starting at the northern trailhead in the village of...
WI 4.14 mi Asphalt, Boardwalk
Closure Notice: The Omaha Trail is closed between County Road H and Hoff Road. The 12-mile Omaha Trail passes through a wonderland of towering buttes, mesas, and pinnacles that seem more at home in...
WI 12 mi Asphalt, Gravel
The Starkweather Creek Path traces the waterway north from the Capital City State Trail through Madison’s eastern neighborhoods of Starkweather, Worthington Park, Eken Park and Carpenter-Ridgeway. The...
WI 3.1 mi Asphalt
Closure Notice: The Wild Goose State Trail is currently closed between Prospect Rd. and Teal Rd. Please check with Wisconsin DNR for more current information. The Wild Goose State Trail is a...
WI 34.5 mi Asphalt, Crushed Stone, Dirt, Grass
The Bannerman Trail is open but largely unimproved between the communities of Redgranite and Neshkoro on a former Chicago and North Western Railway corridor. The dirt, grass and sand surface might...
WI 7 mi Dirt, Grass, Sand
The Northwestern Trail begins near the public library in downtown Ripon, a charming small town in eastern Wisconsin. History buffs may want to head a few blocks south from this endpoint to explore the...
WI 2.8 mi Dirt, Grass, Gravel
The CamRock Trail travels 2.4 miles through its namesake CamRock Park in Cambridge, Wisconsin. CamRock Park, managed by Dane County Parks, offers a number of ammenities to trail users including...
WI 2.4 mi Crushed Stone
The Ice Age Junction Trails not only travels 3.8 miles across Dane County, WI, but also takes trail users millions of years back in time. While most of Wisconsin spent the Ice Age covered by...
WI 3.8 mi Asphalt, Crushed Stone
The Wingra Creek Path—also known as the Wingra Bike Path—runs along the winding waterway in Madison. The trail provides a critical link from the neighborhoods south of downtown Madison to the Capital...
WI 1.9 mi Asphalt

Recent Trail Reviews

Military Ridge State Trail

Rough

July, 2026 by dgczzvmwyg

Rode from Dodgeville to Barneveld. The trail is pretty rough and feels more like a dirt road than a rail trail. Some sections are fine, but on other sections you really need to pay attention.

Jefferson County Interurban Trail

Hidden Gem

July, 2026 by kriekkoff_tl

Even though the sides of the trail were not mowed, the asphalt surface was in great condition. Beautiful views of the surrounding farmland. The trail is basically straight with slight grade changes between roads. Another 3 miles of asphalt trail have been added to the east past Ski Slide Road in Oconomowoc. A crushed gravel trail continues east to Second Street, but this looks like the base for the asphalt that should be added by fall.

Great Sauk State Trail

My Favorite Trail

July, 2026 by mertzs@new.rr.com

Fantastic trail! It’s fully paved and not busy at all. We started at the trail head and biked to Sauk City, then stopped for a coffee before heading back. The weather was perfect. What a great day of biking!

Accordion

Mascoutin Valley State Trail

A nice country trail in 2 segments but hard to find trailheads and parking

July, 2026 by y1htak2

Made up of 2 nice country trails with mostly decent crushed limestone surface separated into 2 parts by highway 23 which is an unsafe, busy, fast highway with a pretty wide gravel shoulder. There are no toilet facilities. Some biting flies if you stop but we didn’t get any ticks.

We first attempted to ride the Ripon to Berlin segment. In Ripon you can park slightly past the start of the trail off Locust where there is a nice parking area and pavilion. We only got about 6 miles or so before we had to stop for a very large downed tree. We could have stopped at Vines and Rushes Winery but it was a little early for us.

At the Berlin side of the trail there was a sign in a grassy area for parking across the street from where the grassy trail begins at Berlin Feed. Didn't look like that end of the trail got much use. It wasn’t worth getting tandem bike out of van to ride just a few miles so didn’t ride that part.

Then we rode our bike from Rosendale to Fond du Lac. We parked along the side of Zamzow (neighborhood) Park on Willow Creek Rd just off North St. We rode the short segment to Hwy 26 and then turned around and rode to Fond du Lac where trail ends on VVV with trail head parking.

Wild Goose State Trail

Beautiful shaded part of the trail in Fond du lac county. Four tree areas blocking path southwest of Oakfield.

July, 2026 by barb.frank0709

Beautiful shaded part of the trail in Fond du lac county. Four tree areas blocking path southwest of Oakfield.

Military Ridge State Trail

Rider Beware

June, 2026 by nhx9h7gjw7

Love this trail but rode today between Riley and Brigham County Park and found the trail to be in extremely rough shape on either side of Mt. Horeb. Lots of ruts, giant holes and loose sand. Slow your roll and pay attention to utility flags and sticks identifying some of the bigger holes. Stay safe!

Wild Goose State Trail

beautiful trail

June, 2026 by 47gkpg2wy5

Beautiful country trail. A lot of tree cover and not very many other people. Worth the ride.

Glacial River Trail

a lot of road riding

June, 2026 by 47gkpg2wy5

We took this trail from the Wild Goose trail but had no idea we would be on so many roads. As you got closer to Watertown, you are also on the road. We personally try to avoid roads as much as possible so we didn’t like this part. We only went to Watertown from the North so I am not sure what the rest of the trail is like. The actual bike paths are great.

Great Sauk State Trail

Storm last night, tree across trail at 5.25. I'm contacting dnr now

June, 2026 by casscoggon

Storm last night, tree across trail at 5.25. I'm contacting dnr now

Omaha Trail

Closed between CT H TUNNEL ROAD AND HOFF ROAD FOUNTAIN TOWNSHIP WI

June, 2026 by jacoblawrencegrabow

Closed between CT H TUNNEL ROAD AND HOFF ROAD FOUNTAIN TOWNSHIP WI

Omaha Trail

Covert failure For more information go to NBC15

June, 2026 by jacoblawrencegrabow

Covert failure For more information go to NBC15

Hillsboro State Trail

Nice ride

May, 2026 by ellaqk_tl

We rode the Hillsboro Trail today and fully enjoyed it. It was our third ride in three days. A post had mentioned the gravel that caused instability but we had no problems other than for 2/10 to 3/10th of a mile so virtually nothing. Possibly, the gravel is more settled than when first placed. We rode onto the 400 trail a little ways as well. Our only disappoint of the ride was that the brewery wasn’t open on Mondays which was today. We would recommend this ride especially if you are looking for a short out and back.

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