Sweet Arrow Lake Loop

Dogs Leashed

E-Bikes Unknown

A loop through the scenic and wooded trails at Sweet Arrow Lake County Park that heads back on the road along the north shore of the lake. These trails were created for hiking and don't see regular maintenance but can be fun to explore for more experienced riders.

Parking is free. The trails were made for hiking but there are no cycling restrictions. The Lakefront Trail was not worth the hassle of all the downed trees, mud, and briers. After I crossed the road to the north, I couldn't for the life of me find the trail so I just took the road until I saw a trail. I rated this ride intermediate for mud and for physical ability to do it. If you are a first time trail goer, you probably won't enjoy spinning your tires powering through the mud. The wood is slippery when wet.

I started from the parking lot and took the path to the right for the Waterfall Trail. After crossing the waterfall, the path becomes a wooden walkway. There's a playground at the end of a wooden path. Next, I continued along the lake on the Scenic Circle Trail to connect straight and down to the Lakefront Trail.

Lakefront Trail takes you through private properties, which is allowed, just be respectful and don't litter. On this trail, there were many downed trees, mud, and brier bushes. I'm sure this section of trail will be cleaned up soon.

Next, I crossed the road where it said there was another trailhead ("Big Dam" on this map).

I could not for the life of me find a trail anywhere in this area, but there is a wooden bridge structure. There was very tall dead grass and under that grass was about six inches of mud so I decided to take the Sweet Arrow Lake Road back to the parking lot where I started. Then I went up Waterfall Trail and made a right after I crossed the waterfall onto Berger Dam Trail and noticed there are disc golf holes all along this trail. This trail was pretty clear from debris with a great view of the waterfall right after you cross a small wooden bridge.

I continued to ride this trail and there was a brief technical section containing a tight turn between trees which you can get around by going to the left. It then leads to a pump track-like section briefly. Finally, the trail leads to a turn-around point at a historical landmark of the dam before backtracking to the parking lot.

This location has the remains of an old dam.