The crushed limestone-surfaced trail runs along the southern borders of Governor Dodge and Blue Mound state parks. The land around the trail is primarily agricultural, but also includes woods, wetlands, prairies, villages, and small cities.
The limestone-surfaced trail is open to hikers, bicyclists, and wheelchair users in late spring, summer, and fall and snowmobilers and cross-country skiers in the winter. The segment between Verona and Madison is blacktopped and also usable by in-line skaters.
Most of the trail follows the former Chicago and North Western Railway corridor, which has a grade of only 2 to 5 percent. The old railroad line was the same one that crossed the Madison beltline at the surface between Todd Drive and Fish Hatchery Road. Between Dodgeville and Mount Horeb it runs along the top of the Military Ridge, the divide between the Wisconsin River watershed to the north and the Pecatonica and Rock River watershed to the south. Between Mount Horeb and Fitchburg, it goes through the Sugar River Valley.
