Sylvan Island Park Mountain Biking Trails

Sylvan Island Park is a great urban trail system located in Moline, Illinois just 3/4 mile West of the John Deere Commons and the iWireless Center (formerly the Mark of the Quad Cities). The island was once home to a steel mill from which remnants can still be seen such as concrete loading docks and building foundations, railroad tracks, rebar, and loose rock. Despite few elevation changes, the unique nature of the island’s trails makes Sylvan Island Park a fun yet challenging and technical place to ride. The rocky soil composition at Sylvan Island allows for quick drying after precipitation often making it the first available trail system to ride in the Quad Cities following rain and the spring thaw. Sylvan Island is always the first venue for the I-74 Mountain Bike Race Series because of its resilient riding conditions. Trails are typically rideable by early/mid March.

Trail Overview
There Sylvan trails are laid out as a network with many intersections giving riders a huge number of options. If you are visiting and want the best experience, it's advised to find a local guide due to the complexity of navigating the trails. Each year we link major trails together to create the Stampeede race course are riders generally follow this route for the rest of the year. Trail difficulty ranges from 6' wide crushed limestone paths to concrete rubble and brick ridden narrow and twisty singletrack. There are also tons of options for alternate lines on the many leftover building constructions scattered around the island; it's truly a MTB playground.

Being an island, the trails are uniquely subject to the effects of the Mighty Mississippi when it spills it's banks. Check out the Inundation Map and reference it with River levels to see which trails are affected by flooding.

The Ben Butterworth Parkway bike path which extends from Rock Island, IL to Savannah, IL along the Mississippi River passes the entrance to Sylvan Island and can be followed roughly one mile East to the Moline Centre downtown or 1.5 miles West to the Rock Island District where visitors can enjoy a number of restaurants, pubs and gift shops. Please visit www.molinecentre.org or www.ridistrict.com for more information.