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Bicycle Trails

Wisconsin State Park System

Biking in the Kettle Moraine State Forest
Biking in the Kettle Moraine State Forest.

Wisconsin's many miles of trails and varied terrain make it an ideal place for bicycling. Wisconsin consistently ranks as one of America's best places to bike.

Types of trails

There are more than one thousand miles of great off-road bicycling opportunities on public lands throughout Wisconsin. Below is a list of designated bicycle trails on Wisconsin DNR properties. There are three different kinds of experiences for bicyclists on Wisconsin's state trails:

  • Bicycle touring trails - Easier trails such as paved or limestone-surfaced former railroad corridors. Generally appropriate for all ability levels and bikes with skinny tires.
  • Off-road bicycle trails - Intermediate-level trails, often in the woods with a variety of surfacing, from native soil to wood chips. Appropriate for families with more adventurous riders and hybrid or mountain bikes.
  • Constructed mountain bike trails - Specially constructed, challenging, narrow-width trails built to the trail standards of the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA).

Electric bikes

Electric bicycles are allowed on some of the straight (linear) bicycle touring trails, but must observe a 15-mile-per-hour speed limit. (Note that any electric bicycle capable of more than 30 miles per hour is, under state law, a motorcycle and not a bicycle, and may not be ridden on any state trails that do not specifically allow motorcycles). Electric bicycles are not allowed on any other bicycle trails other than those indicated in the table below. Electric bicycles used without the motor engaged are allowed on all bicycle trails.

Bicycle touring trails

The following list includes state trails and trails 2 or more miles long in state parks, forests and wildlife areas. Some additional parks and forests have shorter connecting trails and many have low-traffic roads, which also are good for bicycling. Most have limestone surfaces that pack down to make for good riding for skinny-tired as well as mountain bikes. Ride attentively—burrowing animals sometimes dig holes in the limestone. Click on the park, forest or trail name for more information.

A dollar sign ($) indicates that bikers age 16 and older must have a state trail pass.

Park, Forest or Trail Name Miles Fee Surface Electric bicycles
400 State Trail 22 $ Limestone (7.5 miles have parallel horse trail) Yes
Ahnapee State Trail 48 -- Limestone Yes
Badger State Trail 40 $ Asphalt 6 miles, limestone 34 miles Yes
Bearskin State Trail 21.5 $ Granite Yes
Capital City State Trail 17 $ Asphalt Yes
Chippewa River State Trail 30 $ Asphalt 10 miles, seal coat 10 miles Yes
Devil's River State Trail 15 -- Limestone Yes
Eisenbahn 25 -- Limestone Yes
Elroy-Sparta State Trail 32 $ Limestone Yes
Fox River State Trail 25 $ Asphalt 5.4 miles, limestone 8.6 miles Yes
Friendship State Trail 4 -- Limestone Yes
Gandy Dancer State Trail 47 $ Limestone Yes
Glacial Drumlin State Trail 52 $ Asphalt 7.5 miles, limestone 41.5 miles Yes
Great River State Trail 24 $ Limestone Yes
Great Sauk State Trail 10.5 $ Asphalt Yes
Green Circle State Trail 29 -- Asphalt and granite Yes
Hank Aaron State Trail 12 -- Asphalt Yes
Hillsboro State Trail 4 $ Limestone Yes
Kettle Moraine State Forest - Northern Unit
Lake to Lake Bike Trail
6.5 -- Limestone No
La Crosse River State Trail 22 $ Limestone Yes
Mascoutin Valley State Trail 21 -- Varies Yes
Military Ridge State Trail 40 $ Asphalt 3 miles, limestone 38 miles Yes
Mound View State Trail 7 -- Asphalt Yes
Mountain-Bay State Trail 83 $ Limestone Yes
Newton-Blackmour State Trail 22 -- Limestone Yes
Oconto River State Trail 8 -- Limestone Yes
Old Abe State Trail 20 $ Asphalt Yes
Peninsula State Park
Sunset Bike Trail
9 -- Limestone No
Point Beach State Forest
Rawley Point Bike Trail
5 -- Limestone No
Red Cedar State Trail 15 $ Limestone Yes
Stower Seven Lakes State Trail 14 $ Limestone Yes
Sugar River State Trail 24 $ Asphalt 1 mile, limestone 22.5 miles Yes
Tomorrow River State Trail 29 $ Limestone Yes
White River State Trail 16 $ Limestone Yes
Wild Goose State Trail 34 -- Limestone (4.1 miles have parallel horse trail) Yes
Wiouwash State Trail 35 $ Limestone Yes
Wolf River State Trail 14 -- Limestone Yes

Off-road bicycle trails

These trails are often in the woods with a variety of surfacing, from native soil to wood chips and are appropriate for families with more adventurous riders and hybrid or mountain bikes. These trails are typically unsurfaced trails in state parks, forests or recreation areas or are on former rail lines. 

A dollar sign ($) indicates that bikers age 16 and older must have a state trail pass.

Park, Forest or Trail Miles of trail Fee

Electric bicycles

Black River State Forest 27 $ No
Brule River State Forest 34 -- No
Buffalo River State Trail 36 $ No
Copper Falls State Park 7 -- No
Devil's Lake State Park 6 $ No
Flambeau River State Forest 15 -- No
Governor Dodge State Park 8 $ No
Harrington Beach State Park 1 -- No
High Cliff State Park 10 -- No
Kettle Moraine State Forest - Lapham Peak 5 --

No

Kohler-Andrae State Park 2.5 -- No
Lake Wissota State Park 11 -- No
Mirror Lake State Park 9 -- No
Newport State Park 15 -- No
Nicolet State Trail 28 -- No
Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest 58 $ No
Pecatonica State Trail 10 -- No
Peninsula State Park 12 $ No
Point Beach State Forest 4 -- No
Potawatomi State Park 8 -- No
Richard Bong State Recreation Area 12 $ No
Saunders State Trail 8 -- No
Tuscobia State Trail 65 -- No
Wild Rivers State Trail 104 -- No
Wyalusing State Park 5 -- No
Yellowstone Lake State Park 3 -- Yes

Constructed mountain bike trails

The Wisconsin State Park System has several miles of constructed mountain bike trails. Trails are mostly singletrack (where riders need to ride single-file), although some are wide enough to be considered double-track.

A dollar sign ($) indicates that bikers age 16 and older must have a state trail pass.

Park, Forest or Trail Miles of trail Fee Electric bicycles
Blue Mound State Park 15.5 $ Yes
Hartman Creek State Park 13.5 $ No
Kettle Moraine State Forest - Northern Unit 14.5 $ No
Kettle Moraine State Forest - Southern Unit 54 $ No
Kinnickinnic State Park 10.5 -- No
Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest 2 (mixed with non-constructed bike trails) $ No
Willow River State Park 11.5 -- No

Local bike clubs throughout the state also construct and maintain mountain bike trails in cooperation with land managers. In northern Wisconsin, the Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association [exit DNR] has developed a system of trails in and around the Chequamegon National Forest.

Winter bicycling

Winter bicycling (including fat biking) is allowed on all Wisconsin DNR trails otherwise open to bicycling unless the trail is a groomed cross-country ski trail or if the local unit of government operating the trail has made a decision, reflected in the property's master plan, to not allow winter bicycling (list of county-operated state trails [PDF] - see the "Trail Operator" column). The locations we're currently aware of where this is the case are Marathon County on the Mountain-Bay State Trail and in Portage and Waupaca counties on the Tomorrow River State Trail. With other non-state bicycle trails, winter bicyclists should first check with the landowner or trail manager about access. For example, some snowmobile trails on county lands are not open to winter bicycling and most snowmobile trails on private land (the majority of Wisconsin snowmobile trails are located on private land) are not open to bicycling of any kind. Trespassing onto snowmobile trails on private lands can have negative consequences, such as closing down of legal trails for all trail users.