Great Headwaters Trails
Building family-friendly biking and walking trails near the source of a Great River
Since its founding in 2010, the Great Headwaters Trails Foundation has been closing in on its goal to build 40 miles of biking and walking trails in eastern Vilas County. The system we envision will expand the Heart of Vilas Trail System and connect the towns of Eagle River, Conover, Phelps and Land O’ Lakes, resulting in a connected, family-friendly, hard surface trail system over 110 miles long.
The first leg of the Great Headwaters Trails system is the Conover-Phelps Trail which was completed in 2021. The next leg, the River Trail, will connect St. Germain to Eagle River.
HELP US GET THE WORD OUT about GHT's bike trails. Contact us at ghtinfo@ghtrails.org. Watch for our booths at various events in Eagle River, Conover, Phelps and Land O' Lakes.
Help us develop more biking and walking trails in eastern Vilas County!

A year for riding right out of the pandemic
In 2021, Northwoods biking opportunities of all sorts for people of all ages continue to grow all over the Vilas County area. A new trail between Conover and Phelps will be completed by mid-summer. Essential groundwork is in place for the River Trail between Eagle River and St. Germain. A…
Read MoreVirus hasn’t slowed up GHT’s progress
Great Headwaters Trails ends this challenging summer without being slowed down by COVID-19. Fundraising to complete the Conover-Phelps Trail is close to being a total success, great progress has been made on routing the River Trail between Eagle River and St. Germain, and the annual SepTimber Ride biking event drew…
Read MoreComing down to the wire – 66% of the way to our goal, donate now and double your impact
This is crunch time! We’re about $70,000 away from our goal with about $35,000 of the Flanagan Challenge Fund remaining to be matched. The math works to gets us to success, but you only have until Sept. 30 to make sure we get there. Double the impact of your donation…
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