Monkey Trail is a 10 mile moderately trafficked loop trail located near Keithville, Louisiana that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking, running, horses, and mountain biking and is accessible year-round. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.
The Monkey Trail is a series of loop trails throughout 800+ acres of mature hardwood forest at Eddie D Jones Park. Open dawn to dusk every day.
Facilities 2 Parking areas with designed spots for horse trailers Covered picnic areas Restrooms with showers Bike wash station
Contact Eddie D. Jones Park 8400 Mike Clark Road Keithville, LA 71047 (318) 210-8388 Managed by: Caddo Parish Parks & Recreation 2900 Hearne Ave, Suite B Shreveport, LA 71103 (318) 220-0220
January 18, 2021The trail is not well marked. We got lost and ended up coming out of the trails not the same way we went in. It was a nice hike though, just wished it was marked better!
December 6, 2020To say not well marked would be putting it nicely. We got lost for several hours. Found our vehicle way after dark. But the fallen trees had been cut away. It was very beautiful out there. Nice elevations and switch backs.
October 29, 2020September 19, 2020September 5, 2020not well marked.... we walked like 11 miles not 6.5. trails were great desite recent rains. lots of down signs and trees across trails due to recent storms. would def rate higher if I could trust the signage.
August 18, 2020Got lost trying to stay on the hiking trail per the AllTrails App. The grass and all wasn’t bad and the only other people on the trail were riding horses. Could be nicer if the trails were marked better. Will go back to try it again but will follow the horse trail next time. Seemed to stay more on the apps (trail) No tics though noted.
August 9, 2020June 20, 2020Did the entire trail this time. Pretty tooth trail, but I’m into that kind of stuff. If you’re already wore out or don’t like climbing much then I’d suggest wrapping up your ride at the horse trailer parking. Although you’ll miss out on a few tight descents, you’ll also miss some tight and technical switchback climbing. Which again is my cup of tea hence my rating. Definitely one of the most fun and longer trails in the area.
June 10, 2020Great trail, luckily it was nice and dry. Hearing the chimpanzees is really cool. Also, jumped up a large buck. Only a few spots where the trail wasn’t clear, but not too bad. I cut off the last section and finished at around 6.7 miles according to my watch. Make sure you use bug spray, I finished with 3 ticks on my legs.
May 30, 2020Trails were great, but very poorly marked making it difficult to follow the planned trail. Ended up cutting the hike short in fear of many more hours of circling and uncertainty.
February 22, 2020Nice little trail. It wasn't bad muddy but we have had quite a bit of rain lately.
January 9, 2020Nice trail, not too busy, but it is easy to end up walking in circles in some areas. I only hiked the red trail, and it is not very well marked. I ended up walking probably extra mile around the 3 mile marker because of the poor marking.
January 3, 2020Nice hike but not marked well at all.
January 1, 2020Red Trail could be better marked but overall not a bad hike. It's 11 miles not 10. I missed part of the trail.
September 5, 2019The only downside to this trail is the confusing trail markers / lack of trail maps. There are several forks in the trail. The trails, facilities and the park are kept up very well. We followed the red markers and got turned around somewhere along the way when we realized we had already hiked that section. The trails take you through a nice terrain variety. Many of the trails are shaded. There are lots of rooty areas to watch out for. The creek bridges are in great shape. The distant sounds of the chimps and church bells are great!
July 29, 2019Overall loved it! As others have said, there are times when it is not clear which way to go. We were trying to follow the red bike trail and did good overall, we got off track once and added about half a mile on a loop. I thought the trail would end at 10 miles but we ended up getting back up on the road to finish because I wasn't sure how much further it would go and we weren't prepared for much more. We will def go back more prepared and find out how long it really is.
May 9, 2019This is a great trail! Depending on how you choose to bike or run it; you can get far more than 10 miles. There is a mix of gravel roads, equestrian trails, and challenging single track. There is a sneaky amount of elevation, especially for Louisiana. The local trail group:Get On A Trail-Shreveport; runs there often. Many of their members have detailed information and insight into this trail. Hit them up on Facebook and maybe one of them can show you the ropes. Full disclosure- I’m a member of the group.
April 28, 2019My husband, son and I , with our two dogs went hiking there today. Pros - excellent shading, beautiful parts of the forest, able to bring your dogs along. Neat to hear the chimps from chimp haven making their sounds. That it’s a hiking,biking, and horse riding trails. Cons- the markers are not very understanding- there are no boards or bulletins with information or a map of the trails. Came across a family that were biking, and they had their dog that was not on a leash.
April 21, 2019What a wonderful trail! And you can hear the chimps at the right time of day once you get close to the sanctuary. However, the trail is confusing and I am not sure many of the reviews help. My best advice is start at the official entrance to the trail at the park building. Starting at some other point in the trail is too confusing. Then stay on the RED mountain bike trail the whole way. If you get lucky, there will have been mountain bikers in it so you can follow their tracks. The most confusing part is the beginning so keep the app map open and tracking you 100% of the time. The signage is better after about three miles. At approximately the 6.5 marker, you’ll come to a gravel road. This will take you back to the park entrance OR you can jump right back off it back on to the red mountain bike trail. If you do that, it’s and 8.5 mile run. I am not sure why the mileage is incorrect in the description of this trail. There are mileage markers all the way to 8.5. Note you’ll likely lose cell service at the farthest (as the crow flies) spots from the entrance. So all of my notes won’t keep you from getting lost but they should help. My suggestion is run with a partner and if you get lost, use that to get more miles in and have fun. Also, run when it’s sunny so you’ll have some sense of direction. The pay off is pretty great.
April 14, 2019Did the upper half section with mix of both bike and hike trail sections. Could hear the monkeys howling from their sanctuary across the pond. Muddy and puddles throughout.
April 11, 2019March 22, 2019Muy recomendable, solo faltaría un poquito mejor las señales, me perdí 2 veces jaja y me regrese, realice la ruta por el sendero de las bicicletas pero solo 12k (con las perdidas) en 1:24’ En general muy agradable aunque obvio solitario!! Regresare!!
February 24, 2019Great trail. I pulled my son in the weehoo igo 2 and we had a blast. Can’t wait to go back without the trailer and really get after it.
December 4, 2018This one was an adventure. We could hear the monkeys hollering and banging.
August 17, 2018awesome Trail
