Wisconsin riders

I have a question for the gals that bike Wisconsin area,, we recently went to Madison area and biked the Capitol trail area and noticed that fees were charged on that section of the trail... does the state of WI charge for all their biking trails throughout the state? We biked the Sparta Elroy trail and paid fees on that trail also.... is fees charged for every trail in Wisconsin? Does the Madison area have any paved trails that are free? We prefer to bike the paved trails as we have road bikes but did enjoy the Elroy trail even though it was somewhat crushed limestone type surface.

People were very friendly to us as we biked the trails in the Madison area,, we stopped because we were unsure if we were hooking back correctly and quite a few bikers offered advise and directions. My husband ended up having to seek assistance at Williamson Bike shop and they were just great.

State-run trails, yes, in general, although there are exceptions. The locally-managed trails, no.

For instance, the Glacial-Drumlin is a state trail that runs from Waukesha to Madison. For most of its distance it is a fee trail, except inside of the city of Waukesha where it is free.

We just buy an annual trail pass at the beginning of the year, carry it with us, and don't worry about it.

Wisconsin is getting closer to its trans-state trail system. Right now you can almost get from the Illinois state border north of Chicago thru Milwaukee and to Madison via off-road.

But, as a road cyclist, the best riding in Wisconsin is on the roads west of Madison. Beautiful and challenging.