Carlson Park represents a new chapter for mountain biking in Decorah, Iowa. While the town has long been known for its classic, rugged singletrack — 20 miles of tight, rocky, first-gen trails that have been lovingly cared for by the community for over 40 years — Carlson Park takes a different approach entirely. Built on 110 acres of blank-slate land, the system offers eight miles of beginner and intermediate-friendly trail that newcomers and younger riders can actually learn on, while still delivering enough fun to keep advanced riders entertained.
The heart of the system is the Northwest feature zone, a hub-style network built around gravity lines that function like gravity pump tracks. With only about 115 feet of vertical drop, these aren't high-speed descents, but they're designed to help riders carry momentum through a solid lineup of features: rollers, limestone-faced tabletop jumps, wooden rollers, a wooden wallride, and a "hammock jump" — essentially a whale tail tilted roughly 30 degrees so the dip nearly touches the ground. A 2.5-mile, 14-foot-wide perimeter trail encircles the property and serves as the connector between zones.
Riders enter the Northwest zone through one of the more unique trailheads you'll find anywhere: the Rotary Binzebo, a purpose-built grain bin gazebo that nods to the traditional Iowa landscape. The remaining singletrack throughout the rest of the park is slated for completion before the end of the 2026 build season, with the IMBA plan also identifying a potential future black diamond section that could add another 1.5 miles to the system.
