Iowa trails · Skunk River Greenbelt Trail
Skunk River Greenbelt Trail
A 13.8-mile network in Iowa, with 110 ft of climbing. Reaches McFarland Lake. Managed by County Parish Borough.
Elevation profile
The climbing is spread fairly evenly along the route. It gives back about 299 ft along the way, so it rolls rather than climbing steadily.
3-D terrain
USGS 3DEP ELEVATION × ESRI WORLD IMAGERY · VERTICAL ×1.5
Reaches
- McFarland Lake (lake)
Getting there
Skunk River Greenbelt Trail junction. About 20 min drive (9 mi, 3 of them unpaved) from Ames. 42.09921, -93.56295 · directions
Daylight at the trailhead
On October 14, 2026 — the day this page was generated — first light reaches this trailhead at 6:57 a.m., the sun rises at 7:25 a.m. and sets at 6:34 p.m., and the last usable light fades about 7:02 p.m. (CDT) — 11 h 09 min of daylight. At about 2.7 mph plus 30 minutes per 1,000 feet of climbing, the 13.8-mile route takes roughly 5 h 10 min, so leaving the trailhead at sunrise puts you back around 12:35 p.m. — 5 h 59 min before sunset.
Nearby trails
- Kate Shelley Trail — 17.8 mi
- Neal Smith Trail — 24.8 mi