Find the top rated trails in Alpena, 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.
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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 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,...
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.
We rode this trail with friends on Labor Day weekend and we're so glad we did. The only downside was that it was too hot and humid to fully enjoy being on asphalt in the hard sun. On a milder day, this would be even more fun.
We started at Seagull Point Park because we weren't interested in riding through the downtown area or marina. You have to ride north down the road out of the park parking lot to pick up the trail crossing. After that, it's a nice relatively flat ride most of the way, meandering through woods, the lakeshore, and just a few bits along US-23 (but not on the road shoulder... the bike path is still there!) After you pass Hoeft S.P. you will soon be at the 40 Mile Point Lighthouse. That is the only place you'll find a couple bigger hills to negotiate both ways. I'm no athlete and had no problem with them. I did walk up on the return because the hill rises right from the lighthouse grounds with no chance to "build steam"!
Do take time to enjoy the 40 Mile Point light. The Fresnel lens at the top of the tower is worth the climb. It's like a piece of art itself ... the grounds offer many historical/interpretive points, a gift shop, and a soda/Gatorade machine that, for us anyway, dispensed beverages so cold they had ice bits in them. Perfect for that hot day!
The only thing we wished we'd have done was wear our bathing suits under our clothes so we could stop for a dip ... there are many opportunities to do so and it would have felt great.
All in all, an excellent short round trip trail for all skill levels and ages!
My aunt and I rode this and it was a very easy, fun ride. Lots of scenic views of Lake Huron! Great short ride, few inclines, paved the whole way.
My aunt and I set out to ride from Cheboygan to Onaway, round trip totaling 52 miles. This trail is gorgeous and very easy to navigate. I agree with the previous reviews that, there is no coasting, limestone is difficult at times. Our average speed was only around 8-9mph, so it took us 6 hours to ride the trail.
Onaway has a great restaurant called Woodwinds for our half point to grab lunch and some homemade cookies for a little boost on our way back. Getting to Onaway was very cool, a little off roading around a farm which lead to some great pics.
Wife and I just returned from 3 days of cycling using Cheboygan as a hub. On our third day we did 15.5 miles on the North East State trail from Cheboygan to Aloha State Park and back. Could only give it a 3 star rating.
Good News: Great trail head services in both Cheboygan and at Aloha State Park. Scenic route with a mix of shade trees and open farm fields. Cool bridge crossing over the Cheboygan River.
Bad News: The crushed limestone surface is too deep and causes a lot of rolling resistance. On my 700 X 38mm tire I felt as if I was “snowplowing” through the crushed limestone. As another commenter said, “there is no coasting on this trail.” In fact, on similar RTTs that have numerous street crossings but are PAVED my average moving speed is 14.5 mph. However, my speed on this section of the NEST was only 10.3 mph. So plan your trip accordingly.
The crushed limestone is most troublesome at street crossings were it can be 3” deep and stop you dead in your tracks.
Wish this trail was paved as they did with the Leelanau Trail in Traverse City or the Little Traverse Wheelway – Charlevoix to Harbor Springs.
My wife and I rode this trail on a beautiful August day. The trail is very scenic so we took our time and enjoyed the views. Our turn around spot was the marina at Rogers City. We ate a hamburger at the Pavilion Grill by the marina. The trail is mostly flat with a few small inclines. A steeper incline by the lighthouse but its over before you get too tired. A good feature of this trail is the fact that it is NOT isolated. I would let my daughter ride or walk this trail by herself. It is worth the drive to Rogers City. You will enjoy the trail.
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 just rode 6 miles south of Cheboygan and back on our hybrid tandem. The route is nice, as it is not alongside a highway. Very quiet, allowing us to enjoy the bird serenades.
We were a bit disappointed with the trail surface. It was irregular, with some narrow tracks of hard pack but 80-90% of the width was loose crushed gravel. Some of the road intersections had deep gravel aprons which we had to plow through with our 20" front wheel. There was also the occasional pothole to avoid. If the gravel had some clay mixed in it would make for a much nicer ride.
My wife and I started at Aloha state park and went north to Cheboygan. There was a slight incline going. We had a nice lunch at Pier 33 restaurant. Only four stars instead of five just because I'm a little lazy and like to coast now and then. No coasting on the crushed limestone. There are some isolated spots so girls go with a friend.
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.
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