Hiking trails near Independence, Iowa

30 official trails lie within 25 miles of Independence — 136 miles in total, 25 rated easy and 1 hard or expert. Every distance and elevation figure below is computed from the agency centerline and a 10 m elevation model, not crowd-sourced.

The biggest climb nearby gains 172 ft; the median trail gains 47 ft.

Open the map on Independence

24 trails worth the drive

Trail	Miles	Climb	Difficulty	Drive from town
Pleasant Creek Multi-Use	8.8	158 ft	Hard	39 min · 28 mi
Rolling Prairie Trail	13.0	132 ft	Moderate	52 min · 35 mi
Forest Equestrian	5.2	76 ft	Moderate	52 min · 34 mi
Cedar Valley Nature Trail	51.0	172 ft	Moderate	32 min · 19 mi
West Lake	3.3	139 ft	Moderate	50 min · 32 mi
East Lake	2.6	103 ft	Easy	50 min · 32 mi
Old Wagon Trail	1.6	154 ft	Easy	1 h 01 min · 41 mi
Cedar Valley Lakes Trail	5.2	33 ft	Easy	36 min · 28 mi
Bluebird	2.1	115 ft	Easy	51 min · 34 mi
Sergeant Road Trail	9.0	22 ft	Easy	36 min · 28 mi
Flying Squirrel	1.4	127 ft	Easy	56 min · 40 mi
Ryan Property Equestrian	1.8	62 ft	Easy	53 min · 34 mi
Shaulis Road Trail	2.2	97 ft	Easy	33 min · 26 mi
M L King Jr Drive Trail	3.8	47 ft	Easy	33 min · 24 mi
Donald Street Trail	2.5	49 ft	Easy	38 min · 27 mi
Echo Bench	1.1	67 ft	Easy	1 h 04 min · 38 mi
Forest	1.0	83 ft	Easy	52 min · 34 mi
Fontana Park Trail	1.5	34 ft	Easy	18 min · 11 mi
Riverside Trail	2.5	27 ft	Easy	36 min · 28 mi
McFarlane-Granular	1.4	41 ft	Easy	48 min · 27 mi
LibertyTrail	1.5	16 ft	Easy	2 min · 1 mi
Southeast Manchester Trail	1.3	23 ft	Easy	34 min · 26 mi
Trolley/218 Trail	1.4	22 ft	Easy	31 min · 24 mi
Manchester NE Paved Bikeway/Walkway	1.1	15 ft	Easy	35 min · 26 mi

Quick picks near Independence

Easy and short: East Lake — 2.6 mi, rated easy, 21 mi from town
Longest: Cedar Valley Nature Trail — 51.0 mi, 14 mi from town

What the trails reach

Lakes: West Lake to Backbone Lake; East Lake to Backbone Lake; Sergeant Road Trail to Martin Lake; Fontana Park Trail to Lake Oelwein

Trail guides near Independence

Cedar Valley Lakes — 3.6 mi, 15 ft climb · 26 mi away
Beverly Park Mountain Bike Trail — 6.0 mi, 74 ft climb · 37 mi away
Cedar River Trail — 13.5 mi, 111 ft climb · 40 mi away

Nearby towns: Waterloo (23 mi) · Cedar Rapids (36 mi) · Anamosa (40 mi) · Iowa City (59 mi)

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