Over 200 donors accomplished great things in 2020 despite Covid - 10.6 mile Conover-Phelps Trail to be finished this summer!
TRAIL OPENING CAMPAIGN BEGINS SOON!
By 2017, 8.7 miles of trail was in place and paid for!
$200,000+ donated in 2020 - Work on the last section has already begun!
2021 - Laying in the funds to keep the trail special year after year
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 headwaters of the Wisconsin River. 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.
This grand vision will result 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. The next leg, the River Trail, will connect St. Germain to Eagle River.

Keep a Good Thing Going
“The news about bike trails in eastern Vilas County is good, very good and to be determined,” says Jeff Currie, president of Great Headwaters Trails (GHT). The good news, says Currie, is that 9 miles of the 11 mile Conover-Phelps Biking and Walking Trail are now complete and ready to…
Read MoreComing next July: A trail celebration!
Don Gillum (above) was a valued GHT volunteer and a respected and well-known member of the eastern Vilas County community. The Don Gillum Memorial Bike and Hike coming up next summer will honor his memory and celebrate the developing Conover-Phelps Trail. The July 21 family-oriented event will start in Conover’s Community Park…
Read MoreHeavy lifting and successful trail building
The Conover-Phelps Trail is now almost 9 miles long. Behind that great news are these key people: Carlton Schroeder, PE, designed the newest 5.5 mile section working with Gary Meister to do the groundwork and take the project from the conceptual stage to a Certified for Construction design package, with…
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