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Print Friendly MapAlpena's Bi-Path covers 14 miles of ground in an urban landscape, taking in scenic views of Lake Huron and Thunder Bay River, as well as skirting Alpena Wildlife Sanctuary. The paved trail follows a level, and in places winding, course. One loop nearly circles Alpena Wildlife Sanctuary, while another loop stretches from Water Works Park on the lake up to the wildlife sanctuary then west to the high school.
Another long segment runs from Carter Street along the river northwest to Lake Besser before meeting up with the wildlife sanctuary loop. Two short, disconnected segments take in Bayview Park on one end of the city and the western side of the wildlife sanctuary.
The trail system links civic attractions, neighborhoods, schools, parks, the unpaved Alpena to Hillman Trail and businesses. For more information about each different segment and its length, as well as access, parking and amenity information, click on the link to the right under Related Content.
There are dozens of access points and places to park along Alpena's Bi-Path. For more information about trail amenities, parking and access, click on the link under Related Content to the right.
This was definitely the most diverse trail we’ve rode! This trail takes you thru a fairground, past a hospital, a junior college, industrial complex, residential areas, cemeteries, rivers, over major roads, parks and over bridges. You travel on a lot of sidewalks… but the worst part was it was poorly marked. This app made riding this trail possible! Lots of stop and goes! We will not do this trail again!
Signage needs to be upgraded, real bike paths, not sidewalks, should introduced where not already present. Disjointed. This series of semi interconnected routes is mainly for local folks on casual / heavy bikes. For folks who like to ride some distance without frequent interuptions, road crossings, and or traffic lights, these routes are not for you.
As noted in two other reviews, it is impossible to follow this "trail", which is basically riding on the sidewalks of Alpena. We got a map at the bike shop, but it's very difficult to follow. We spent over an hour trying to find our way from the bike shop to the Duck Lake area, with no success. There are occasional signs on the "trail", but you follow them, come to an intersection, and there is no indication of which way to turn. There is one nice area along the river, which is an actual bike path. Overall, very disappointing.
As others have said, this trail is very hard to follow. No maps, poor or almost non-existent signage, and the trail varys from wide asphalt to narrow side walks to nothing. Not consistant at all, and adds to the confusion. Dumps you on to streets that names change after crossing a road, so even if you find a sign and it shows a street that supposedly has the trail near it, you're still out of luck, because the street has another name. So what signs there are, are very difficult to interpret. Funny, at one point on part of the trail that we could follow, there was a sign posted that said "Use the trail or we lose it". We agreed that if we had a marker, we would have added..."we think you've already lost it, because we've been trying to find it all morning!". Someone mentioned that those in town probably know how to get around on it. We didn't find that to be the case. Asking other local bikers showed they really didn't how to move though it either. Asked a mail man too, no luck there either (though he did help us by telling where roads names changed). We gave up and just ate lunch and then left. Too bad, as Alpena is a very nice town, nice waterfront, and quiet community. Go and plan to just ride the roads and enjoy the town. Don't go to try and ride (find) the trail!
We went to this trail in the fall. Parked by Lake Huron. The park that was there was really nice and had a good landscape of the bay. The trail rode by the lake shore for a few miles. They had a nice board walk that went out into the lake surrounding a marina. It goes around a nice nature preserve, however, you cannot take your bike in there. We did a short walk through it just to see what it is like. Then it takes you through the Fairgrounds, along a river and through part of town. Then you get to go through a residential area that crosses a lot of streets. It was a good looping trail, but as others have stated here, it is not marked well. Luckily we had this app on our phone and GPS to help us around town.
I think this is a decent trail for such a small town. could have some improvements of course, but its a good start
Trail is not well marked, no maps at parking area or along the trail. For out of towners, or first timers you will haved to guess when the trail dumpes you out on side streets. Unfortunatly, you don't get to see much of the nature preserve going around the lake either. If you are a resident or staying in Alpena it might be an OK ride, but don't go out of your way for this one.
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