Iowa trails · Viking Lake
Viking Lake
A 7.2-mile loop in Iowa, with 108 ft of climbing. Reaches Viking Lake. Managed by the state.
Elevation profile
The climbing leans toward the final third: 49% of the ascent falls between mile 4.8 and mile 7.2. It gives back about 208 ft along the way, so it rolls rather than climbing steadily.
3-D terrain
USGS 3DEP ELEVATION × ESRI WORLD IMAGERY · VERTICAL ×1.5
Reaches
- Viking Lake (lake)
Getting there
Bur Oak access — parking nearby. About 1 h 04 min drive (39 mi, 1 of them unpaved) from Glenwood. 40.96475, -95.04511 · directions
Daylight at the trailhead
On October 14, 2026 — the day this page was generated — first light reaches this trailhead at 7:02 a.m., the sun rises at 7:30 a.m. and sets at 6:41 p.m., and the last usable light fades about 7:09 p.m. (CDT) — 11 h 11 min of daylight. At about 2.7 mph plus 30 minutes per 1,000 feet of climbing, the 7.2-mile route takes roughly 2 h 43 min, so leaving the trailhead at sunrise puts you back around 10:13 a.m. — 8 h 28 min before sunset.