Iowa Great Lakes Trail
Trail facts:
Length: 20 miles
Surface: asphalt
Hours: year-round, no restrictive hours
Fees: none
Counties: Dickinson
Cities: Milford, Arnolds Park, Okoboji, Spirit Lake, Orleans, Wahpeton
Connecting trails: 60 miles of signed biking routes (often along roads)
Uses: hiking, nature viewing, biking, cross-country skiing, skating, snowmobiling on some segments (call for map)
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Courtesy of: Gerry Schnepf/INHF
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Trail description:
The Iowa Great Lakes Trail winds its way through the Iowa Great Lakes region, which offers plenty of outdoor opportunities for visitors-from its popular blue lakes and sandy beaches to quieter natural areas, many protected with INHF assistance.
The multi-use Iowa Great Lakes Trail provides local citizens and visitors a safe place to bike, walk, rollerblade, run and cross-country ski. The trail winds along rural, community and nature areas in the heart of the Iowa Great Lakes Region, including Spirit Lake, Okoboji, Arnolds Park and Milford. The “spine” of the system is a 14-mile, ten-foot wide, hard-surface trail that accommodates two-way recreational traffic. Connecting to the spine trail are several other shorter trails to explore, including the Kenue Park Trail, Arnolds Park City Trail and Spirit Lake City trail. The trail has already been extended and now loops around the east side of Spirit Lake. Future plans are to continue the expansion so the trail borders the entire lake.
The West Big Spirit Lake trail will be nearly half completed by the end of summer 2006 and in the spring of 2007, the trail will extend all the way up into the Minnesota state border and the Minnewaukan State Park.
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Trailhead maps on this site:
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Resources from other sites:
- Vacation Okoboji
This site has a lot of details about the trail system in Dickinson County. It describes the area and trail system as it has developed throughout the years. It even alludes to future plans to improve and expand the current system. It also notes several biking events planned for throughout the year.
- Okoboji Beat
This page from the Okoboji Beat gives some basic information and small description about the trail along with a trail photo.
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For local information:
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