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Overview
The Afton to Lakeland Trail runs for 4 miles north to south from Lakeland to Afton, sandwiched between a highway and the St. Croix River. The flat, paved trail passes through Lakeland Shores, Lake St. Croix, Lake St. Croix Beach, and Saint Marys Point.
About the Route
The Afton to Lakeland Trail runs between Quinlan Avenue North/Eighth Street at Crocker Park in Lakeland and Pike Avenue South near Afton City Hall, the trail's southern endpoint.
The northern endpoint in Lakeland begins its run through five semi-urban river communities along a relatively busy highway, and the landscape becomes woodsier and inviting along its southern segment toward Afton. The section that crosses Valley Branch Creek is on a railroad grade through a floodplain and includes tree-covered hills near the trail’s southern endpoint in Afton.
Connections
At the trail’s northern endpoint in Lakeland, the Afton to Lakeland Trail intersects with the Hudson to Lakeland/Afton Trail.
The Afton to Lakeland Trail runs between Hudson Road/8th Street (Lakeland) and Pike Ave. (Afton). Parking is available at Rivercrest Rd N (Lakeland).
Please see the TrailLink Map for detailed directions.
Good paving but absolutely no views of the river or anything scenic. It’s mostly a straight path along the highway.
Great trail for biking but watch for hidden driveways.
Great walk. A lot of inline skating & bikes, but beautiful weather today for walking.
I assumed this path would follow the beautiful Saint Croix River valley, but instead 90% of it is along the highway. And half of that is a busy four-lane highway with strip malls. Only the last little bit goes into the woods near Afton Minnesota. Also, if you are traveling with small kids or people who need help with safety, there are at least a dozen road crossings – some of them very busy near roundabouts. Just not the woodsy ride I was expecting.
Very nice smooth asphalt for rollerblading! Some small hills but nothing too challenging.
Much better after road repairs.
This road needs to be resurfaced and redesigned. Once the round abouts were installed, the trail got very a zigzag line.
This is easily the worst asphalt trail I have ever rode on. There are A LOT of cracks that have been filled in with crack filler. This has caused the trail to be extremely bumpy making the ride very uncomfortable.I think it is way overdue for resurfacing.
Outside of a need for resurfacing it is a fairly easy trail to ride.
So, if you ride it wear shorts with a lot of padding.
Surprised by an afternoon off and a temperature above 70 degrees (a novelty these days!), I decided to load up the mountain bike and head down to the river. I’ve spent a lot of time on the Hudson area trails, but I hadn’t yet embarked on the 3.4 mile stretch of pavement that runs just south of Interstate 94 through Lakeland to midtown Afton, paralleling the St. Croix River. Anticipating a quiet, scenic river route, I was a little disappointed to find myself rattling through patchwork pavement and dodging skateboards. Paralleling freeway more than river, the ride was not the scenic adventure I’d hoped for. In fact, the river isn’t even visible from the trail. Instead of trees there are strip malls. In a neighborhood that I suspect to be less than affluent, arrests being made replaced the wildlife viewing that I had diligently packed my camera to capture. The trail made some improvements on its social standing as it moved out of the less conspicuous neighborhoods of Lakeland and into Afton, however. While the quality of the infrastructure did not improve, I found myself dodging tree branches instead of Honda Civics as the trail veered slightly away from the freeway, a worthy trade. Afton is a quaint town offering art galleries, antique shops and ice cream parlors. The people are old, service is slow and burgers are overpriced. But after a bartender with a million dollar smile mixed up a few mystery cocktails (I’m told there was rum, but all I could taste was the pineapple), I didn’t mind so much that my nature adventure had turned into day drinking in suburbia. I recommend the trail for anyone seeking a lazy afternoon of possibly unusual sightseeing. Not so much for the bike/ nature enthusiast.
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