Explore the best rated trails in Mackinaw City, MI. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Huron Sunrise Trail and Boyne Valley Trailway. With more than 11 trails covering 286 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.
Took the trail west about six miles into Boyne City. Very nice trail conditions with plenty of woods, scenic vistas and finally water at the BC terminal point. Enjoyed the warm fall afternoon!
We rode this trail from Mackinaw to Petosky as part of a three day ride on several Northern Michigan trails. We were all on mountain bikes and had no issues at all with the trail surfaces. The scenery was incredible along the way, and once you get to Alanson the last 8 miles into Petosky are all paved so it is very easy going. Good signage and a lot of nice stops along the route.
8/28/2022. Rode trail from Mackinac City south for 10 miles and then back. It was awesome. Trail in good shape. Large trees provided shade( unlike Oklahoma). Very quiet solitary. Came around a corner and within 5 yards of a big buck. Thanks Michigan!
I don’t think the UP has any rideable trails This trail is four four wheelers which are very popular
Best trail we have ridden so far. We'll marked and fairly flat till you reach 40 mile Lighthouse. 7.6 miles from marina downtown to light house.
In early June 2022 I followed the trail from Mackinac City to Petosky. The crushed limestone surface was in good condition and OK on a road bike with 25mm tires. The majority of the path is fairly straight with few hills and unvaried scenery - good zen experience Quite a few downed limbs and trees on the path which had to be climbed over or walked around. The coastal route to Harbor Springs is more interesting.
This is a nice pathway. Great for family rides. I would like to see a connecting route through town to the pathway toward Charlevoix. I hope this will be extended on the other side of Boyne Mountain.
We started just south of Gaylord going northbound. Once we got past Gaylord, it was all downhill. Very peaceful shaded trail. We really liked the little visitor center in Vanderbilt. Everything flattened out once you got to Indian River. Things opened up a little bit (shade started disappearing) between Mullet Lake and Cheboygan.
Way up north we headed this June after hearing about the island from a co-worker. We base camped at Wilderness State Park (biked from Waugoshance Point (west) to the Trading Post (east)) and caught Shepler’s Ferry in Mackinaw City (eat a pastie, arrive early, bring a map, and purchase tickets in advance) to get to the island. There is an additional fee to ferry your bike across, but they will allow you to park & lock your bikes at their pier. Upon finishing exploring “downtown” by foot and devouring some fudge, we got our bikes and walked them east to The Great Lawn and started riding the perimeter, M185. The trails/roads were crowded early on a beautiful day mid-week. To our shock, the clarity of the lake was unexpectedly Caribbeanese. There is always a spray of all multi-skilled level cyclist along the trail, so we averaged 10MPH (speed limit is 25MPH and they will ticket). The Hwy. Dept. had the road blocked at Scott’s Shore Rd. thus channeling us to the many paved & hilly inter-island trails. Our highlights were Ft. Holmes, Point Lookout, Arch Rock, Grand Hotel and Ft. Mackinac. After making it back south to downtown, we rode the west side of M185 to British Landing where we treated ourselves to some fried food and ice cream at the Cannonball Oasis. We were through biking/exploring the island in a little over 6 hours because even though the island is beautiful and worthy, the biking was challenging due to the throng of tourist, ourselves included.
This was an enjoyable ride, about 14.5 miles round trip from downtown Boyne City--one of those trails where you can imagine all of the effort community members put into making it happen. (Thank you!) It's easy to get to the airport trailhead outside of Boyne City by following the low-traffic East Main Street just a mile out of town. This short but really nicely constructed trail was a pleasant ride on very smooth asphalt through the woods, along a road, and through the Boyne Mountain Ski Area. While it's a rail trail, it was nice to find it to be curvy! All around us it was green and lush and lovely in late August. Very few people on a Tuesday morning--but the trail is 10 feet wide and welcoming.
We started in Topinabee, parked at the trailhead there which has great restrooms, parking, and a small beach (look over the edge of the sidewalk area to find the beach!). There's a gas station/store right across the street. Rode the smooth, well-maintained, crushed limestone trail along the lake to Cheboygan--about 13 miles, much of which we could see the sparkling lake to our right. We passed the Cheboygan trailhead (where there are also good restrooms and a shelter) and stopped in downtown Cheboygan for lunch at Mulligan's, a local pub, where we could eat outside. Good lunch food and great service. Rode back to Topinabee and then spent an hour swimming at the beautiful small beach there on Mullet Lake--really charming! All day (on a Monday) we saw probably a total of 14 people on the trail, walking or biking. While there are many road and driveway crossings, we probably had to actually stop for cars only 2 or 3 times. About 50% of the time we were riding in well-shaded areas. This was a lovely 26 mile day trip next to the lake and through the woods--a flat, easy, unpopulated rail trail through wonderful Northern Michigan!
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