Explore the best rated trails in Alpena, MI. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Huron Sunrise Trail and Alpena Bi-Path. With more than 5 trails covering 127 miles you’re bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
The 71-mile North Eastern State Trail, along the former Detroit and Mackinac Railway, provides a mostly solitary and meditative experience as you travel through wetlands, farmland, forests, and a few...
Alpena'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...
The Huron Sunrise Trail follows the shore of Lake Huron from south of Rogers City, through town and north to end at 40 Mile Lighthouse. The scenic trail links the town with Vogler Conservation Area, a...
The Shingle Mill Pathway is a series of trail loops for hikers, cross-country skiers and mountain bikers. Horses and snowmobiles are not permitted on the Shingle Mill Pathway. All the loops begin...
The Huron Sunrise Trail follows the shore of Lake Huron from south of Rogers City, through town and north to end at 40 Mile Lighthouse. The scenic trail links the town with Vogler Conservation Area, a...
The scenic Alpena to Hillman Trail runs for 22 miles across northern Michigan on a former railroad corridor. The surface is largely improved, so the trail is popular with hikers and mountain bikers,...
Alpena'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...
The 71-mile North Eastern State Trail, along the former Detroit and Mackinac Railway, provides a mostly solitary and meditative experience as you travel through wetlands, farmland, forests, and a few...
Alpena'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...
The scenic Alpena to Hillman Trail runs for 22 miles across northern Michigan on a former railroad corridor. The surface is largely improved, so the trail is popular with hikers and mountain bikers,...
The Huron Sunrise Trail follows the shore of Lake Huron from south of Rogers City, through town and north to end at 40 Mile Lighthouse. The scenic trail links the town with Vogler Conservation Area, a...
The Shingle Mill Pathway is a series of trail loops for hikers, cross-country skiers and mountain bikers. Horses and snowmobiles are not permitted on the Shingle Mill Pathway. All the loops begin...
The 71-mile North Eastern State Trail, along the former Detroit and Mackinac Railway, provides a mostly solitary and meditative experience as you travel through wetlands, farmland, forests, and a few...
Marking the first day of Autumn, my friend and I rode 36 miles from the Millersburg trailhead, east to Alpena. The trail was in great shape (no longer rough as reported in previous year's reviews). The trailhead in Metz was beautiful and included a shaded pavillion, restrooms, a drinking fountain with great tasting water, informative displays regarding death, destruction and recovery efforts associated with the huge fire in 1908 and was nicely landscaped. We rode our gravel bikes with 35 to 40 mm widths, I would not advise using road bikes. Lots of nice little towns along the route to find refreshments. This was an excellent, though little used trail.
Rode from the trailhead in Millersburg (very nice facility) to the trailhead in Cheboygan. Over the 34 miles there were nice views and a number of towns to pick up food and or refreshments. The bridges were all in good shape, as was the trail surface. My friend and I rode gravel bikes, mine with 35mm tires and his with 40mm width tires. The surface wasn't rough and there was only one road crossing where there were significant bike handling issues due to the sand. I wouldn't advice using a road bike with skinny high pressure tires, they'll likely have problems in some of the areas where there was a bit of loose gravel. This was a really nice trail!
Pleasant, mainly flat trail from Rogers City along the Huron Lake out to 40 Mile Point Lighthouse. Very pretty. Trail wasn't crowded on a Wednesday evening.
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.
I would suggest starting at the baseball field parking lot north of the calcite plant then riding north to 40 Mile Point Lighthouse. Next time I will pack a cooler and swim suit so that when I end back at the ball field beach, I’ll spend the afternoon!
I tried biking from Tower east and only made it to Onaway before turning around. The trail surface was rough for my hybrid bike. There was little shade, no benches, few points of interest. I was the only biker out on June 7, 2019, which was a Friday and a beautiful day. I think this trail has potential, and maybe there are some picturesque spots, but I chose to return to the North Central Trail at Wolverine, also crushed limestone but a smooth surface.
A gem, lightly used trails and remote beaches: romantic ride!
I had planned to ride the trail from Cheboygan, Mi. to Alpena. Other cyclists told me the trail was rough most of the way, so I decided to ride part of the trail North from Alpena. The 10 miles I rode was rough. There were tractor tire imprints left when the trail was driven over while still soft. It dried out then hardened. It was about like riding over a washboard....for those of you who know what that is. The part of the trail I rode was mostly through wooded areas. I was riding a Cannondale Synapse with 700x32 tires. The trail is more suited for hybrids or mountain bikes.
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.
I rode from M33 to M27. Very nice, although a tad loose for 25mm tires. There is access to Aloha State Park (bathrooms, picnic tables, etc) from the trail. A park ranger stopped me at a crossing and gave me a FREE ICE CREAM ticket for being a safe rider! 😁
Careful on the bridge crossing the Cheboygan River (see my hazard alertin a different post).
The bridge crossing the Cheboygan River is potentially dangerous. The wood planking has some gaps wide enough for tires to get caught AND once caught, there is no escape. I nearly crashed!
Unless you feel lucky, best walk across the bridge.
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TrailLink is a free service provided by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (a non-profit) and we need your support!