Find the top rated cross country skiing trails in Starkville, 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.
Loved every bit of our ride except for the blaring radio station at the Pontotoc whistle stop where we stopped for lunch. This was an exceptionally well maintained trail and the well placed whistle stops have clean restrooms, bike tools and water. I highly recommend this ride.
We traveled north from Houlka Whistlestop for about 2 miles. We crossed several downed trees and the whole path looked very much like the surrounding forest floor. 70 mph winds came through the area 10-26. Give them some time to recover their neighborhoods and the trail.
Camping in Trace State Park specifically to ride this trail. Biked from Ecru north to New Albany and returned. We’ve bike about 2000 miles on rail trails the past two years and this may be the best. Flat, smooth and nicely shaded in the morning. New Albany has several nice restaurants and bakeries. Nice water/bathroom stops. Plan to try Ecru south tomorrow. Maybe a little earlier as the afternoon temps are in the high nineties this week.
My wife and I rode from New Albany to Ecru this past weekend (23 ish miles round trip). It was a very scenic and easy ride with very slight changes in elevation. The frozen yogurt shop at the trailhead is highly recommended.
We rode this trail for the first time over the July 4th weekend. It was hot, but the trail is simply awesome. And the best part was the lovely folks at Ingomar United Methodist Church leave a cooler with ice and bottles of water iand even small candy bars right on one of the picnic tables at the whistle stop across from the church. While we were resting and thoroughly enjoy the ice cold water, one of the church members came by to clean up and replenish. We had the nicest conversation. Just made for a great day. Thanks Ingomar UMC. We left money but that is not at all necessary.
This trail is about 20 minutes from where we live. We've rode it a few times.
It's a nice short ride through the woods and along the river. It has a few short rolling hills.
It looks like they plan to make it longer some day, which would be nice.
I live roughly an hour away from the Tanglefoot trail. It's the go-to trail for my daughter and I (and sometimes my wife). We've ridden it in all seasons.
Neither my daughter or I are super-bike people. We have heavy, cheap mountain bikes. We ride a while, walk a while, sit at the rest stops, look at the scenery, and spend a lot of time talking.
We ride out and back loops that are usually 10 miles out, eat lunch, and 10 miles back.
Here are some descriptions:
New Hulka to Huston and back. Low rolling hills for the most part. A little past half way there is a long bridge over a creek(s) with a rest stop in the middle (although the rest stop was damaged and I'm not sure if it has been repaired). We like to stop and walk along the bridge looking at the water and wildlife. Right at the end (really the beginning) of the trail in Huston, it goes over a street. There is a gravel trail going left down the embankment toward down town. We go down a few blocks and to the left to a restaurant called "No Way Jose" (Mexican) and have a leisurely lunch before riding back.
New Hulka to Algoma and back. Small rolling hills with lots of farms. Just before you get to Algoma there is a big sheep farm. Algoma is a country gas station that serves lunch (maybe breakfast too). It's slightly better than average gas station food and as a vega-terian-whole plant food kind of person I can usually find something to eat that sort of resembles my usual diet (I believe in a whole food plant based diet, but I'm not an all or nothing kind of person). It you are not vegan/vegetarian there are lots of choices of fried, baked, or barbecued stuff. You can eat inside or sit out back at the pavilion. They even have a porch kind of swing hanging from a tree limb.
Algoma to Pontotoc and back. This is about 7 miles out and back. Just as you get close to Pontotoc there is a bank with groundhogs or related critters. From the Pontotoc trail head we take a left, go up the steep hill and several block over to HW 15 where there is a restaurant called Spuds.
Ingomar to Pontotoc and back. Ingomar is really just a community - not really a town. I haven't seen any stores near there, but the local church does leave a cooler full of bottled water in the summer. This is a about 5 or 6 miles to Pontotoc, so it's short ride. Nice flat open fields 2/3rds of the way. Right under HW 6 there is a long bridge where two creeks meet and then a very long hill going into Pontotoc. We ride toward Pontotoc so we can rest during lunch and coast the first part of the trip back. At the top of the hill in Pontotoc we take a right, cross 15 and go to a Mexican restaurant over there. They have a buffet for lunch on Saturday. There is also a Waffle House close there as well.
Ecru to Pontotoc and back. Ecru has restaurants and stores, but we always use it as a starting point so we have never eaten at any of them. This just extends this ride to roughly a 20 mile out and back. It is longer if you ride through Pontotoc all the way to the trail head, but we never have.
Ecru to New Albany and back. This section is slightly over 10 miles. Still rolling hills, but they are taller and longer. Several creeks to cross over, open fields, and other scenic stuff. At the end/top of the trail in New Albany there is a coffee shop and ice cream shop right on the trail. There are bike racks right there as well. We loved the Bank Head Bicycle Club for lunch, but it closed. We haven't found another favorite place close to the trail head yet.
Rode February 2019 from Algoma to New Houlka and back. Liked it so much I did it again right away! Good pavement, well-maintained, charming rustic southern scenery, 'Whistle Stop' rest areas with all-season drinking water and bathrooms with plumbing, further rest areas with benches in between. If you like to go fast on a road bike, plenty of opportunity on this one. Plenty to see for nature lovers as well. Happened on this one by accident and it instantly became one of my favorite trails! The stretch from Algoma to New Houlka is unbelievably flat and straight. I'll be back for this one.
me and grandson rode from new houlka to algoma this past sunday we really enyoued it
This past Saturday I rode from Houston to New Albany and back. This was my first ride on the trail in 3 years. The trail is much improved with more covered rest stops and new whistle stops (Pontotoc and Houston). I especially enjoyed the park at Pontotoc with the music playing. Lots of security patrols - one even stopped to check on me as I rested in Pontotoc. He sat and talked with me while I drank a cold water from his cooler and told me about his experiences on the trail.
The bridges are still a little rough but not as bad as I remembered. One has been paved over and is as smooth as the rest of the trace. Another is paved but still very rough. I did get chased by 4 large barking dogs but they looked much more menacing than they were - no biting.
This is a wonderful place to ride. It may be better than my home rails-to-trails, the Long Leaf Trace, that I ride on every day and love.
My brother and I do nothing but rails to trails. We have done at least 10 different ones and this is our favorite. Though it's a 5 hour drive, we go at least twice a year. Trail is incredible, SHADY, well maintained, and each trailhead has a great restroom and some type of restaurant. They even have tire repair stations for flats . This is a FIRST CLASS trail.
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