Find the top rated trails in Indian River, 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 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...
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Mackinac Island is truly deserving of its status as one of the most popular tourist destinations in Michigan. Although small—less than 4 square miles—the island offers an abundance of natural and...
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...
icture-postcard-worthy views of Lake Michigan and its shoreline greet visitors to the Little Traverse Wheelway in Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula. The paved trail rolls for 24 miles from...
The North Western State Trail—formerly known as the Petoskey to Mackinaw Trail after its endpoints—passes through many communities along the way, including Conway, Oden, Ponshewaing, Brutus, Pellston,...
The 62-mile North Central State Trail offers a multiuse trail adventure into the hills, agricultural areas, woods, and waterways of Michigan, with connections to well-¿established tourist towns at...
Located in Grayling, Michigan, the Grayling Bicycle Turnpike runs from the north side of the Grayling downtown area at North Down River Road all the way out to the entrance of Hartwick Pines State...
Mackinac Island is truly deserving of its status as one of the most popular tourist destinations in Michigan. Although small—less than 4 square miles—the island offers an abundance of natural and...
The 5-mile Spring Brook Trail crosses flat to hilly terrain in Mackinaw State Forest. The trail accommodates hikers, mountain bikers and cross-country skiers. The trail meanders along a wooded creek...
Tahquamenon Falls State Park has a series of six trails for hiking and cross-country skiing, covering more than 22 miles. Some of the trails are loops, while others join the loops. The scenic trails...
The St. Ignace to Trout Lake Trail is located almost entirely within the Hiawatha National Forest in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The follows an abandoned rail corridor from the town of St. Ignace...
The Grass River Natural Area has a system of six trails through wetlands and woodland, a beautiful retreat south of Lake Bellaire in northern Michigan. The preserve's rail-trail provides just over 2...
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 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 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...
icture-postcard-worthy views of Lake Michigan and its shoreline greet visitors to the Little Traverse Wheelway in Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula. The paved trail rolls for 24 miles from...
The North Western State Trail—formerly known as the Petoskey to Mackinaw Trail after its endpoints—passes through many communities along the way, including Conway, Oden, Ponshewaing, Brutus, Pellston,...
Located in Grayling, Michigan, the Grayling Bicycle Turnpike runs from the north side of the Grayling downtown area at North Down River Road all the way out to the entrance of Hartwick Pines State...
The 62-mile North Central State Trail offers a multiuse trail adventure into the hills, agricultural areas, woods, and waterways of Michigan, with connections to well-¿established tourist towns at...
Tahquamenon Falls State Park has a series of six trails for hiking and cross-country skiing, covering more than 22 miles. Some of the trails are loops, while others join the loops. The scenic trails...
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...
icture-postcard-worthy views of Lake Michigan and its shoreline greet visitors to the Little Traverse Wheelway in Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula. The paved trail rolls for 24 miles from...
The 5-mile Spring Brook Trail crosses flat to hilly terrain in Mackinaw State Forest. The trail accommodates hikers, mountain bikers and cross-country skiers. The trail meanders along a wooded creek...
Located in Grayling, Michigan, the Grayling Bicycle Turnpike runs from the north side of the Grayling downtown area at North Down River Road all the way out to the entrance of Hartwick Pines State...
Mackinac Island is truly deserving of its status as one of the most popular tourist destinations in Michigan. Although small—less than 4 square miles—the island offers an abundance of natural and...
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 North Western State Trail—formerly known as the Petoskey to Mackinaw Trail after its endpoints—passes through many communities along the way, including Conway, Oden, Ponshewaing, Brutus, Pellston,...
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 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 62-mile North Central State Trail offers a multiuse trail adventure into the hills, agricultural areas, woods, and waterways of Michigan, with connections to well-¿established tourist towns at...
The St. Ignace to Trout Lake Trail is located almost entirely within the Hiawatha National Forest in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The follows an abandoned rail corridor from the town of St. Ignace...
The Grass River Natural Area has a system of six trails through wetlands and woodland, a beautiful retreat south of Lake Bellaire in northern Michigan. The preserve's rail-trail provides just over 2...
Now that I have done this trail two years in a row, both coincidentally on labor day weekend, I feel like I can write a real review.
110 miles on this trail in 8 hours in 2016, and 137 miles in 10 hours 2017.
I know the average trail user will likely be riding under 50 miles, this review is aimed more for crazy endurance riders.
If you are looking for an intense challenge of both mental and physical toughness, while taking in the beauty of Northern Michigan, then this network of NWST, NCST and NEST trails are a MUST ride.
As others have stated, this is NOT hard packed, the gravel is loose, so there is very little coasting. You will want to stand and pedal once in a while to get some nice momentum, and help save your butt in the long haul.
There are LONG, long, very, very mind-numbing straight stretches of trail where there is absolutely nothing but dense forest on either side of you. These are the times when you need your mental toughness, especially on the way back if you're doing a round trip...
You'll appreciate passing through Wolverine by the Sturgeon River - my favorite segment is along Mullet Lake in Tapinabee - once you reach the restroom in Cheboygan, you can choose to hop on the NEST trail 71 miles to Alpina, or continue roughly 20 miles to downtown Mackinac.
I started my trip in the Gaylord area, rode to Mackinac City, took the NWST trail 20 miles West a little past Pelliston, roughly 10 miles from Harbors Springs, before turning back and heading back towards Gaylord.
The last 30 miles of this ride were torture.. it seems no matter how great a saddle and bib, at a distance like this on gravel, on a mtb, will have you feeling like your saddle is made of shards of glass and red ants.
Best of luck to you, and be sure to allow yourself to stop at least a few times to take pictures of the scenery!
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.
Rode this 49 mile section in August 2017. Beautiful trail with nice secluded parts. Indian River to Gaylord is pretty steady but gentle climb. Trail is good for my hybrid Trek. Section from Indian River to Vanderbilt was especially pretty.
Started the ride at Hartwick Pines state park (love this park) with my friend, Kathie from Traverse City. We've snowshoed and hiked at Hartwick before, this was our first time biking here. Found the "turnpike" trail very scenic and enjoyable. The hills gave it a "roller coaster" feel. Noticed that a new trail I-75 crossing is under construction which would make this ride very cool! Kudos to the trail managers for their foresight. Hope to ride this trail again when the crossing is finished.
Proud to be a Fudgie with family ties to the Mitt - camped at Petoskey State Park this weekend and rode the trail back and forth to Charlevoix for Venetian Festival. Northern Michigan is tops for road and trail riding and the scenery on Little Traverse Bay is as captivating as any. Petoskey and Charlevoix are two fun cities for year-round adventure.
I rode this during the summer of 2016 on our ride from Grand Rapids to the Mackinaw Bridge. This was by far one of the best sections of our ride. The state has taken a lot of precautions to make sure that this trail is to not be used by snowmobilers or ATVs. The surfarce may be dirt (or gravel), but it's so smooth it could easily be enjoyed by a road biker.
Biked from Gaylord to Topinabee. The trail is very nice and secluded. Check the wind direction before you begin. We had a strong headwind for some of the ride. However, even with the wind there were areas where you tucked behind the trees. Trail is cinder and moves from farmland to forest. Deer, Skunks, Racoons, and Fox all shared the trail or crossed it during our ride. Sheep and goats grazed in fields along the way. Very enjoyable and crosses creeks and rivers with bridges that tempt you into a water stop. Just outside of Topinabee (Breakers) is a bar/restaurant (about 33 miles of biking). It is parallel to the trail on the left and hard to miss. Reward was a great beer, wonderful atmosphere, and the food (did not eat) looked great. Next year plan to do the trail from Mackinaw.
We rode the entirety of the trail from Spring Lake to Mackinaw City and back. It is asphalt from Spring Lake to Alanson, crushed limestone until Mackinaw City. I have found surfaces described as “crushed limestone” to range from coarse, gray dust to pea gravel; think of this trail surface as a 75/25 mix of lentils and peas. For most of the non-paved section, the crushed limestone is applied as an ideally thin layer, although it is a little thicker in Alanson and Pellston. Nothing to whine about, but traction is diminished and you’ll pedal just a little bit harder in those areas (until traffic and winter compact the surface). I used 700 x 42 mm tires, my riding companion used 700 x 38 tires. That size range seemed just about right for the non-paved areas. The trail is very close to completely flat and grades are barely perceptible. As of October 2016, the trail is very well-groomed for its entirety.
You’ll get views of some nice lakes and ponds at the southern end of the trail. Portions to the north are almost completely tree-lined, even though you are just off the highway. Trail facilities (water, restrooms) are non-existent, but the trail is so close to the highway that there is no problem.
Very nice scenery overall. I recommend this trip.
We parked in Alanson and rode to Oden and back. The trail was smoothly paved and easy in this section. We visited the State Fish Hatchery Visitor Center in Oden and found it interesting, fun and a beautiful setting. Note that the Hatchery is not in Alanson as it says under "Parking and Access", but on the West side of Oden.
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