Hard Surfaced Trails
Whether you're interested in walking, biking, snowshoeing or cross country skiing, the Cedar Valley Trails has over 120 miles of trails for you to enjoy - any time of year!
Choose your Adventure
A unique feature of the Cedar Valley Trails is that it’s a system of loops, allowing visitors to choose their adventure – whether it’s a one mile stroll around the lake, a ten mile run through George Wyth State Park, a 50 mile cruise around the Cedar Valley, or a hop from one restaurant or bar to another in historic downtown Cedar Falls, a variety of excursions are here to be experienced.
Click the map of our Cedar Valley Trails & Recreations Guide below to explore the various loops of the Cedar Valley Trails. To receive a hard copy of our trail guide, call the Cedar Falls Visitor Center at 319-268-4266, stop the Cedar Falls Visitor Center at 6510 Hudson Road or Contact Us and we'll mail a copy to you. Paved trails are indicated with a green line.
Bike Shops
Bike Tech (217 Washington Street, Cedar Falls) features the area's largest selection of e-bikes & recumbent trikes. In addition to a full line of traditional bikes, they offer fast repairs and speedy special orders.
Hall Bicycle Company (4302 University Avenue, Suite E, Cedar Falls) has recently opened with bicycles, cycling equipment, information and friendly service and expertise.
SCHEELS (402 Viking Plaza Drive, Cedar Falls) is a local bike and service shop with bike experts and technicians as well as a wide selection of bikes for sale.
Waterloo Bicycle Works (316 W. 3rd Street, #2, Waterloo) offers a full-service bike shop with new and used bikes, e-bikes, parts and accessories.
Rentals
Bike Tech (217 Washington Street, Cedar Falls) due to COVID-19 rentals are currently not available.
The Runner's Flat (120 Main Street, Cedar Falls) rents snowshoes and ice skates for your winter activities.
The UNI Wellness Center (2250 Hudson Road, 174, Cedar Falls) rents snowshoes and x-country skis.
CrawDaddy Outdoors (207 E. Bremer Avenue, Waverly) rents snowshoes and cross-country skis.
Events
Several organizations and local businesses offer annual and weekly events on the trails:
- Cedar Valley Trails Partnership has a comprehensive monthly calendar of trail events. If you have a trail-related event to add, please click HERE.
- CVAST (Cedar Valley Association for Soft Trails) hosts several weekly events with local businesses including Two Wheel Wednesday, Waterloo on Wheels, Monday Night Mayhem Trail Runs, Trail Sisters and Fearless Women of Dirt.
- The Runner's Flat (120 Main Street, Cedar Falls) hosts Thursty Thursdays, Saturday TRF Breakfast Club, Monday Night Mayhem with CVAST and other various runs throughout the season.
- Bike Tech (217 Washington Street, Cedar Falls) hosts the Hammer Ride on Tuesdays, Two Wheel Wednesday with CVAST and the Pint Night Rides with SingleSpeed Brewing Co.
- Cedar Valley Cyclists hosts W.O.W. (Wednesday on Wheels) at 6:15 pm most Wednesdays beginning in May. Meet at Overman Park in downtown Cedar Falls and choose either a trail ride or a road ride. All skill levels are welcome. Check their calendar for additional events.
- Bike Iowa is another great resource for finding bike events in Iowa.
- The Iowa Games offers a Snowshoe Race (and family hike) in January and the Fat Bike Race in February.
We are Bicycle Friendly!
Cedar Falls was the first Bicycle Friendly Community recognized in Iowa by the American League of Bicyclists in 2009. A Bicycle Friendly Community welcomes bicyclists by providing safe accommodations for bicycling and encouraging people to bike for transportation and recreation.
Other Great Features
The trails have truly been incorporated into the community - lining the Cedar River, looping around lakes, crossing streams, and connecting with downtown entertainment districts, museums, hotels, restaurants and bars of Cedar Falls and Waterloo.
Prairie Pathways is a system of 78+ signs that provide wayfinding and interpretation of significant points along the trails, sharing the story of how the Cedar Valley was settled and how it grew to be one of Iowa’s most prominent metropolitan areas.
A system of emergency signage can also be found throughout the system making it easier to direct emergency services to your specific location should an accident occur.
The Cedar Valley Trails Patrol is a group of 25 members trained in rudimentary bicycle repairs and first aid. These dedicated volunteers serve as ambassadors and collectively provide an average of 300 hours of service on the trails each year. Trail Patrollers also call in reports on the condition of the trails, including repairs and issues resulting from storms, flooding, etc. These reports can be found here.
Cedar Valley Nature Trail
The Cedar Valley Trail system is also connected to the Cedar Valley Nature Trail, a 52 mile multi-use trail which leads to Cedar Rapids. This linear park runs along a converted railroad bed and features beautiful scenery and historical landmarks.
No motorized vehicles are allowed. Call 319-433-7275 for additional information about this trail.
Log Your Miles
The National Bike Challenge is a free, online program that encourages biking for transportation, fitness and recreation. Although you can join and log your miles throughout the year, the challenge officially runs May through September. You can join by visiting their website. It's free to register and a great way to challenge yourself. Join and then log your miles and monitor the leaderboard of your city, team or workplace.
Trail Safety
Safety is an important aspect and can’t be stressed enough. While riding the trails, please be sure to:
- Wear a helmet
- Stay on designated trails
- Keep to the right
- Call out when passing
- Keep all pets on leashes
- Keep our trails clean
- Enjoy nature – please tread lightly
Cedar Falls is a Bicycle Friendly Community that embraces cycling as a form of transportation, too, but it’s a two way street! Street cycling is a right but it comes with responsibilities. Cyclists are subject to the same laws as motorists.
Links
The Cedar Valley Trails traverses a number of jurisdictions, requiring a lot of collaboration. Local municipalities and organizations include:
- City of Cedar Falls Parks
- City of Waterloo Parks
- City of Evansdale
- City of Hudson
- Black Hawk County Conservation Board
- George Wyth State Park
- Cedar Valley Trails Partnership
- Cedar Valley Association for Soft Trails
- Cedar Valley Cyclists
In addition to the Cedar Valley Trails, exciting cycling opportunities exist throughout the state of Iowa. In fact, we like to think of Iowa as the Trails Capital of the World! Visit Iowa By Trail to see what we mean!
Trail Closure Information
The Cedar Valley Trails Partnership maintains their Facebook page with up-to-date information about trail conditions due to weather damage, flooding and construction. You will also find helpful information about the trails, events and the trails patrol on their website. The Runner's Flat also posts trail conditions in their store.