Sports Complex Loop
Janesville’s Sports Complex Loop offers a variety of scenery in its 5.4 mile circle route around the southwest side of the city. The paved trail makes for an enjoyable and scenic ride, but a few hills may prove challenging to casual cyclists. Regardless of the direction taken, there is at least one hill to climb.
There are two potential trailheads for the Sports Complex Loop. As the name suggests, one is the Janesville Youth Sports Complex at 100 S. Wuthering Hills Drive. This sports park has a large parking lot, restrooms, picnic tables and benches.
The other trailhead is at Palmer Park. It has two sets of parking lots and restrooms. One is near the wading pool at 2400 Palmer Drive. Playgrounds, picnic tables, and park benches are found throughout the park. Another set is located by the park’s tennis courts, on Mohawk Road. Even if not serving as a trailhead, it is worth a stop in the scenic park.
The trail that runs through Palmer Park is not actually the Sports Complex Loop. It is the Ice Age National Scenic Trail, but it is used to complete the circle of the Sports Complex Loop.
From either parking lot in Palmer Park, the trail goes north 0.6 mile through a forest before passing under Interstate Highways 39-90 next to Spring Brook. After 350 yards, it crosses Ruger Avenue. The trail divides here. One route crosses the intersection at street level, and the other passes under the bridge aside Spring Brook.
From Ruger Avenue, the trail winds along the brook through forests for a half mile before dividing again. The Ice Age National Scenic Trail heads up the hill to the left, and the Sports Complex Loop goes to the right (east). There are covered park benches at this junction. On the Sports Complex Loop, the path passes through a tunnel under N. Wright Avenue, next to Blackhawk Creek. A sign warns of slippery conditions when the tunnel’s surface is wet.
For the next 0.7 mile, the Sports Complex Loop meanders through forest and prairie, with occasional benches found along the trail. This is Schneider Farm Park, and the city of Janesville has worked diligently over the years to restore a native prairie there.
The trail then crosses from the northwest to the southeast corner of Ruger Avenue and Wuthering Hills Drive. On the northeast corner, a spur trail runs to a nearby neighborhood alongside Ruger Avenue and Optimist Community Park.
Going south along the east side of Wuthering Hills Drive, the Sports Complex Loop Trail climbs a 40-foot hill to reach the Janesville Youth Sports Complex. Cyclists may continue south on the trail next to the city street, or take a 1.2 mile loop east through the complex. The loop returns to the main trail on the south side of the complex. Restrooms are located on the west side of Wuthering Hills Drive.
For the next half mile, the trail heads south through an industrial park to reach U.S. Business Highway 14/Wisconsin State Highway 11 (E. Racine Street). It then turns right (west), and runs parallel to the highway on its north side for another half mile. After crossing to the south side of the four-lane highway at Wright Road, the trail continues west past the campus of SSM Health-St. Mary’s Hospital. A half mile from the junction with Wright Road, the path reaches Interstate Highways 39-90. It continues alongside E. Racine Street as it passes through two roundabouts and bridges the interstate highways.
Map of trailheads and addresses along this section of the trail.
It’s less than a mile downhill to the intersection with Palmer Drive and the Ice Age National Scenic Trail. The trail descends over 60 feet in 0.4 mile. At the bottom of the hill, the Sports Complex Loop ends. Heading north across Palmer Drive on the Ice Age National Scenic Trail for 350 yards brings cyclists back to the parking lot at Palmer Park wading pool. The parking lot by the tennis courts is a little farther north.
Trail last ridden and documented in October, 2021.