Iowa leads the nation in Rail to Trail conversions and has a world class trails system.  The premier web site for locating trail information is at the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation.  Please visit their Iowa By Trails guide online at http://inhf.org/iowatrails/index.htm.

New!  Great Western Trail

The Great Western Trail has a mix of urban and rural scenery. Its northern end is more urban while the rest offers meadows, long tree-lined stretches, reconstructed prairie and all kinds of wildlife. There are also some farm ponds, a river and a few streams running near the trail.

New!  Sauk Rail Trail
See some of the most beautiful historic depots.  View one of the few remaining wood covered baseball grandstands.  It's an outstanding ride any time of the year between Lake View and Carroll.

New!  Dubuque Heritage Trail
This scenic wonder stretches 26 miles along a smooth, compacted crushed limestone surface, ideal for bicycling.

Cedar Valley Nature Trail
This world class rail-trail spans 52 miles from Cedar Rapids to Waterloo.  Mostly flat with less than 2% grades.  Check out our new maps that navigate the trail.

Raccoon River Valley Trail
One of Iowa's greatest destination trails running north and west of Des Moines.  The future is bright on this paved trail.  Check out our new maps that navigate the trail.

Mississippi River Trail
Follow the trail along the big river.  This 355 mile trail runs from Keokuk to New Albin, but that is just the Iowa part.  You can ride the whole thing from Lake Itasca to New Orleans. 

Wabash Trace
The Wabash Trace Nature Trail is a converted railroad right-of-way running over 60 miles through the scenic Southwest Iowa countryside from Council Bluffs to Blanchard on the Iowa/Missouri border.

Sugarbottom Mountain Bike Trails
Ranked as one of the top-50 dirt trails in the US.  Visit this legendary turf outside of Iowa City along the Coralville Lake.

Mississippi River Trail

The Mississippi River Trail (MRT) is a world-class bicycle trail that will follow the Mississippi River all the way from its headwaters in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. The trail is partially completed; much of it is still in the planning and development stages. When complete, the MRT will link over 2,000 miles of recreational trails through 10 states, including 280 miles in Iowa.

Designated as a National Millennium Trail, the Mississippi River Trail will preserve precious natural environments along the river, stimulate economic growth in river communities, and provide bicyclists access to a variety of landscapes, history, and culture.

Iowa Mississippi River Trail Links:

Mississippi River Trail, Inc.
MRT from Iowa Bikes

American Discovery Trail

The American Discovery Trail (ADT) is a new breed of national trail — part city, part small town, part forest, part mountains, part desert — all in one trail. Its 6,800+ miles of continuous, multi-use trail stretches from Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware, to Pt. Reyes National Seashore, California. It reaches across America, linking community to community in the first coast to coast, non-motorized trail. The ADT provides trail users the opportunity to journey into the heart of all that is uniquely American — its culture, heritage, landscape and spirit.

Links to the American Discovery Trail:

American Discovery Trail Society

Dirt Trail Resources

Iowa has some of the greatest unpaved trails in the country.  Don't just take our word, visit some of the web sites.

Links to Dirt Trail Organizations:

Central Iowa Trails Association
Iowa Coalition of Off Road Riders
ICORR Links to Off Road Trails