Greenville YMCA 2026 08

This week my wife wanted to hike around the Greenville YMCA. Which is a part of the larger Greenville trail systems. Since I have recently reviewed another part of the trail system I will link the previous page here(Jennerjohn Park Greenville WI 2026 07) instead of a Key Features section.

My wife and her brother chose to hike this trail earlier last week. So at her request we repeated the hike. So on Saturday we traveled to Lions Park in Greenville. Last winter I hiked the trails at this park in the middle of the snow. Lions Park 2025 12

The section of Hwy 76 had some road construction near the park so we went into the closest entrance from Hwy 96 from Hwy 76. This entrance though runs into a one way so we park at the closest lot.

Getting out of our car we immediately started to get ready for the hike. Turning my camera on and setting the GoPro up on my wife’s backpack shoulder strap. Then we started to hike.

A short walk along the park’s road to the nearest trail. Then we started to walk toward the exit of the park. The main road through the park makes an arc around the Football fields and reconnects with Hwy 76. The hiking path followed the road from the playground at the western top of the arc north to the Hwy.

As we walked we talked about how the last time I was at the park there was close to a foot of snow covering all of the trails. As we talked a Coopers Hawk streaked out of a nearby tree chasing a squirrel. We watch as the squirrel took shelter under a pine. Then bolted to the nearby Schueler Woods with the hawk bounding into the brush right behind him. Unfortunately I was not able to get any pictures.

We continued on walking toward the YMCA. At Hwy 76 we encountered a detour. The road construction that blocked off Hwy 76 was also impacting the trail. The Detour on the trail lead through the subdivision on the east side of the Hwy. However most people were still taking the trail along the Hwy despite the detour.

We chose to get the the YMCA the quick route. So we walked around the barricades and down the trail. Hwy 76 is leveled off at this section of the Hwy. While a ravine that acts as drainage for the area goes under the Hwy. The road construction looked to be renewing the culverts that go under the Hwy and trail.

Passing the section of trail that is dug up we continued back up the path to the YMCA. The detour reconnected with the trail. And then we got to the YMCA loop. While the paved trail continued north toward the Hwy 76 and 15 intersection, this gravel loop hooked around the YMCA.

We started down the gravel trail around the YMCA. To our left were the fields that separate the YMCA from Lions Park. To the right was a corn field planted on the YMCA grounds. The trail was gravel but looked poorly maintained.

Though the grass around the trail was mowed it looked as though the gravel had not been updated since the trail was made. Weeds grew up in the gravel itself. As we walked house sparrows that were pecking gravel off the trail flew through the brush lines between the trail and two fields.

The first part of the trail traveled about a quarter mile west of Hwy 76. It then hooked north for about another quarter mile. At School Rd the trail turns east and then wraps around the YMCA before returning to Hwy 76.

As we walked the western section of the path we found a grass trail branching off the normal trail. So we followed it up to the top of a berm giving us a raised view of the area around the YMCA.

From here we could see more of the trails both grass and gravel on the YMCA complex. Earlier in the week my wife found that a chain link fence was blocking the path behind the YMCA. From here we could see that the original gravel trail was now blocked by a corner of a fenced in yard for the YMCA daycare area. However this interruption in the trail was easily bypassed.

We reconnected with the gravel path and continued around this new obstacle. As we made our way back to the paved trail we talked about how the trail seemed to be maintained. Though there were efforts to add to the trail with grass paths, it looks as though the gravel trail had been forgotten. Like a project of a person who had moved on from the YMCA.

When we got back to the paved trail we turned south to return to our car. But this time when we got to the detour I convinced my wife to follow it and see what we could see in the subdivision.

This choice added about a mile to our hike. The trail through the subdivision had to take us around ponds in the ravine that led under the Hwy. While there were a lot of large beautiful and expensive homes, we were dismayed to find that they had cords over the ponds.

We could only imagine that these cords were to keep geese from taking over the ponds. However they kept other birds from visiting the ponds as well. There were no other water fowl in the ponds.

We continued on our way and finished our detour at the entrance to Lions Park. We hiked back to the trees we saw the Coopers Hawk fly out of, hoping to see it again. In the distance we could hear its calls, but we never saw it again.

Finally we hiked across the football fields to return to our car. We finished our three mile hike and return home.

This section of the Greenville trails was enjoyable. At least the normal sections of the trail. The section through the subdivision was somewhat devoid of life beyond the owners of the homes. Once the construction on the Hwy has been completed we may return to hike down to the community park.

Thanks again for reading and as always please feel free to comment below.