By Dave Pederson

New Mountain Bike Trail open at Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center!

Visitors and residents of the Willmar Lakes Area and Kandiyohi County have long enjoyed biking around our beautiful lakes and riding the Glacial Lakes State Trail which connects Willmar, Spicer, New London and Paynesville. For those who yearn to get their mountain bike or fat tire bike off pavement there is now an opportunity at

Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center is now home to 4.5 miles of single track mountain biking trail!

Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center (PWELC) to ride through prairie and woodlands on a single-track mountain bike trail, thanks to Kandi Trail Riders Mountain Bike Club (KTR logo).

On August 2nd, about 60 people gathered to celebrate the opening of the Kandi Trail Riders Mountain Bike Trail at PWELC. Corey Barber, KTR club president, noted that it had been almost exactly one year since he had contacted PWELC about mountain biking trails to the date of the grand opening- a pretty remarkable achievement. Mountain bikers currently enjoy 4.5 miles of a single track trail and plans for more trails are in the works for the next several years. The trails are family friendly and provide a series of interconnected loops appropriate for all ages.

Kandi Trail Riders Mountain Bike Trail at PWELC is another great way to enjoy the outdoors in the Willmar Lakes Area!

The trails are available free of charge and can be accessed from the large gravel parking lot below the main education building (near the PWELC maintenance building). Bikers are asked to avoid trail use when conditions are wet and please do not bring dogs on the bike trail as they may create hazardous conditions for other bikers.

We are excited to have one more excellent outdoor activity to offer in the Willmar Lakes Area. Fall (one of our four favorite seasons at PWELC 🙂 is a great time to be enjoying the great outdoors in Kandiyohi County. Although virtually every month is a great time to be outdoors, September offers some amazing sunsets, and cooler temps for hiking, biking, paddling, bonfires and s’mores.

Imagine riding your bike on a single track trail through 6’ tall big bluestem prairie grasses! Imagine it….and then do it! We look forward to seeing you on the trails at Prairie Woods.

Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center is a regional center for outdoor recreation and environmental education, serving over 70 school districts throughout west central Minnesota. We are located at 12718 10th Street NE, Spicer, MN 56288. The center encompasses 525 acres of beautiful rolling glacial terrain featuring prairie, ponds, woodlands and wetlands. Visitors are welcome to hike, ski and bike the trails during daylight hours at no charge. Typically, the busy time of day with school groups at PWELC will be between 9am and 2pm, but there is plenty of room on the trails to find some peace and quiet even during the busiest of times. For more information, call 320-354-5894 or visit www.prairiewoodselc.org, the PWELC Facebook page or the Kandi Trail Riders Facebook page.