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Print Friendly MapThe Duck Creek Recreational Trail, also known as Duck Creek Parkway Trail, traverses three riverfront cities in the Quad Cities region of eastern Iowa, offering residents the opportunity for a peaceful stroll, bike ride, or stress-free commute. While the mighty Mississippi River, just south, is never within sight, the trail offers its own peaceful water views, as the path’s namesake is never more than a stone’s throw away.
Start at Emeis Park on the western side of Davenport, the largest of the five Quad Cities—an oxymoronic misnomer. The sprawling park offers several ballfields, a golf course, and a well-marked trailhead. Leaving the park, the trail quickly joins Duck Creek, which is slightly more narrow here than at the eastern end of the trail. As you proceed east, you’ll realize why this trail is so popular with locals: spurs provide access to almost every nearby neighborhood street, and more than a handful of city parks line the route.
Junge Park and Garfield Park are two of the larger parks; both offer ballfields, picnic tables, and playgrounds. Several trail bridges over Duck Creek provide opportunities for gazing at the wildlife below, including ducks, which firmly understand this is their creek. After the trail passes safely under I-74, the creek—wider at this point as it cuts through Bettendorf—and trail follow each other even more closely, guaranteeing additional waterfowl encounters. The only interruptions to this serenity are the occasional at-grade road crossings, although quick-to-respond trail signals and law-abiding vehicular traffic will have you moving on your way in no time.
At the trail’s eastern end in the small manufacturing city of Riverdale, a massive aluminum plant looms ahead. Here a small trailhead welcomes trail users, although directional signage to a key connection is lacking; a short jaunt south on low-stress South Kensington Street leads to the Mississippi River Trail which provides easy access to the Mississippi River and downtown Davenport.
To access the western trailhead at Emeis Park in Davenport from I-280, take Exit 4, and head east on Locust St. After 1.7 miles, turn left onto Emeis Park Ave., and proceed to the end of the street. Look for parking on your left at the Emeis Golf Course, immediately adjacent to the trail’s starting point.
To access the eastern trailhead in Riverdale from I-74 heading north, take Exit 4, and turn right (east) onto State St./US 67. After 2 miles, turn right onto S. Kensington St. A small, paved parking lot and trailhead are located immediately to your right after the intersection.
Having the trail link map helped since there are many on and off paths that look like the trail. Stay in your lane when busy. Will do this trail again. Very nice ride, plenty of bathrooms, and a nice pavilion at the west end.
Great trail to run, well marked. One thing would be to add some lighting but otherwise it’s easy to access and plenty of parking along the route.
Enjoy the trail every time I get to ride it.
Well maintained, smooth rolling. Good for gravel or road bikes. Good variety of sites, some uphills but nothing too extreme.Overall a nice place to ride. If you're also into frisbee golf bring your disc along, several holes along the trail.
We started this trail at Devil’s Glen Park and cycled to Hickory Grove Road before turning around. It was about 10.5 miles one way. The mile markers are based upon the city and not the overall trail length. The trail takes you through a number of parks and residential areas. Some of the parks had restrooms, water and picnic tables.
The condition of the trail was a mixed bag. Some sections had overgrown roots on the trail or were very bumpy. However, overall the surface was in good condition. My biggest complaint would be that the transition from the trail onto a bridge was extremely bumpy. Plus, some junctions were not well marked and since we are not from the area, we had to backtrack a couple of times.
Overall, the trail was nice but not a showstopper.
Actually Davenport is about 100,000 people, not 400,000. davenp[ort is one of 4 cities with a grand total of over 300,000 persons. The duck creek trail now connects to another trail at the east end of Bettendorf that ends up along the Mississippi and follows the rover downtown and to the west terminus of the trail at Credit Island where the young US fought a very short war with the British and some Indians. I suggest you get up to date info from Parks and Rec. at Bettendorf, Ia. Actually they also extended this trail Eastbound from Alcoa Aluminum towards LeClair, Iowa a short ways.
I loved this trail that runs through Davenport and Bettendorf but seems to be surrounded by parks and trees. I wish it was a bit longer, though!
A great mix of residential areas, parks and business areas so the views are never boring. Goes under a lot of the main crossings, so it minimizes the delays crossing traffic. Not too many hills, but a little rolling in places. Just right!
I took the trail from Duck Creek Park to the edge of Emeis Golf Course. It runs along the creek and through several local parks.
The trail is great for inline skating in that there are only a few gentle hills and not many roads to cross. The pavement is a little rough is places, so a little more effort is needed to maintain speed and there's a bit more vibration than you'd like. Still, the path is very nicely maintained with pleasant views. Overall it was a great time!
I lived in Davenport growing up and as a teenager I would take my younger brothet and sister with there friends on this trail. Of course this was back in the 70's and it was great. though many of the trees were new and not a lot of shade back then. But we dodn't care we rode our bikes and had a blast. we probably rode the trail a dozen times or more. for end to end. It started at 84 lumber now Hickory Grove auto, (Junk Yard) and stopped right before bettendorf. Today I'm sure the trees have fully grown and the trail is longer. It starts at What made this trail so great is it runs along duck creek and that is were some of the city parks are located. you Start at Emeis park west side of Davenport, then you go through Northwest Park, Junge Park, Garfield park, next to Duck Creek golf course, Under Interstae 74 highway, Through Middle Park, Hollow View Park, Devils Glen Park and ends at HWY 67 & S Kensington St. It's an awesome trail today. Restroom at most if not all of the parks. along with rides and shelters. some have Pop machines. This trail was patroled by the police on bikes been a few years since I've been back. But if your in town and want some exercise this is one great place to get them. ¿ ¿
Beautifully maintained paved trail through the city mostly covered with tree shade. At mile 3, restaurants and bars are next to the trail. Very few streets to cross with traffic lights that start with in seconds of pushing the button. Good was for tourists to take a quick ride.
The full length of the Duck Creek Trail is now in good condition.
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