Explore the best rated trails in Cadillac, MI. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Betsie Valley Trail and Irons Area Tourist Association Snowmobile Trail. With more than 15 trails covering 388 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.
This is a nice trail. The trail has been completed so that it does go all the way around Boardman Lake. It is about 4 miles, mostly shaded, and mostly paved. There are sections of boardwalk and a small section of hard packed dirt/gravel.
I ride from Midland to Clare, then ride back. It’s a great trail with plenty of stops for restrooms, water fountains, and convenient stores. The trail is fixed in Sanford, and no longer requires navigating around the detour.
Nice ride. Well maintained asphalt trail. Fish hatchery in Paris is worth a visit.
I’m a huge fan of this rail trail. Park at the tridge, ride to Clare for lunch, then ride back! There are tunnels under the busy roads near Midland and Clare, but you have to watch out for a few road crossings in between. Water fountains at both ends, Sanford, and Coleman. Little store halfway between Sanford and Coleman. Plenty of restrooms along the trail.
I've now ridden from Cadillac through Tustin, LeRoy, and Ashton to Reed City. Such a delightful trail for road bikes! I especially liked the portions north of Ashton as they were away from the road and more undeveloped (woods, hills, valleys, cool swamps, neat farms) and interesting. The condition of the pavement is very good except for two locations 1) a very short section north of Tustin where some roots are starting to undermine the asphalt, and 2) immediately north of Reed City where there are some cracks across the pavement. Enjoy this treasure of a trail!
Great ride, scenic as it rolls through vineyards and apple orchards. Not dissimilar from Tuscany. Also Sutton’s bay has plenty of restaurants including beer pubs which makes it a great halfway point.
Rode the trail from the state park into Grayling. Lots of hills but the ride was very smooth. Not the prettiest trail we’ve been. Not sure we’d go back. Lots of riding next to the road. Kind of noisy.
Enjoyed our ride on the Leelanau Trail. Took us about 5 hrs to go to Suttons Bay and back. We have rad power bikes. Stopped a few times there and back—wandered around Suttons Bay a little. Nice smooth trail
I recently moved to the Cadillac area and have had this trail in my crosshairs for quite some time. So yesterday ( 7-23-22 ) , I set out from Cadillac at 0900 and rode the trail in its entirety, arriving in Grand Rapids just before 5pm. The scenery along with small town Americana was very enjoyable.
I had visited this site several times prior to my adventure to learn of what I may have to look forward to. I would like to add a few thoughts…
First of all, I’m a mountain biker. This trail is very easy, but riding with a M.B. surely has advantages. The unpacked portion was ( for me anyway ) more to my liking. I can’t speak for others, especially you skinny tire riders, but it was my favorite section ( south of Big Rapids to Sand lake roughly ) . I passed a small group on this section but that was it and saw nobody until I picked back up with the paved section at Sand lake. The riding was easy, being hard packed gravel and dirt. I’ve rode trails all over the U.S. and there’s one thing they all have in common- the paved trails usually show signs of degrading and that makes the ride tougher on those that expect a smooth surface. It is what it is. Hence the reason I enjoy natural non paved. And like I eluded, I noticed more users on the paved portions north and south than I did on the natural mid section.
Takeaways—
There’s always someone that feels the need to litter. I don’t know how many Cliff bar wrappers I picked up, at least 6. There’s no need for it.
Those that point out every detail or flaw of this trail- y’all need to get outside more!😂. As I said earlier, skinny tire folks won’t care for the mid section probably. But the entire trail is so easy and well maintained, it’s even better than riding the local roads .
Bring your own food and water, yet there are many places to get off and replenish supplies if need be.
Overall, this was truly a great experience. My hats off to the volunteers and DNR for maintaining such a wonderful resource . I will be doing this ride again in the upcoming fall for sure.
For those that wonder, I had a ride waiting for me in GR. My girlfriend had planned it so that she would be downstate and picked me up for the trip back up north. 90 miles on a bike is enough for one day,😂
Everyone enjoy this trail and others in this great state!
The trail from Grand Rapids to just north of Cedar Springs is paved but after that it's a terrible trail and poorly maintained, if at all! Branches & fallen trees across the trail, parts not mowed, rutted paths and lots of very loose sand make this a terrible trail for biking past Cedar Springs! There are obvious signs of horses using the trail as well.
The trail is paved from Comstock to Sand Lake. From Sand Lake to Big Rapids the trail is a combination of gravel, grass and dirt. Biking in general can kick up dirt but my mountain bike was constantly kicking up rocks and debris; it was a rough, messy, slow, 50 miles north (11.5-12 mph) once the trail changed to dirt. I enjoyed the challenge but prefer pavement. I will not likely ride this trail again unless the rumors of paving it become a reality.
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