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Yellow River State Forest Mountain Bike Trail
Harper's Ferry, Iowa
MTB TRAIL STATS
Avg Rating:   |
1 trail review |
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Status: updated 8/21/11 by Jared13 |
Difficulty:  Intermediate |
| Length: 50 miles | Global Rank: #2991 |
| Tread: Singletrack | Configuration: Network |
| Ridden: 3 | Wishlist: 2 |
 1 trail check-ins |
Directions:
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Description: This might be the most raw and intense set of trails in Iowa. Don't even bother with phones up here, there is no service. Walkie Talkie is your best bet for contact. The trail is actually a set of backpacking trails that make for decent singletrack. The climbs and descents are incredible as is the shear geography. In the heart of the "Drifties", there are limestone walls and heavy northland forest. You ride throughout creeks and hollows that escaped the glaciers during the last ice age. A little out of the way, but the most amazing ride in Iowa.
Description: This might be the most raw and intense set of trails in Iowa. Don't even bother with phones up here, there is no service. Walkie Talkie is your best bet for contact. The trail is actually a set of backpacking trails that make for decent singletrack. The climbs and descents are incredible as is the shear geography. In the heart of the "Drifties", there are limestone walls and heavy northland forest. You ride throughout creeks and hollows that escaped the glaciers during the last ice age. A little out of the way, but the most amazing ride in Iowa.
added on April 3, 2008 by 
TRAIL REVIEWS review this trail
reviewed by Jared13 on August 21, 2011
The trail is almost all doubletrack. It does have some gravel road, doubletrack width trail that has a singletrack burned into it, or fireroad. Bikes are only allowed on the horse trails, hiking trails are for hiking only. There is probably close to 20 miles of horse trails (I did the southern half and it was around 10 miles.) I parked at the DNR HQ and took the gravel road to the east. It quickly turned uphill and climbed for ~.8 miles. The gain in elevation is about 350 feet in this initial climb. Once you get to the top, you go down the other side (depending on which trail you choose.) You repeat this climb/descend for most of the southern section of the trail system. I did not ride the northern section. The trails are nicely labeled, but the maps you get from the DNR are not labeled. I would still recommend picking one up as it's quite easy to get lost and the map can help you figure which way is out. This is a great trail network to work on your climbing ability. The trails are wide but don't offer the best traction. Body position is key to keep from walking. My favorite section was the Walnut Trail. It's just below the "Day Use Area" on the map. I was traveling south on the trail. It was a sweet climb with fist-sized rocks loosely scattered across the trail. To ratchet up the difficulty, you can try to slalom the horse droppings. If you get bored on the trail, you can play the game "Old sand or Horse crap?" If you're looking for a place to climb hills, this is the place. Aside from climbing and descending, I didn't see anything special. I did have a hard time rating the difficulty of the trail. Overall, the trail is easy, but some of the surfaces are difficult (large loose rocks) and the max trail grade is over 15% is spots. Forgot the trail map website: http://www.iowadnr.gov/Portals/idnr/uploads/forestry/YRSFPCTM4.pdf
* Review edited 8/21/2011
