Sechler Park is a City of Northfield park, primarily consisting of athletic fields. It extends along the northwest side of the Cannon River, from the Peggy Prowe Pedestrian Bridge (at the cul-de-sac behind Walgreen’s and Kwik Trip) near the intersection of Hwys 3 & 19, to Heath Creek near the City’s compost site on Armstrong Road.
The Sechler Park MTB trail (CROCT’s first) is a two-way trail, approximately 3.5 miles if all sections are ridden in both directions. A small skills park was added in 2015.
Levels of difficulty: white, green and blue. (See IMBA’s trail difficulty ratings page.)
Location: Primarily in the wooded river bottoms area between the access road/athletic fields and the river.
Signage: There is a kiosk at the trail head by the cul-de-sac at the pedestrian bridge (behind Walgreen’s). The trail is marked with several blue posts throughout.
Trail Access: Besides the trail head, there are other access points to the trail. Several spots behind the fences along the ball fields, the Lacrosse Field and the South Pavilion.
Trail Maps – You can access trail maps for this trail on Trailforks and also at IMBA’s MTBProject map for the Sechler Park mtb trail. Note that there’s a separate short segment called the Sechler Park Figure 8 Loop, and a separate Sechler Park Doubletrack segment that shows the wide doubletrack that runs along the river, adjacent and connected to portions of the mtb singletrack.
See their site for a full-description of the trail and a virtual ride. The map there can be toggled full screen.
Better yet if you’re using a mobile device, get one the MTB Project mobile apps. One of the best features? “Works with no cell signal, including all mapping and geolocating features.”
Alternatively, see this live Google map that shows the main trail.
Trail History – This was CROCT’s first trail and it opened for shared use (mountain biking, hiking, snowshoeing) on November 15, 2014. You can see all our blog posts tagged with Sechler Park.