Carver Lake Park

Address: 3175 Century Ave S, Woodbury, MN 55125

Website: https://www.woodburymn.gov/447/Carver-Lake-Off-Road-Cycling-Trail

Maintained by: Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists (MORC)

Amenities: Skills Park, Repair Station, Flush Toilets, Porta Potties, Picnic Tables, Beach, Playground. It has it all.

Carver Lake is one of my favorite trails and my top pick for beginners. It was the second trail I ever biked and it is what sold me. I will be a mountain biker. “When can we come back?, I want to do it again!” Even if my first move was to fall over into a bush.

Almost every trail at Carver Lake is designated Blue, but I cannot figure out the difference between the one green trail and the blue ones. And compared to other trails, I don’t know why any of them are blue. I don’t find this any more difficult than the green loop at Lebanon Hills, which was my actual first trail. There are some obstacles and technical features, like rock gardens and skinnies, but they are off to the side and completely optional. The trails are fun an flowy, and nothing is very technical. Maggie prefers more rollers and jumps, but this is my ideal type of trail. There is some climbing, but never a lot at once and it always has immediate payoff with some fun downhill. The only negative is that there are a lot of tree roots, so it isn’t a smooth ride.

The real reason I think this is the perfect beginner trail, is that the stacked loops regularly cross the paved bike trail, so you can do as much or as little of this trail as you want. There are 5 miles of singletrack, but every mile or so you can bail out and take the paved back to the parking lot. Perfect if you have littles and you aren’t sure how far they can make it, though Maggie (7) regularly makes the whole loop. If there is a section you like, there are return trails so you can repeat parts of the loop, so if you want to do more than 5 miles, you totally can. Another beginner trail must have: the signage is very clear and every trail is well marked. You won’t accidentally go the wrong way, or get lost without an exit (I’m looking at you, West Lake Marion…)

Carver Lake also has the best bike playground/skills park I’ve seen. Rollers, berms, approachable raised boardwalks, and a pump track. I fall down every time I try, but the kids love it.

The map online is old and inaccurate so I took a picture of the map at the trailhead. The sections all have names on the signage that are not on the map, so using my awesome MS Paint skills I’ve labeled them for you.

The main trailhead is on the west side of the big parking lot which would have you start on the Shore Shimmy. But I recommend parking at the Bike Park, marked with the You Are Here sticker on the map. This will be on your right as you come into the park, before you reach the main parking lot. They’ve recently added trailhead signage and a bike repair station here, so it feels to me like they might be moving towards making this the main trail head. It also has picnic tables and a porta-potty. If you want flush toilets, they are on the east side of the main parking lot.

If you park at the Bike Park, then the first trail is the Bike Park Loop, which is the only ‘green’ trail which makes it a nice place to start. Like I said, the rest of the trails are blue, and not really much more difficult, but I guess this one has less climbing. You can finish the short loop and return to the bike park, or if you continue you hit Renegade Run which is fast and flowy. The Double Dip is my kids’ favorite, it’s named after two sequential and very small drops, just a few inches. I can’t go through without singing “You put your hand up on my hip, when I dip, you dip, we dip.” My kids have no idea what I’m talking about. Turns out I’m old.

Next is Sticks and Stones which follows the creek, there are optional rock gardens and skinnies, then Controlled Berm, which is my favorite. It has a little more climbing, but some nice flowy bits and a big wooden berm that scares Liam. It’s not scary. It also has a nice view of the lake over the beach if the undergrowth isn’t too thick. This pic is from last fall.

Controlled Berm is the end of the loop so then you head back through the back half of Sticks and Stones and Double Dip, then into The Pines, which winds through a grove of pine trees. I love pines, but this is not my favorite section of trail; it’s rooty rather than flowy. This leads you Hip Check which is fun downhill section with lots of twists. Hip Check ends at the main parking lot and would be the last section if you started there, but instead, cross the road and take the paved trail down to the trailhead and get on Shore Shimmy.

Shore Shimmy starts with the most fun run in the park, very fast and flowy along the edge of the lake.

But it is also the hardest and longest section of trail. After the fast flowy bit, the rest is a climb as you work your way back and forth up from the shore. I like doing this section last because it’s easier to climb once I’m warmed up, and if you are beat, you can skip it all together. Shore Shimmy has more obstacles, rocks and sections of old foundation you need to climb over, and the only unavoidable feature, which my kids have named “The Bridge of Death.”

Now you can certainly walk your bike across the bridge or up and around. There is a bypass, but it is a technical climb that I need to walk up. But I recommend you just do the bridge because it is super fun and not nearly as scary as it seems. It’s downhill, but not steep and it is nice and wide. If I stop at the top I psych myself out, but if you just ride it, it’s a breeze. Maggie had no problem right off the bat, but Liam had to work up to it. He still stops at the top even though I tell him not to.

After the bridge, you are nearly done, just some fun berms beneath the powerlines and you exit back at the bike park. The whole 5 miles takes me about 50 minutes, an hour if I have Liam with me, and a bit longer for Maggie. And if you want more, remember that you can repeat any section of trail. We’ve been known to do the Double Dip a second time on the way back from Controlled Berm before moving on to the Pines.

Aside from the the mountain bike trails, Carver Lake Park is also just a really nice park full of amenities. There is a playground and sand volleyball pit, picnic tables with grills, and a beautiful swimming beach. Last year we kept saying we’d make a day of it and go for a swim after our ride, but it never worked out.

So yeah, I highly recommend Carver Lake Park for both new and seasoned mountain bikers. There is fun to be had for all skill levels and I love the choose your own adventure layout that lets you bike for a much or as little as you want. The bike park is just icing on the cake. If you have any questions, leave me a note below or let me know what else you’d like to see me cover.