Quite a varied experience! The physical trail itself has a nicely paved surface throughout and is fairly well maintained. However, the scenery varies from rust-belt urban blight that's a bit scary in places, to strikingly pretty and family-friendly.
For our bike ride, we parked on Michigan Avenue two blocks east of the state capital building, and after carrying our bikes down the steps on the river side of the Lansing Center, we rode to the northern end of the trail which terminates at the Turner-Dodge house. We then turned around and rode all the way south to Hawk Island Park, then back downtown.
We started off in front of the new and cool Lansing City Market. There's a great view across the river of the beautifully renovated Accident Fund building and its oddly hideous parking structure. Riding north from there was both fun and weird. Zooming our bikes over the river and under the bridges on the boardwalk felt almost like riding an old-fashioned wooden rollercoaster with the loud clacking of the planks under our wheels. Very fun! We liked checking out the Brenke Fish Ladder and some of the restored buildings in Old Town too. But there was weirdness. After passing a few family picnics and several old guys fishing, we rode past a shirtless guy walking down the path with a 9mm pistol slung on his hip. Never seen that before. And later when returning from the north end of the trail, before we went south of town, we passed this same guy who'd met up with his buddies who were all packing either similar pistols or assault rifles. It appeared to be a right-to-carry gathering I guess. We were a little uncomfortable. We rode on.
Heading south under Michigan Avenue we passed the Riverwalk Theater and the Impression 5 Museum as well as a very pretty ivy-covered brick building along the river's edge. But from there, until we reached Potter Park Zoo, except for some nice foliage on the immediate sides of the trail, much of this section of the bike trail was really awful. The view: abandoned warehouses, dusty barbed-wire fenced parking lots with hulking rusted trucks and banged-up oil drums. The smell: municipal water treatment facility. Very few riders along this isolated stretch. Easy to feel vulnerable. Not too fun.
But then there was the wonderful length of trail from Potter Park Zoo down to Hawk Island Park. This serene path winds beneath a canopy of lush trees alongside river, creeks, and ponds rimmed with lilly pads and wildflowers. It felt sort of enchanted with the distant sounds of the zoo animals. We saw bikers, joggers, dog walkers, and families with strollers on this part of the trail.
Hawk Island Park itself was great too. Since our bike ride was on Sunday afternoon, there were lots of picnicking families, kids playing at the water-park, and swimmers at the beach. We skipped the trail extension down to Jolly Road, and instead rounded the lake on a nice looping path and headed back toward town.
Overall, we had fun. We'll definitely do the Potter Park Zoo to Hawk Island Park section again, as well as check out the MSU, Moore's Park, and Jolly Road extensions.

I decided to try out the Lansing River Trail and obtained directions to the East Lansing trailhead off Kalamazoo/Clippert St. Upon arriving at the parking lot where I had hoped to leave my car, I discovered 5 separate areas of shattered vehicle window glass. Needless to say I did not feel comfortable leaving my car there. While I would not have left any valuables in the car (like the sign suggested), I still did not feel like dealing with a broken car window when I returned from my ride. Not sure how long the broken glass has been there??? Its too bad that individuals have to spoil what could be a nice route:(

May 29, 2011. Yesterday my husband and I set out from the trailhead at Kalamazoo near MSU to find that just 1/2 mi into our ride, the trail was covered with water! Considering all the rain we've had I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised; and there were signs posted. We attempted to pedal through anyway since we have mountain bikes. We made it through the first area okay after removing our shoes and socks (the water came above our axles). It was soon apparent though we were going to have to abort our ride since every low area was covered in equally deep water, and for longer stretches. Exciting but a little slow going. It was very hard to see the trail through the murky water making it a little dangerous. It literally looked as if we were in the middle of a swamp! We had to get off and walk a couple times and that was cold! The mosquitos loved us! So, just be warned before you head out, what you're getting into. Wish someone had posted a comment here for us.