WI Milwaukee Whitnall Park Alpha Trail

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Whitnall Park Alpha Trail and Crystal Ridge Ski Area Mountain Bike Trails

Milwaukee County, Wisconsin


Alpha Trail Mountain bike trail in Crystal Ridge Ski Area looking across the ski slope

The Alpha Trail in Whitnall Park in Franklin Wisconsin was the first legal mountain bike trail in Milwaukee County. The Alpha Trail connects to additional mountain bike trails in the Crystal Ridge Ski Area to provide a nice mix of easy flowy singletrack with tighter more technical singletrack and a big uphill and downhill in the ski area. Approximately 6 to 8 miles of trails in total (the main loops shown Blue and Red on my map total about 6 miles). Work on the Alpha trail and the trails in the ski area was completed with help from the Metro Mountain Bikers.

  • Terrain / Scenery: Scenic wooded areas along the Root river combined with open areas in on the ski hill. Easy to moderate singletrack trails with a moderate climb and downhill in the ski area. Trails near river can be muddy.
  • Fees / Permits: None
  • Trail Conditions: I don't believe there is an official trail hotline for this trail, but the Metro Mountain Bikers provide trail conditions on their hotline at (414) 297-9616 option #2 Or you can post or view trail reports on this site by clicking the Discussion tab See Trail Conditions Notes further down on this page for more info on trail conditions.
  • Trail Markings: Alpha Trail has directional signs at key intersection. Ski Area trails may or may not have arrows on trail intersections..
  • Official Web Page: http://www.county.milwaukee.gov/display/router.asp?docid=8288
  • Getting There: Whitnall Park is located in Franklin Wisconsin, southwest of Milwaukee. Access to the trails is from the Golf Course Parking area on 92nd Street, north of Rawson Ave. Google Maps Link to Whitnall Park After parking, ride across 92nd street at the north end of the parking lot and go through gate into open grassy area. Trailhead is located where the woods start at north end of open area next to toboggan slides (see map below).

Contents

Trail Conditions Notes:

The gate across from the Golf Course Parking area that provides access to the Alpha Trail trailhead has a sign on it that basically says if the gate is closed, the mountain bike trails are closed. Because a good part of the Alpha trail runs in the lowlands along the Root River, I would expect this trail to be very muddy in the spring and subsequently I would expect that they likely close it during that period and also during periods of heavy or frequent rains. They don't have an official hotline for these trails nor did I see any trail conditions on the county parks site, but the Metro Mountain Bikers provide trail conditions on their hotline at (414) 297-9616 option #2. I don't know how accurate this is or how often they update it, so be aware that in changing conditions there may be a possibility that the Metro Mountain Bikers' hotline reports the trail as open, but the Parks Dept has closed it.

I don't get out here much and I generally come when it has been very dry out so I can't really comment on how often the trails are closed but I would suggest being prepared for the worst (don't assume the trails will be open). I did come out here once when I thought the trail conditions may be questionable and not surprisingly the gate was closed, so I just did some hiking (always good to have a plan B) but noticed quite a few bikers hitting the trails. I talked to a couple of them and they pretty much said that the gate is "always closed so we just ignore it". Now I know that isn't true because the gate has been open the other times I've ridden here and I did even call the Whitnall Park office to verify that they are following the "Gate Rule". But that does confirm my suspicions that these trails are frequently closed (and also made it evident that many riders are ignoring this, which is not setting the best example for the 1st legal mtn bike trail in Milwaukee County).

There may be times when the Alpha Trail portion of the trail system is closed, but the trails in the Crystal Ridge Ski Area can be ridden. There is no official means of closing or opening the Crystal Ridge trails, so use the Metro Mountain Bikers hotline as a guide. Obviously you will need to find another way of getting to the Crystal Ridge trails (since you can't use the Alpha Trail). You may be able to park in the Crystal Ridge Ski Area parking lot and access the trails directly from there, but I'm not sure of this (I've never parked there). Or you can just park in one of the lots in Whitnal Park and just ride some roads to get to Crystal Ridge. I'm not sure if there is a "best" way to get there. I've take some side roads through a residential area to get from 92nd St to Rawson Ave just a short distance from where you can access the trail. I've also come in from the opposite side of the park (north of the Root River) coming in off of 76th St. Be aware, both Rawson Ave and 76th St. get a lot of traffic.


Map of Whitnall Park Alpha Trail and Crystal Ridge Trails :

Map Notes:

I used a topographic map as the background for my map, but be aware that the ski hill has been modified over the years and therefore is not accurately represented on the old USGS topo map. The green areas represent wooded areas. All trails are one-way as depicted on my map. I included some hiking trails on the map (shown in black). Bikes are not allowed on these trails.

Note that my map only covers the portion of Whitnall park east of 92nd Street (because this is the part with the mountain bike trails). The main portion of Whitnall park (including the golf course) is on the west side of 92nd street. See the main Whitnall Park Page for an overview map.

Map of Alpha Mountain Bike Trail in Whitnal Park and Crystal Ridge Ski Area, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin


Alpha Trail:

The Alpha Trail (shown Blue on my map) is a set of mostly easy singletrack that flows from the high ground in Whitnall Park, down into the valley and along the the Root River. My guess is the total mileage of the Alpha Trails is less than 2.5 miles (not including the trails in Crystal Ridge Ski Area). There are directional signs (no maps) at key intersections that make it very easy to navigate these trails. You do have the option to either take the connector trails along the Root River to the Crystal Ridge Trails or just loop back through the Alpha System. The connector trail going to the Crystal Ridge area is pretty flat and straight. The return connector coming from the crystal Ridge trails runs lower in the floodplain along the river and is therefore likely to have muddy sections even during dry periods. I would expect this section of trail to be extremely muddy in the spring (if not partially submerged) and very likely closed. When returning from the trails along the river back up towards the trailhead you have two return trails to choose from. The one marked more difficult (north trail at the fork) is more twisty and gains more elevation. It is not particularly difficult though there are a couple of small rock gardens and one large rock in particular that looks like it was placed there just to wreak havoc on rear derailleurs (I had just put a new one on my bike before my first ride here so maybe I was being a little sensitive). I suspect this section of trail may have been worked on by one of those single-speeders.


Crystal Ridge Ski Area Trails

The mountain bike trails in the Crystal Ridge Ski Area (shown Red on my map) are where the real fun is. There is basically a single large loop (about 3.5 miles of trail shown Red on my map, or about 4.5 miles if you include the Yellow trail around the landfill) that takes you past the ski hill, out to an area of twisty singletrack by Rawson Ave, back to the ski hill, down the ski hill, then out to some more twisty trails between the landfill and the river, and then back to the connector to the Alpha Trail. You should see arrows at key intersections, but I believe these arrows are for the races they have there, and therefore I don’t know if they are permanent markers or if they are just there during the racing season. I tried to include enough details on my map to help in navigating these trails should the signs be gone. These trails are also one-way.

At the point where the Alpha Trail connector meets the ski area trails, you will go right through the woods for a short distance then onto an old narrow dirt/gravel road taking you up along the west side of the ski hill. This climb is actually not all that technically difficult, though it is a good workout. Near the top, you'll see a couple of hiking trails heading into the woods that are clearly marked "no bikes". If you want to check these out, you're going to have to do it on foot (see hiking section further down on this page).

The Mountain bike trail turns left around the back side of the ski hill and heads towards the ski parking area. At this point, you could just cut across the corner of the parking lot and head back down the ski hill, but it is worthwhile following the trail south to a fun little loop near Rawson Road. Near the South end of the parking area, the trail will merge into a gravel road heading southwest. You'll follow the gravel road around to the wooded area where you have two trail choices. I definitely recommend taking the more difficult trail (left at the fork) that provides some twisty tight singletrack. Either trail will eventually take you back to the place where the gravel road meets the parking lot. There is a separate return trail along the parking lot that brings you back to the ski hill. You'll now cut across the corner of the parking lot and onto a rutted dirt/gravel road that takes you up towards the ski slopes where you will see a stretch of singletrack traversing the ski slopes under the chairlifts (chairlifts are drawn in black on my map). This is the downhill portion that is made up of some long switchbacks cutting back and forth across the ski slopes. Though these trails are traversing the slope, they are still steep and bumpy enough to give you all the speed you can handle.

At the bottom of the ski hill you will head east and zigzag through a couple of small wooded sections then cut across the bottom of the driving range (my guess is this is the bunny hill during ski season) and come to a gravel road. Here you may see an arrow pointing up the gravel road (south). You have the option here of heading up the gravel road and then catching the trail that goes around the landfill (shown Yellow on my map, details further down this page), or you can just cut across the gravel road and catch the trail as it returns from going around the landfill. Here you will find a fork in the trail, the right fork is the return trail from the landfill area, go left into the woods into a really tight twisty section of single track. This trail will zig and zag you through the woods and eventually spit you back out onto another gravel road (you should see the next section of trail across the gravel road). This trail will take you through some more tight twisty stuff through some wooded areas and prairie areas and eventually bring you to the chair lifts at the bottom of the ski hills. You'll follow the trail between the chairlifts to another fork at the last chairlift. The trail to the right follows behind the other chairlift and back to the connection with the Alpha Trail, the trail straight ahead is just a short connector back to the trail heading up to the ski hill parking area. Sometimes there is an arrow here pointing right and sometimes pointing straight, so it can be a little confusing.

The trail shown in Yellow on my map I consider to be an optional (rather uninteresting) trail that takes you around the landfill area. The last few times I've been here, there was an arrow on the gravel road pointing up the gravel road to route you through this trail, so maybe it is officially part of the trail now, but I'm still treating it as an optional section. The ride up the gravel road is physically challenging (all uphill) but otherwise it's just a gravel road. At the top of the hill you'll see the BMX track on your left, the mountain bike trail picks up just past the BMX track. As I said, this trail is rather uninteresting (compared to the other trails here); it is mostly flat and runs through open areas right along the road, but because you are starting on the high ground near the parking area, it is basically a very long gradual downhill, so I guess there is a little fun to be had since you can catch some speed on this trail. Actually, since this trail is right out in the open and has a gradual downhill grade to it, it would be a great place to put in an alternate trail along side it with some more interesting man-made features (like little jumps/kickers and rollers). There is still a lot of heavy equipment working in the landfill area so there is a possibility that sections of this trail may disappear temporarily or be moved a little.

Also, I guess if you don't want to ride down the ski hill, you can cut across the parking area and connect up with the yellow trail along side the gravel road that leads to the parking area.

Update May, 2007: The new BMX track is taking shape. It's located off the Northeast corner of the Ski Hill Parking lot. There are signs all over the place instructing bikers to keep out and I believe there will eventually be a fence around it. It doesn't look like it will be open to the general public (apparently it's for BMX events only). I've also seen mention on the Metro Mountain Bikers site of the possibility of a pump track being put in near the BMX track. You can check their site for updates (check their meeting minutes).

Other Activities

Hiking: Though the Alpha Trail system is a dedicated mountain bike trail system, I didn't see anything saying that you can't hike these trails. However, there are some really nice hiking trails available in Whitnall Park that don't allow bikes, and I would personally prefer to spend my hiking time on them. I show some of these trails in Black on my map. These trails are not marked and are a little confusing but not too bad. There is basically one big loop that runs towards the ski hill and numerous little connector trails. I mapped the main trails but may be additional smaller trails not shown on my map. I estimate about 2 to 3 miles of hiking trails in this area.

See the main Whitnall Park Page for information on additional hiking trails in the park.


Cross-Country Skiing:

I've moved the cross-country skiing information to the main Whitnall Park Page.


Links

Related Pages:


External Links




This page is authored and maintained by Dave Piasecki

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