Lakeside Trail

Made my first visit to Lakeside last weekend and loved it. Don't be scared of the roots. They were plentiful, but didn't bother me on a 27.5 hardtail with tubeless. I've been loving chunky XC riding lately and I got a heaping helping of it here. Hack n yack and Mayors Mile were the highlights, but the whole system offered up some good speed, plenty of technical stuff, and a great ride overall. I will definitely be back for more, hopefully when the lake is warm enough for a swim.

After doing Chewacla for the first time a few days ago I decided to branch out again and took on the Lakeside Trail system. I started on the Island and rode CCW through all of the blacks finished on Turkey Run and then Lakeside. The Island was a very rough technical climb, the roots are everywhere here. Hack-N-Yack was quite a bit faster with a few gnarly downhill sections that I found really fun and challenging. Turkey Run was a lot of fun, quite a lot faster, and there were some nice drop-offs and rougher sections with ride-arounds. Lakeside was the smoothest by far and offered some brilliant views of the lake. All-in-all I would say this place has a lot to offer for the more intermediate to advanced riders out there. I did this on my 29er full suspension and I highly recommend you do this on a full suspension bike. Oh and do watch out for the fallen trees.

The trails here are pretty fun, but certainly aren't lacking in roots. If you've got a stiff bike then it's not going to be the smoothest ride, but it's not too bad on full suspension. The Lakeside trail is the smoothest and most flowy though it still has some roots as well. I do enjoy the more technical bits, especially the parts where it's downhill. These trails, to me, are better than Flat Rock because they don't feel so contained and there's more elevation change, and the area is less developed. I'd put these trails as my second favorite in the region after Chewacla, with Fort Benning in third and Flat Rock in fourth. I find myself wanting to come back to these trails more over time. Overall I enjoy riding here and definitely recommend it.

Came out here cause I had a little bit of free time after class. This was time well spent. The trail has sections for every one. It is well labeled and it looked like you could ride the trail in both directions. There are some great views of the lake. The Army Corps of Engineers and IMBA did a very good job building this trail. My only gripe about this trail is something that can not be controlled. The amount of gnats on this trail (on the lake view side) is horrible. I had a hard time seeing and breathing because of the amount of gnats and spider webs on the trail. On the turkey run side there were not that many. I hope I am able to return to this trail before I leave.

Nice trail system....good bit of technical stuff....lots of roots....and a lot of climbing....not quite enough flow though....

After a whole week My butt still hurts from the roots in this trail! At times it was excessively rooty. This trail makes me wish I had a full suspension bike instead of the hardtail. With that being said, I love this trail. It has the right mix of fun technical(roots, rocks, etc) and flowing fast lines to keep a smile on my face

Thanks for the review. We have group rides every thursday evening starting at 6pm. In the fall we will be having weekend rides and night rides. Would love to have you.

Thanks for the review. One of the areas we plan to address this fall is the root issue due to washouts.

What a fun trail!! I rode here for my first time and I was impressed with how well it was put together and how the flow was constant. I highly recommend to everyone, even kids.

This is a great trail system! I rode this trail in late Sept 2013 and it was a blast. The beginner section is fun and the smoothest part of the trail. The intermediate Turkey Run is a loop that has some fun sections. The advanced sections do have a lot of roots and some steep sections. Overall this is a fun trail system and would be great for any rider who would consider themselves at an intermediate skill level.

This is a great ride. Make sure you take all the Advanced Loops of the main trail and it really adds to the excitement. I drove down to the trail and was not disappointed. Thinking about making a weekend out of it was some camping and some riding. Great Trail, will be back.

Great set of trails. I did a race here in 2011 and it was HOT! It was pretty rough bc the trail was fairly new. There wasn't a whole lot of areas to recover. Seemed to be constantly pedaling. Lots of roots and rough areas. It was a challenge, but was still fun!

Rode this trail today, great set of trails! I'm not an advanced rider, I would classify myself as an intermediate rider and I was able to do the black runs with no problem. The blue Turkey Run was a great fast flowing trail. The black runs have plenty of roots and rocks, several significant uphills, but also some great drops and downhills! The trails are very well marked. I would recommend this trail.

I enjoy this trail, however, do note that it does have a lot of roots for a bit. Not much opportunity for air or anything crazy, but it's a decent trail, and if you're in the area I would recommend it.

This is an old school trail that I try to ride a couple of tiems a year as I travel on business. I rode it last week and found a new trail imbedded in the system called the "Mayor's Mile" Very nice, with some intereseting bridges. It is a great addition. Some one had blown the entire trail so no leaves. Not that I am against leaves, it was just interesting that someone would go to that much trouble. I also rode down at Mobile while I was out on Chicksabique (sp) State Park.This is another old school single track that is a fun ride. I am thankful for all the work the volunteers around the south put in to give us all these great places to ride.

well... one person's 'sweet' is another's 'sour' I guess... The easy lakeside section was fun, but too short. The rest was one root or rock after another - ugh. I'm all for some good obstacles and challenges, but this just beat me the whole way.

This trail is sweet! It has a fun first 2 miles just hard enough to keep your interests. after that the trail comes alive, depending on which trail you choose always finish the loop.. The ending loop is amazing.

I had the opportunity to ride the entire 11 miles this week and the trail is really sweet. Nice rolling hills and easy to maintain a good pace/speed. Great views of the Lake and even with all the rain here lately, the trail was in great shape. Thanks to Ken for all his hard work on this great asset to the area.

* Review edited 1/27/2012

This trail was better than I expected. Fast rolling hills and switchbacks. Some good climbs esp. going up suicide hill. They have cut some new inside loops that are not as of yet on the map. Got a little turned around my second lap. Not the best marked, but soon got the layout figured out and really enjoyed hitting them over again. Their are alot of small top roots so dial your suspension in accordingly. Over all I wasn't disapointed making the drive and if you have time you can always sun bath and enjoy the lake. Very nice place. Great job guys!

* Review edited 3/22/2011

This trail is great. If i had to put in a catagory I would say it a southeastern all-mountain trail. No we do not have mountains here, but this trail makes you feel like you are with the topography of it. It has some of everything on it. And gives you a work out to. Your legs will be burning when you get done. With it being on the huge lake (resevoir) there is a constant breeze that helps out the heat of the day.