Jennifer's List of Bike Trails

Paul Bunyan Trail

Jennifer Hodgdon — Sat, 31 May 2008 04:15:01 +0000

The Paul Bunyan Trail runs more than 100 miles through a lake-filled area from Brainerd/Baxter, Minnesota, to Lavinia, Minnesota. It appears that they are planning to pave the entire trail; currently, 80 miles of it is paved (the unpaved section is from Walker to Bemidji; I’m not sure if this section is rideable or not). This trail connects to (and shares a short section with) the Heartland Trail. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources web site has some information and a map.

Farmington Canal Heritage Greenway

Jennifer Hodgdon — Sat, 31 May 2008 01:07:07 +0000

The Farmington Canal Heritage Greenway will eventually run approximately 84 miles from New Haven, Connecticut, to Northampton, Massachusetts, along the route of a historic canal and railway line. About half of it is apparently finished. The longest section (I think) is a paved 21-mile section from Farmington, Connecticut, to Suffield, Connecticut, with a short detour around a missing bridge and a very short unpaved section. Two web sites provide maps and information:

New map features

Jennifer Hodgdon — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:11:25 +0000

I’ve just added some new Google Maps features to the site: physical terrain maps, an index/overview map in the lower right corner, Local Search (find restaurants, hotels, etc. nearby), and driving directions. I’ll be releasing a new version of the Routes WordPress Plugin later today so that anyone else using this plugin to make a web site can use the same features. Meanwhile, enjoy them on the site!

George S. Mickelson Trail

Jennifer Hodgdon — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 20:11:21 +0000

The George S. Mickelson Trail runs 109 miles through the Black Hills of South Dakota, from Deadwood to Edgemont. It is a converted railroad, and includes railroad bridges and tunnels. The official South Dakota Parks web site (see link above) includes maps and lots of information.

Sacajawea Heritage Trail

Jennifer Hodgdon — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 19:14:39 +0000

The Sacajawea Heritage Trail runs for 23 miles along both sides of the Columbia River, in Richland, Pasco, and Kennewick, Washington. The Tri-Cities Visitor and Convention Bureau publishes a map of the trail. Jeff King recommends the route as a nice ride.

Alameda Creek Regional Trail

Jennifer Hodgdon — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 17:53:00 +0000

The Alameda Creek Regional Trail, part of the East Bay Regional Park District, based in Oakland, California, follows ALameda Creek 12 miles between Fremont, California, and San Francisco Bay. There’s an unpaved trail on the north side of the creek, and a paved trail on the south side, and the Park District publishes a detailed map.

Delta de Anza Regional Trail

Jennifer Hodgdon — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 17:01:25 +0000

The Delta de Anza Regional Trail, part of the East Bay Regional Park District, based in Oakland, California, currently runs 15 miles from Concord, California, to Oakley, California. They plan to extend it to 25 miles, eventually, and they have a detailed map available.

Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail / American River Parkway

Jennifer Hodgdon — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 15:40:44 +0000

The Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail is part of a park called the American River Parkway. It is a 32-mile trail that runs along the American River from Folsom, California, to Sacramento, California, with lots of parks and recreation sites along the way. Here are some resources:

American River Parkway web site, part of the official Sacramento County Parks web site, which has a trail brochure and a detailed map
City of Folsum web site, which has a bicycling map (if the map link is broken, find the Parks and Recreation department page, and then find the map in the Bike Trails section).
Sacramento Cycle’s Sacramento Area Bicycling Maps page, with links to 6 detailed cycling maps of the Sacramento area, including one of the American River Parkway trail. This map is very similar to the one on the Parkway web site, but may be less current, I’m not sure.

GPS Import

Jennifer Hodgdon — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 16:17:43 +0000

The Routes WordPress plugin used to create this site can now import GPX files, which I think most (or at least many) GPS devices can save. It imports latitude, longitude, and elevation.

So, if you want to create your own site with geographical information, you have another way to input the geographical points now. And if you have a GPS trace of one of the bicycle trails on this site, or a trail I haven’t added to the site yet, I’d really appreciate it if you shared it with me. Thanks!

Elevation Profiles Added!

Jennifer Hodgdon — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 17:58:34 +0000

I just added elevation profiles to all the trails in the database. They are all approximate, based on looking up the latitude/longitude of the trail points in a USGS elevation database, but they at least show the approximate profile of each trail. Enjoy!