Find the top rated hiking trails in Portage, whether you're looking for an easy short hiking trail or a long hiking trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a hiking trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
I rode the trail today from FonDuLac to Rosendale and back. It was a nice easy ride. The trail was in very good condition. Hard packed gravel with only a couple of gopher holes to avoid. There was some soft loose gravel 1.5 miles West of the Fondulac end, but it wasn’t bad. Nice mixture of scenery. Farmland, wetlands, open areas, tree canopies. I recommend this trail.
We rode the trail on 10/09/21 from Richland Center to Lone Rock and back again. The trail is very well maintained, extremely quiet and very easy to ride. There’s a number of bridges over wetlands and the Pine River, some canopy sections, periods of farmland and a wide variety of other settings. As it’s not a heavily used trail, there are parts which have some grass and weeds growing down the center but nothing which would prevent you from continuing on. While we used fatbikes for the ride, we could have easily done it on our road bikes. Anyone expecting to find miles of paved trail should look elsewhere. This trail is exactly as advertised.
And contrary to what Trailinks indicates, it’s 15.9 miles from the trailhead on 6th street in Richland Center to the end in Lone Rock.
It’s right in our backyard and we have been on every portion with e bikes. LOVE it all. See wildlife every time. Also hike in winter months
Trail was asphalt and gravel. Others are right the asphalt not maintained but still very rideable! I guess I didn’t expect a paved highway so it didn’t disappoint. The canopy of trees made for a great fall ride. Tunnel was added bonus! Went from Camp Douglas to Elroy. You must bike the main streets of Elroy. Very cool downtown. Nice park/rest area in Elroy. The parking area in Camp Douglas was a little hard to find and limited parking but did the trick.
From VFW parking lot to the end (fenced off area that might one day head into Devils Lake) is just under 10M. Mild grades, fully paved and lots of areas to stop and site see. This trail goes into the Badger Lands which used to be a 10,000 acre munitions plant during WWII. Now the area is split into USDA, public space, and Ho Chunk Nation territory (private). Very well maintained trail with minimal interruptions.
Beautiful trail between Lake Mills and Deerfield. Ice cream in Deerfield! No ruts - hard packed crushed limestone. I rode my road bike with out problem. Just wish they had ice
This trail is short but riding from Middleton to Pleasant View is mostly uphill! Tough for recreational bikers. But pretty ride.
I started at the trail head in Cottage Grove. Paid my $5 and took off east. The path is mostly crushed lime stone and nice riding. It has slight grades but no hills. The trail is mostly straight and flat which is why I say it lacks features. Yes I know it is a converted train tracks. Lots of farms and fields with flowers. (features?) Also tree lined. It goes by many small towns along the way but they looked deserted. Didn't see many people.
I think riding the IPP and Fox River trail is better.
Rode from Elroy trailhead towards Kendall and discovered it’s closed at about 3-4 miles. Looks like a bridge out. Heavy equipment blocks the trail. Drove to Kendall and the rest of the trail was wonderful!
We absolutely loved this trail. We started near the airport in Watertown Wisconsin and took the back roads all the way to the end of the marked trail. There’s a small 2 mile segment that’s a long state route 16 but it’s a dedicated trail on the side of that road. Loud traffic but just a small section so not that bad of a deal. Everything else is beautiful country roads very little traffic absolutely wonderful rolling Hhills and farmland. It took us three hours round-trip very leisurely pace of 9 mph Be sure to eat at the Main Street diner in Watertown
We did an 10.5 mile stretch from Elroy, WI to about 3 miles south of Wonewoc. Round trip 21 miles. We intended to do 30 miles but we're getting older and the air quality was terrible due to fires in Canada. That said this is a beautiful trail, very scenic, smooth, and a pretty flat easy ride. At a few of the road crossings the ends of the trail were filled in with sand instead of gravel, so watch out so you don't lose control. We chose the 400 due to having lots of stops with bathrooms. We were not disappointed. All of the facilities are clean and well maintained. Most of the small towns along the way have food and beer available, and the local folks are very welcoming and proud of their association with the trail. This has become our favorite WI trail. We hope to get back out there next year and finish the trail.
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