Capital Area Greenbelt: Inland Sections & Wildwood Lake Loop

The 20-mile Capital Area Greenbelt Trail is the anchor of running in Harrisburg. We’ve created two ‘routes’: a 6-mile section along the Susquehanna River, including a loop around City Island, and this 13.5 mile section, which we’ve divided into a couple of options.

Phoenix Park to Paxton St. This 3.5 mile section runs along Spring Creek, from Phoenix Park to Paxton St. It’s all dedicated, paved path, somewhat wooded and mostly through parks, including Five Senses Park.

Paxton St. to Wildwood Lake. This is a 10-mile one-way route, so we recommend you choose a section! From Paxton Rd., there’s an 0.5 mile on-road section. Then, the trail picks up and goes for a rather nondescript 1.5 miles to the National Civil War Museum, which features a green campus and trails. Then, a 1.4 mile section mainly along Stanley Rd., where the trail picks up again. It gets nicer here, on paths through the Patton Arboretum & Former State Hospital Grounds, and then a section through Harrisburg Community College. The final 3 miles is a lovely loop around Wildwood Lake.

Wildwood Park Nature Trails/Wildwood Lake. There are 5 miles of trails in this park. A loop of the lake is 3 miles. The west bank (Towpath Trail) has some nice water views. On the east bank, the East Shore Trail is right along the lake but is more rugged, while the Wildwood Way Trail is more of a multi-use trail and is more wooded.  TRAIL INFO     TRAIL MAP

Add-Ons: The waterfront section of the Capital Area Greenbelt Trail runs along Front St. from Phoenix Park west for 4.5 miles, through Downtown, to Uptown.