Find the top rated trails in Alma, whether you're looking an easy walking path or a long bike trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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The Trolley Line Trail, which opened in 2009, runs north from the City of Clio to the Saginaw County line at Willard Road in Vienna Township. It is so-named because it occupies a corridor that once...
The Hampton Township Nature Trail is a 2-mile gravel trail that begins at Finn Road Park winding through marshy areas, woods, skirts farm fields, and ending at a boat launch on Jones Road. Along the...
The Fred Meijer Grand River Valley Rail Trail is one component of a network of trails in mid-west Michigan that, when complete, will stretch 125 miles from Alma to Owosso. The trails are named after...
The paved Fred Meijer Heartland Trail rolls for 42 miles through farmland and forests in central Michigan as it links a half-dozen rural towns with recreational opportunities. Its route follows the...
The Bay County Riverwalk/Railtrail System connects a nature trail in a wildlife refuge on the shores of Lake Huron to a loop trail around the bustling port of Bay City. From the same 17-mile paved...
The Sycamore Trail, which opened in October 2014, provides an important connection between two other trails in Delhi Charter Township, on the south end of Lansing. At the trail’s northern end, it...
In just 4 miles, visitors to the Cannon Township Trail are able to experience a variety of landscapes. The greenway begins in the Cannon Township Center, and travels through pine forests, grassy...
The Zilwaukee Pathway offers a paved route through the eastern Michigan city of Zilwaukee. It begins on the western shore of the Saginaw River at Zilwaukee Riverfront Park, where you'll find parking,...
The Lansing River Trail traces the course of three waterways for more than 25 miles across Michigan’s capital city. Visiting all four main points of the compass in Lansing, the trail provides a route...
The Pere Marquette State Trail, managed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, begins in Clare and courses for 53 miles west through beautiful woodlands and fields to Baldwin. If you want to...
Many factors contribute to the Pere Marquette Rail-Trail’s popularity. It runs for 30 miles on smooth asphalt that is well maintained and, at 14 feet, wide enough to ride or walk side-by-side. At...
The Portland Riverwalk ushers visitors around the charming town of Portland on 9 miles of paved trail. Also known as the Rivertrail Linear Park, the trail connects a handful of parks, scenic views...
The Saginaw Valley Rail Trail offers a year-round rural retreat from the urban confines of Saginaw. Rolling through a continuous woodsy border past farms, fields, and game areas for 11 miles, the...
The Granger Meadows Park Trail forms a loop around the 76-acre park in DeWitt Township, just north of Lansing. The park was built and donated by Granger III and Associates, a local trash and recycling...
Fred Meijer White Pine Trail State Park makes tracks from a bustling Grand Rapids community to the forests, farmlands, and friendly towns of Northern Lower Michigan. At nearly 93 miles, it is the...
The George Atkin Jr. Recreational Trail winds along scenic Pine Run Creek in the City of Clio. From a hub downtown at Clio Park, the paved trail branches out through the city, providing access to a...
The Fred Meijer Clinton-Ionia-Shiawassee (CIS) Rail Trail stretches 41 miles between the mid-Michigan towns of Ionia and Owosso, offering a mix of pastoral and wooded landscapes. It crosses three...
The largely unimproved Fred Meijer Flat River Valley Rail Trail links the cities of Lowell, Belding and Greenville in Kent, Ionia and Montcalm counties, respectively. While plans call for the eventual...
The Northern Tier Trail winds through East Lansing on the outskirts of Michigan's capital, offering miles of paved pathway through tree-lined areas and wetlands. The 10-foot-wide trail connects...
The Big Rapids Riverwalk travels alongside the scenic Muskegon River and connects downtown Big Rapids with several recreational amenities, including Hemlock Park, Northend Riverside Park, and Swede...
The Lansing River Trail traces the course of three waterways for more than 25 miles across Michigan’s capital city. Visiting all four main points of the compass in Lansing, the trail provides a route...
Eastern Michigan's 7-mile Saginaw County to Bay County Connector is lined with trees and traverses picturesque farmland. The paved rail-trail follows the former Detroit and Mackinac Railway, which...
The Big Rapids Riverwalk travels alongside the scenic Muskegon River and connects downtown Big Rapids with several recreational amenities, including Hemlock Park, Northend Riverside Park, and Swede...
The largely unimproved Fred Meijer Flat River Valley Rail Trail links the cities of Lowell, Belding and Greenville in Kent, Ionia and Montcalm counties, respectively. While plans call for the eventual...
In just 4 miles, visitors to the Cannon Township Trail are able to experience a variety of landscapes. The greenway begins in the Cannon Township Center, and travels through pine forests, grassy...
The Harger Line Rail-Trail runs for an arrow-straight 10 miles through farmland in rural Saginaw County. The trail opened in 2008, two years after the underlying Harger Line Railway corridor was...
The Bay County Riverwalk/Railtrail System connects a nature trail in a wildlife refuge on the shores of Lake Huron to a loop trail around the bustling port of Bay City. From the same 17-mile paved...
Many factors contribute to the Pere Marquette Rail-Trail’s popularity. It runs for 30 miles on smooth asphalt that is well maintained and, at 14 feet, wide enough to ride or walk side-by-side. At...
The Fred Meijer Clinton-Ionia-Shiawassee (CIS) Rail Trail stretches 41 miles between the mid-Michigan towns of Ionia and Owosso, offering a mix of pastoral and wooded landscapes. It crosses three...
The paved Fred Meijer Heartland Trail rolls for 42 miles through farmland and forests in central Michigan as it links a half-dozen rural towns with recreational opportunities. Its route follows the...
The Fred Meijer Flat River Trail connects 2 mountain bike trails and 5 city parks in Greenville. The trail follows the winding Flat River, offering scenic views and incorporating forest and wetlands....
The Saginaw Valley Rail Trail offers a year-round rural retreat from the urban confines of Saginaw. Rolling through a continuous woodsy border past farms, fields, and game areas for 11 miles, the...
The Sycamore Trail, which opened in October 2014, provides an important connection between two other trails in Delhi Charter Township, on the south end of Lansing. At the trail’s northern end, it...
The Fred Thwaites Grand River Trail, also known as the Ionia River Trail, travels for just over 3 miles along the edge of Grand River. The paved pathway begins at Quarry Road and travels to the Ionia...
The Pere Marquette State Trail, managed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, begins in Clare and courses for 53 miles west through beautiful woodlands and fields to Baldwin. If you want to...
The Portland Riverwalk ushers visitors around the charming town of Portland on 9 miles of paved trail. Also known as the Rivertrail Linear Park, the trail connects a handful of parks, scenic views...
The Zilwaukee Pathway offers a paved route through the eastern Michigan city of Zilwaukee. It begins on the western shore of the Saginaw River at Zilwaukee Riverfront Park, where you'll find parking,...
The Northern Tier Trail winds through East Lansing on the outskirts of Michigan's capital, offering miles of paved pathway through tree-lined areas and wetlands. The 10-foot-wide trail connects...
The George Atkin Jr. Recreational Trail winds along scenic Pine Run Creek in the City of Clio. From a hub downtown at Clio Park, the paved trail branches out through the city, providing access to a...
Fred Meijer White Pine Trail State Park makes tracks from a bustling Grand Rapids community to the forests, farmlands, and friendly towns of Northern Lower Michigan. At nearly 93 miles, it is the...
The Fred Thwaites Grand River Trail, also known as the Ionia River Trail, travels for just over 3 miles along the edge of Grand River. The paved pathway begins at Quarry Road and travels to the Ionia...
The Sycamore Trail, which opened in October 2014, provides an important connection between two other trails in Delhi Charter Township, on the south end of Lansing. At the trail’s northern end, it...
The Portland Riverwalk ushers visitors around the charming town of Portland on 9 miles of paved trail. Also known as the Rivertrail Linear Park, the trail connects a handful of parks, scenic views...
The largely unimproved Fred Meijer Flat River Valley Rail Trail links the cities of Lowell, Belding and Greenville in Kent, Ionia and Montcalm counties, respectively. While plans call for the eventual...
Fred Meijer White Pine Trail State Park makes tracks from a bustling Grand Rapids community to the forests, farmlands, and friendly towns of Northern Lower Michigan. At nearly 93 miles, it is the...
The Saginaw Valley Rail Trail offers a year-round rural retreat from the urban confines of Saginaw. Rolling through a continuous woodsy border past farms, fields, and game areas for 11 miles, the...
Many factors contribute to the Pere Marquette Rail-Trail’s popularity. It runs for 30 miles on smooth asphalt that is well maintained and, at 14 feet, wide enough to ride or walk side-by-side. At...
The Chippewa Trail offers a paved 4-mile route from Midland to the Chippewa Nature Center, part of a beautiful 1,200-acre preserve, where you'll find a wildlife viewing area, river overlook and...
The Fred Meijer Clinton-Ionia-Shiawassee (CIS) Rail Trail stretches 41 miles between the mid-Michigan towns of Ionia and Owosso, offering a mix of pastoral and wooded landscapes. It crosses three...
Eastern Michigan's 7-mile Saginaw County to Bay County Connector is lined with trees and traverses picturesque farmland. The paved rail-trail follows the former Detroit and Mackinac Railway, which...
The Lansing River Trail traces the course of three waterways for more than 25 miles across Michigan’s capital city. Visiting all four main points of the compass in Lansing, the trail provides a route...
The George Atkin Jr. Recreational Trail winds along scenic Pine Run Creek in the City of Clio. From a hub downtown at Clio Park, the paved trail branches out through the city, providing access to a...
The Hampton Township Nature Trail is a 2-mile gravel trail that begins at Finn Road Park winding through marshy areas, woods, skirts farm fields, and ending at a boat launch on Jones Road. Along the...
The Harger Line Rail-Trail runs for an arrow-straight 10 miles through farmland in rural Saginaw County. The trail opened in 2008, two years after the underlying Harger Line Railway corridor was...
In just 4 miles, visitors to the Cannon Township Trail are able to experience a variety of landscapes. The greenway begins in the Cannon Township Center, and travels through pine forests, grassy...
The paved Fred Meijer Heartland Trail rolls for 42 miles through farmland and forests in central Michigan as it links a half-dozen rural towns with recreational opportunities. Its route follows the...
The Trolley Line Trail, which opened in 2009, runs north from the City of Clio to the Saginaw County line at Willard Road in Vienna Township. It is so-named because it occupies a corridor that once...
The Thomas Township Trail provides a paved, north-south route of just over 2 miles through this Michigan community. It begins at a connection with the popular Saginaw Valley Rail Trail, which heads...
The Zilwaukee Pathway offers a paved route through the eastern Michigan city of Zilwaukee. It begins on the western shore of the Saginaw River at Zilwaukee Riverfront Park, where you'll find parking,...
The Fred Meijer Grand River Valley Rail Trail is one component of a network of trails in mid-west Michigan that, when complete, will stretch 125 miles from Alma to Owosso. The trails are named after...
This asphalt trail is extremely well-maintained. We started in Alma and rode to Vestaburg and back (28 miles round trip). The scenery is gorgeous. There are no hills, a few roads to cross making this a very easy-going ride.
Trail is being graded and worked on north of Reed City.
I sure hope they are planning on paving it.
Meanwhile, the parking at Paris Park is no longer free for trail users.
Pulled in today and the Ranger stated the fee is $6 minimum for using the trail....the lot had no cars in it.
Ranger suggested another parking spot just north of Paris 1/4 mile.
Small lot...would work but the entry to the trail was gated and locked.
This is a nice trail with trail access in both towns and at the Ionia State Recreation picnic area off Riverside Dr between the 2 towns. The Park is a nice place to stop for a picnic (has a covered pavilion) and to use the restrooms. Signage is poor on the trail, but at the crossroads, you head south to the picnic area off Riverside Dr, or north to a primitive boat launch on the Grand River.
I start my ride in Alma at the College. It is one of my favorite trails as I drive 37 miles just to ride it. It goes through a ghost town and you cross a few bridges along the way. My only complaint is I wish there were mile markers along the way. If your thirsty along the way stop in at the Ghost Town Saloon in Elwell!
I rode this trail for the first time Aug 31st, 2017 traveling from Midland to Coleman and back. Smooth asphalt trail well maintained with very nice benches, tables, and rest rooms all along the trail! Quiet, great scenic ride that is easy to keep your speed up. I was not up for a 60 mile trip to traverse all the way to Clare, so my next visit will be to Clare for an out-and-back taking in the rest this trail has to offer!
We bikepacked the trail in August 2017 with our dog Yoo-Hoo in the trailer. The trail is awesome on the paved sections and challenging on the unpaved portions. We started in Comstock Park and rode north to the Mecosta County Park in Paris. A wonderful little park! There is a great little pizza shop on the trail there. If you plan ahead you can reserve one of the little cabins in the park and forego a tent. That day we had to grind out a 29 mile stretch of gravel, sand, single track, grass and other rough conditions. There are amish buggies using the trail so watch out for them.
It starts at MM21 in Sand Lake and pavement picks up on the south side of Grand Rapids. We took almost 4 hours to do that stretch with our loaded bikes, a dog trailer and stopping for lunch. The next day we rode from Paris to Cadillac and back to our campsite. There is 10 miles of gravel from the north side of Reed City (MM64) to 3 miles south of Leroy (MM74). From Leroy to Cadillac it is beautifully paved with some very pleasant scenery which you can actually enjoy since you arent focused on the trail. If the museum in Tustin is open its worth a stop. its an old potato warehouse and the folks there were so friendly. There is an unbelievable amount of stuff in the museum. We stopped for lunch in downtown Cadillac that had sidewalk seating since we had Yoo-Hoo. We heard from some other riders that the Depot restaurant was also very nice . The third day it was back to our truck in Grand Rapids.
We had mixed feelings. We drove 5 hours to ride this trail not paying close enough attention to the description and thinking unpaved as in crushed stone. We like to ride long trails to make it worth the drive and the 93 miles was part of the attraction. We are glad we rode it but probably wont do it again unless its better surfaced. Im not sure I would recommend it to friends to drive that far. We were hoping since its a State Park it would have been a little better shape. So the beginning, middle and end of the trail is very nice but the two unpaved sections are tedious, tiring and just not a lot of fun.
I have enjoyed the bike ride from Big Rapids to Reed City and over to Evert for 10 years . South of BR however has loose gravel, rounded stone that does not pack well and makes peddling a tour bike impossible and a mountain bike very unplesant. The old flat RR bedding ( ballast I think) provided a firm base.
The Rockford to Comstock Park is really nice. Fun way to go to White Caps games !
We are missing huge commercial potential by not paving the entire trail and leaving it just short of 100 miles. Events like Century BIKE rides offer real challenges, 1/2 Century rides, etc.
I biked for Farwell to Sears and back was time constrained so couldn't go further. I have to agree with the other reviewer that it is a pretty boring trail but really good pavement conditions and easy road crossings and if you just want to bike fast and getting some miles it's perfect. Warning in15 miles I did (one way) not a single public restroom. But I stopped about a mile and a half short of Sears so maybe they were bathrooms there
This is an out and back trail (not a loop), roughly 2.5 miles long. There are trailheads at Jones and Finn Rd. The section from Knight to Jones is prettier. Nice and easy gravel trail. We saw rabbit, an egret, lots of frogs, and turtles.
The George Atkin Jr. Recreational Trail is a nice little trail, but as the previous two reviewers had mentioned, is quite rough. There are many cracks in the pavement that you need to be careful, throughout every portion of the trail. Most have been spray painted to alert users of the danger, but even still it's hard to see. I'd recommend the trail to cyclists, but if you are a roadie, I wouldn't necessarily bring my best bike. A hybrid or any bike with larger diameter tires is best suited to handle the terrain of the aging trail.
With the negatives out of the way, the positives are quite nice. The engineering of the trail is outstanding. There are signs at ever spur in the trail and all parts of the trails avoid roads, bypassing M-57 (Vienna Rd) and Mill St. in Clio and the railroad tracks just as it connects with the Trolley Line Rail Trail/spurs towards the Business Park off of Vienna.
Terrain-wise, For those who want a good workout with elevation, the trail provides some nice little climbs, mostly heading south towards Wilson Rd. The trail is very wooded, basically like riding/walking/running on a trail through the woods. In some spots the trail is quite overgrown, but never enough to not have a path on the trail. Some of the spots on the trail are apt to be muddy or have a tiny amount of water going through it. It's never enough to make it impassible but might make you wet if your bike tire splashes it up! There is a small spot where water runs over the creek, near the Church and near Vienna Rd. Again, it's never impassible but you should probably slow down through it.
Length-wise, with the connecting Trolley Line Trail, I was able to get about 12 miles into it taking all of the spurs but, missing out on probably 3 or so miles on the Trolley due to it being closed about 1.5 miles from it's end point. (as of August 2017)
The trail has always been lightly used when I've been on it. I've never saw more than a handful of people in the numerous times I've walked or rode it.
To summarize, it's a good trail that is showing it's age. You can get a nice little workout and it gets you to most businesses and places in Clio. If you live in Mt. Morris or just outside the Downtown portion of Clio you could ride the trail into the city, to run errands as the spurs give you great access to many important portions of the city. Be safe, don't ride at extremely fast pace and keep your eyes on the trail (for the cracks) and you should have a nice time and get back in one piece.
As Badh mentioned below..the 2X4 that was used to repair the small bridge just north of Cedar Springs, is a killer. Heading north, the leading edge of the bridge is the flat edge of said board. Anything over 10 mph, figure on damage to your bike rim.
And then, a few miles further, it's 2 track with Amish horse and buggy trail.
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